Clarity in Communications - Not!

In my Leadership class yesterday, we were covering Andy Stanley's suggestions for the necessary characteristics for leaders in his book, The Next Generation Leaders. When we covered "Clarity," I explained that this meant not only did a leader need to communicate clearly, but that s/he must have clarity in the vision of what is to be done. As Stanley explains, it's uncertainty that creates the need for leadership. With certainty, the actions needed are clear.

To protect one's credibility -- and ability to be an effective leader and provide clarity -- it is important to be honest and forthcoming with people. It is much better to say, "I don't know the answer to that, but I'll look into it," than to bluff your way through a situation. People will see through you, pretty quickly.

You can also undermine your credibility by being vague. "Vagueness sands the clarity off of vision," says Stanley. Having plenty of scratched reading glasses, I like the metaphor.

So, here I am in class, trying to think of a story to illustrate the point, and was really coming up blank. There wasn't even something on the "tip of my tongue!" (4:00 in the afternoon is NOT my sharpest time to teach.) Grasping at straws, I said, "what if there had been several cases of swine flu detected on campus?"

"Here's a situation in which people would be uncertain of what to do. Being honest and forthcoming doesn't mean shouting, "We've got swine flu on campus!" and encouraging people to panic. But it also doesn't mean to say something vague, like "A few students have reported flu-like symptoms. I encourage everyone to take special precautions." A leader in this situation would have to be very clear about what precautions to take (e.g., quarantine, class cancellations, extended health services), and very deliberate about how to get the correct information out and how to get it updated. Communicating clearly usually requires repeated messages over a variety of pathways."

As an example, it was ok, something the students could relate to in their life experience. But a few of my students apparently missed the part where I said "what if," and thought that there really were cases of swine flu on campus. (There aren't, as far as I know.)

There's an irony in being misunderstood when talking about clarity in communications.