Seeking Clarity

While pondering the smoke haze hovering here for the last few days, it has me thinking about when things get hazy in our workplaces.

There are many aspects of work where people seek greater clarity, such as:

Workplace purpose and objectives

Roles and expectations

Accountability and responsibility

Communication - across the workplace, within teams, between colleagues and to/from leaders

Feedback

Behaviour and performance

Change

In our dynamic and complex workplaces we can’t always achieve the clarity we need. We cannot, however, sit and wait for the smoke haze to clear in its own time, we need to be consciously striving for clarity, and seeking it out, in all that we do.

It must be front of mind for leaders, and sought out by us all when we are unclear.

In my experience the quickest (and most interesting, I might add) way to clarity is via a great question, or three. When we don’t know, don’t understand, don’t have all the data and information, we are compelled to ask. The good ol’ 5Ws and 1H to our rescue. 

It’s as leadership expert John C Maxwell so aptly reminds us: look at questions as keys on a key ring. Questions unlock doors. The bigger your key ring and the more keys you have, the more doors you can unlock.

What doors might your questions unlock in your workplace?

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