Clarity is essential for happiness, success, and effective communication
Talking Big Ideas.
This week’s guest columnist is Meredith Turney. She’s a brilliant coach who I’ve had the pleasure to become friends with through our mutual connections in D.C.
In her podcast, her newsletter, and in person, Meredith is known for her ability to quickly deliver clear and actionable guidance. Today’s piece is, fittingly, on clarity.
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I love vocabulary. When I was young, any time I heard or read a word that I didn’t know, I would write it down in a spiral-bound notebook. Then I’d look up the definition and carefully write it out so I could learn the word’s meaning and use it.
Call me a word geek, but my passion for writing started with reading and loving the art of communication. (Yes, it’s an art because a well-written piece or verbal presentation is like a beautiful painting.)
This love of words and their meaning serves me well in coaching. One of the cornerstone purposes of coaching is to help clients get clarity. That means getting extremely specific definitions for the words the client uses. My coaching ears perk up when I hear the adjectives or verbs clients use:
“Can’t”
“Struggle”
“Overwhelmed”
“Happy”
“Successful”
When a client says they “don’t feel successful.” I ask them to clarify what they mean by “successful” and what will that “feel” like when they achieve it. This is important because I know how I define success, but none of us can presume to know how others define success.
Oftentimes, the client shares that they don’t have a clear definition of success for themselves, which leads to their frustration. Of course they can’t feel successful if they don’t have a clear target to aim at!
So, as a coach, I draw from that practice I established as a kid and pull out the metaphorical spiral-bound notebook to help my client write down their definition for “success.”
Once it’s on paper, or it’s been verbalized in concrete terms, the client can see exactly what’s been amorphously swirling around in their subconscious. That act alone can bring an immense sense of peace and direction. From there, it’s a matter of setting goals and action steps to get them closer to “feeling successful.”
As a conscious leader, ask yourself:
- How careful are you with the words you use? (They have power!)
- How clear are you on how you define your terms?
- How do you articulate your thoughts and vision to your team so there is clarity?
- How often do you ask your team to explain the words they use so you have a shared understanding of them?
- How many vague definitions or amorphous goals prevent you from BE-coming the leader you want to be?
“There is power in words. What you say is what you get.” Zig Ziglar
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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