When I walk in the New England woods, I am never alone. It’s not because there are a lot of people. Often, I see no one. It’s because of the stone walls. The walls conjure images from the past. I picture farmers pulling crooked carrots from rocky soil, brave pioneers fighting for their lives, tough women caring for babies in circumstances impossible to comprehend. I see rugged individuals and ingenious problem solvers. I also see conquerors, heartless racists intent on destroying the native population, and people with no respect for the land.
As we enter the final quarter of the year, it’s always good to reflect on where things stand. Think about personal progress to-date, as well as business progress. Have you achieved most of your goals for the year? Grown personally? Tackled something new and exciting? Enjoyed wonderful vacations? Deepened important relationships? Celebrated life? If not, what one thing can you still do to make this year a success? Then, what must you do differently to set yourself up for a great new year? I can think of lots of possible answers:
I tell my clients they must put an end to informing each other. Why? Because inform is a Treadmill Verb™. And like other Treadmill Verbs™, such as report and review, it has no destination. There is no way to know when you are done. It is an open invitation to talk on and on with no particular outcome in mind. It leaves people listening, assuming they are listening at all, for nothing in particular. Thus, it accomplishes little, encourages smartphone tinkering, and leaves most people bored and disengaged. Unfortunately, inform remains a favorite agenda item. Even die-hard fans of mine who have memorized the six clarity kernels still argue that it is important to simply inform people.
Few truly appreciate the astounding benefits of greater clarity or even recognize the lack of clarity that offers so much opportunity. Those who do are using it to beat the competition. What exactly am I talking about? Greater clarity means: Greater specificity of desired outcomes Intentionality of process, and Proper alignment of responsibility Every minute of every day. Clarity allows people to be outcome-focused, action-oriented, and aligned. The benefits are far-ranging:
Unless you’ve had your head in the sand or like to waste time, you know meetings suck up a tremendous amount of valuable time. You’ve also read lots of advice that is supposed to help. You’ve probably even tried some of that advice. And you are not alone. So why is it that meetings are still wasting so much time and everyone is still complaining about them? This is why: 99% of the advice you’ve heard for improving meetings doesn’t work.
We have unusual toilets. The lids close softly. A nudge is all it takes. It didn’t take long after moving into our new house to develop the nudge habit. You know where I’m going, though. You know what happens when we are guests and nudge someone else’s toilet? BAM! It’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing because we are aware that it is happening. The BAM! helps. So we apologize. But what if we didn’t? What if we just went around slamming toilet lids?
The farther you are from the “production line,” the less likely you are to be making something tangible: building a widget developing software writing a proposal Or doing a task with tangible results: loading a truck cleaning equipment or floors receiving orders So what are you doing with all your time that justifies that high salary? Let me guess. I bet you are:
Process trumps power. It also squelches politics and individual habits, quirks, and dysfunctions. What would happen if you were playing a common, well-known game like Go Fish or Crazy Eights and someone skipped your turn? You’d speak up, right? You’d say something like “Wait a minute, it’s my turn.” Or suppose someone tried to change suits with a seven instead of an eight. Would you let them? No way!
When I talk about clarity, especially the benefits of clarity such as greater productivity, commitment, and employee effectiveness, some people leap to the conclusion that I am focused on soft skills. Are you kidding me? I am one of the most direct people my clients have ever met. No one has ever accused me of being touchy-feely. I will never pussy-foot around anything. I’m not sure I know how.