Did you know that distractions at work can lead to a 40% drop in productivity [1]? In a world filled with noise, how clear is your focus?
In today’s VUCA business environment (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) coupled with the rapid advances in technology and the growing use of artificial intelligence in business, now more than ever, business leaders and teams need clarity of goals and actions – why and how!
Wherever focus goes, energy flows. – Tony Robbins
Distractions at work are real! Email, searching for information, internal collaboration, and communication can all draw one’s focus away from the goal for the day, week, or month.
Clarity is essential when it comes to achievement – of both personal and professional goals. Clarity helps us know where to focus.
Clarity comes from the Latin "clāritās," meaning clearness or brightness. It is a quality that can be associated with thoughts, communication, or a picture, substance, or sound. It is sometimes described in the context of its opposite—the absence of ambiguity.
Why is clarity important? According to Gallup, only 47% of employees strongly agree they know what is expected of them at work [2]. If only 47% of employees understand what is expected of them at work, that means that 53% are unclear! How can an organization achieve its goals with this level or lack of clarity? Without clarity, productivity drops.
McKinsey estimates that a median-size S&P 500 company could lose between $228M - $355M a year in lost productivity [3].
Questions for Achieving Clarity
One of the best strategies for finding clarity is through questions. Here is a brief list of questions that can help bring clarity to your business goals.
Leadership Clarity
What do you want? (You as a leader? From your business?)
Why do you want it? (What motivates these goals or changes?)
What problem are you/we trying to solve? (In this quarter/year?)
Why does it matter? (Impact on the organization, employees, market)
Where are we now? (Assess the current status of leadership initiatives and strategies)
Where do we want to go? (Vision for the future)
Download the guide, if you would like a more comprehensive list including additional questions for personal clarity, team clarity and project clarity.
Practical Tools for Achieving Clarity
One of the challenges with these questions is that staying shallow rather than going deep is possible. Another challenge is that goals can be set and forgotten – or put on the back burner for pressing daily issues. Tracking may not be aligned with the most critical activities.
Without going deep, the reasons on the surface may not be very compelling for deep understanding or knowing what action must be taken.
Let’s tackle an example question specific to AI and apply a tool to help bring clarity to the answer.
What changes in my business do I need to make to incorporate AI?
o Hmm? This question feels really broad, doesn’t it?
As an engineer and expert problem-solver, I have often applied the 5 Why approach to narrow down a problem. While Sakichi Toyoda initially introduced the concept in the 1930s, Taiichi Ohno brought it into mainstream problem-solving circles in the 1950s [4]. The approach's simplicity means it can be applied easily in many different situations and contexts.
5 Whys and 5 Hows
What changes in my business do I need to make to incorporate AI?
o What if we restated the question?
What specific problems or inefficiencies do I want to solve by integrating AI?
o Why is AI the best solution for these problems?
o Why not choose a simpler or more cost-effective alternative?
o Why do I want to eliminate inefficiencies?
o ….
How will AI integration eliminate these inefficiencies?
How can I decide where to start?
How can I implement AI effectively?
How can I identify potential risks?
How can they be mitigated?
How will the success of AI integration be measured?
You get the idea. It’s much more specific and can help scope where and how to engage in AI in a business. How am I getting there? How and why questions can help clarify and identify a clear action that is possible today or tomorrow.
By applying the 5 Whys & 5 Hows (or honestly as many Whys and Hows as necessary), clear reasons are understood, and clear, actionable steps are identified.
Without clarity, days (time) can slip by unproductively. One of my favorite questions in a meeting is, “What problem are we trying to solve?” This is a clarity question intended to put everyone on the same page. It is a great question, especially when a meeting may not have an agenda. It is also a great question to bring out biases and assumptions.
Clarity means that we honestly assess the status of our 2024 goals (or May goals) and make adjustments. This approach works in business and life.
Leaders Play a Major Role in Clarity
One Gallup study found that the simple act of a manager having ONE meaningful conversation each week with an employee transformed relationships and teams – bringing purpose and clear expectations to each team member [1].
While clarity is not always easy to find, striving for it is always worthwhile.
Complexity is the enemy of execution. Tony Robbins
Clarity is the secret to performance, engagement, and results. Clarity brings focus. And as Tony Robbins says, “Where focus goes, energy flows.” Do you have a clear focus for this quarter? Or month? Do you clearly understand where you stand with respect to your goals for 2024?
I would love to help you gain clarity and ensure you are on track to meet you 2024 goals. I’m giving away 10 free business assessments by May 31 – a tool designed specifically to help you gain clarity in your business. Email me at stacy@impactandlead.com if you are interested.
References:
[1]Lindner, J. (2024, April 4). Employee Productivity Statistics: Latest Data & Summary. https://wifitalents.com/statistic/employee-productivity/
[2]Harter, J. (2024, January 23). In New Workplace, U.S. Employee Engagement Stagnates. Gallup.com. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/608675/new-workplace-employee-engagement-stagnates.aspx
[3] Segel, L. H., & Hatami, H. (2023, September 11). On Point. Today's News Tomorrow's Insights. McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/email/onpoint/2023/09/2023-09-21a.html
[4] ASQ (2024). Five Whys and Five Hows. https://asq.org/quality-resources/five-whys
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