Clarity - Leadership superpower? Or highly overrated?

Clarity of perception (seeing what actually matters), thought (making sense of complexity), and communication (helping others see and act). 

This article explores the latter, clarity of communication, what happens when clarity isn’t present and how leaders can elevate their clarity to create a high-trust, high-performing organisation.

Clarity of communication can be taken for granted; we assume people know what we mean or that it’s obvious and doesn’t need clarification. But the truth is real clarity is key to any successful organisation, and when it isn’t practised, we see confusion, low morale, frustration, low trust and poor results.

I have found myself in numerous conversations with leaders and leadership teams discussing the importance of clarity. Good leaders rarely intend to be unclear, and yet it still occurs.

The story that I have found myself sharing goes back a few (ahem) decades. I was employed by a faith organisation with a focus on the educational system. A significant piece of work needed to be completed by Easter. I had agreed, and the leader of the organisation had agreed. Everyone was happy. I planned, and I prepared and was moving towards the deadline.

Then the end of term arrived and the beginning of the Easter holidays, and it all started to go wrong. My leader told me I missed the agreed deadline, and they were not happy, not at all. I was confused. I was on track for Easter. Easter weekend. I was told it would be too late by then, the deadline was the Easter holiday, so I had failed.

Even today, I remember the feelings as I processed this: I was mortified and confused, then angry and frustrated. How could we have been in complete agreement and now in complete disagreement? It had all seemed so clear, and yet now, when it was too late, it turned out it wasn’t clear at all!

You can see how the shared understanding turned out not to be shared at all! On one level, it seems trivial, but the impact was far from trivial and lasted beyond this misunderstanding. It was a difficult lesson in the importance of communicating clearly from both perspectives - we both could have been clearer and more specific about what we meant. 

A leadership responsibility 

When leaders communicate clearly and openly, even when the message is difficult, anxiety is reduced, and this clarity promotes autonomy. People have the freedom to decide what to do with the information they receive, even if it's hard to hear or incomplete.

It’s worth noting that communicating clearly and openly is not the same as saying more - the best leaders understand it’s about saying what matters, honestly and without vagueness.

Excellent leaders cultivate conditions where clarity is part of the culture, but given the ease of missing the mark, how can leaders achieve this consistently? Here are some suggestions:

• Self-awareness is the beginning of clarity. Leaders who are self-aware understand that they have a particular communication style that others may or may not relate to. Good leaders will take the time and effort to adjust their communication styles to connect well with their audience. They will know that some of their people need the facts and details, some need the bigger picture, some will be listening for how the news impacts not just them but their colleagues too, and some will want to progress straight to action!  

• Language is important. Leaders who cultivate clarity will avoid euphemisms. You won’t hear them say “We need to downsize” or “reallocate resources”. Leaders who value clarity will be specific: “We aren’t meeting our financial targets, which means we need to make redundancies at xxx level” 

• Make the implicit explicit! Unspoken assumptions are where clarity goes to die. People will fill in the gaps with their own narratives, or miss the point completely. When leaders practice making the implicit explicit, it might sound like, “This is what we’re assuming.” People would see their leader revisiting those assumptions as new information arises, and they would be confident that they can challenge their leader’s assumptions without fear of reprisal.

• Accountability for successful communication. This means that leaders need to choose how they measure that success, and there may need to be a mindset shift:

  • From being right to being understandable. 

  • From being fast to being consistently coherent. 

  • From being impressive to helping others navigate their way through. 

Leaders who view communication as a “one and done” event will likely become increasingly frustrated and blame others when they realise their message has not been heard or understood.

Make feedback the norm. 

A vital practice found in organisations that are great when it comes to clear communication is good quality, honest feedback. The author, researcher and speaker, Brene Brown is very clear on this topic, her statement, “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind”, has been transformational for many leaders. She expands on this, and how it might look in a workplace: 

“Feeding people half-truths or bullshit to make them feel better (which is almost always about making ourselves feel more comfortable) is unkind. Not getting clear with a colleague about your expectations because it feels too hard, yet holding them accountable or blaming them for not delivering is unkind. Talking about people rather than to them is unkind.”  

If clarity is a leadership responsibility — and it is — then feedback is not a courtesy, it’s a duty. Clarity asks leaders to be brave enough to say what needs to be said, early and well, and humble enough to check what has been heard. When leaders commit to clarity, they don’t just prevent misunderstanding; they build trust, reduce unnecessary friction, and create environments where people can do their best work.