This Way Up
Clarity equals action. Clarity does not need to be long winded; it is best kept short. Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address using only 687 words. It is so short, clear and concise with such a succinct message that many school kids learn the entire speech by heart. Those words are attributed to change the world as we know it and have profoundly impacted America. There are many humorous studies comparing the Gettysburg Address to government legislations - one I saw compared word count against the documentation for the importation of pumpkins which numbers in the tens of thousands of words.
A vision is a picture of the future that is so compelling it pulls you forward. “A picture paints a 1000 words” is a well understood idiom - look at how much clearer it is going through an airport and seeing symbols indicating where the toilets are. If you are in a foreign country the words alone would not be helpful. Can you put your vision for your organisation into a picture?
Another way of setting a very clear direction can be illustrated in the use of a GPS system. We punch in our coordinates and a map shows us the best way to get there. How clear are you on where you intend to be in the next 3 to 5 years.
People look to leaders for hope and a forward path. Many people are not able to visualise the future with a lot of clarity, due to a lack of training and, to some degree, a lack of skill. Leaders who can paint a clear and inspiring picture of the future unite people around a common cause and instill a belief that there is the possibility of a better future. I have seen companies do this particularly well when they are creating a new building and they literally have a picture of what is going to be like, sometimes with models and 3D drawings. Once the vision has been achieved many of them struggle to get the same degree of clarity for the next milestone that they are headed towards. Clarity channels energy and focuses the combined potential within your team.
Could you and your team do with a clearer picture of the future? Do you need to take some time out today to get the clarity you need to inspire your team to a brighter path forward?
