3 Ways to Create Clarity and Deal with Uncertainty

Being able to create clarity is a sign of strong leadership.

Today, the work environment is in a constant state of uncertainty. Being able to ask for clarity, and give clarity, is a key component of navigating the ambiguity and discomfort that goes hand-in-hand with uncertainty.

Creating clarity is about gathering reliable intelligence that can be used for effective planning, decision-making and action. It is about asking questions to understand what information is available and what isn’t.

It is also about giving information (i.e. communicating) in a way that does not add unnecessary, extra uncertainty. Helping people understand what you expect from them, what role you need them to play, who will help and support them, what they are being measured against, the process you are following to get answers to their questions, what decisions you are making and what is being considered as part of these decisions – all provide clarity.  If you avoid these to avoid “making a mistake” or promising something you don’t want to be held accountable for, you are adding extra uncertainty into an already difficult situation.

Striving for clarity is not the same as seeking control. Control creates rigidity. Micro-managing with specific directions, does not create clarity. It creates an inability to adapt when new information is presented, and in an environment of uncertainty, there is always a constant stream of new information.

If there is clarity, then what you think is true, is actually true. You are not relying on your assumptions. There are no vague, ambiguous statements that you need to decipher and are open to interpretation. Your error rate in your expectations is low-to-zero. You can be confident that what you have been told is accurate and complete and you can make the best decisions and actions, given the information that is known at that time. Of course, more information can, and will come, at a later date. This is the nature of world of uncertainty.

Tip 1 – AIM FOR PRECISION

To create clarity, provide information that is accurate. Stick to what the facts are. Facts are data points that have a high level of truth and accuracy to them, in the context, at that point in time. These include: the process you are following, budget actuals that have been spent, decisions that have been made, people involved in the process.

If you don’t know the answer to something, don’t make it up. Fake-it-until-you-make-it is actually a terrible way to lead through uncertainty. Tell-it-like-it-is, is far more effective. 

If you give your interpretation, opinion or speculation, let people know that these are not facts. These have a high level of variance and error attached to them, based on your experience and understanding of the context. These may turn out to be true, but they are not facts, yet.

The opposite of precision is providing loose, inaccurate or filtered information. We have worked with clients, where there is a tendency for “Rosy Reporting”, often known in the project-world as a “Watermelon” report (Looks green on the outside but its actually red all the way through). In these clients, people try to manipulate the information they provide so that things appear more positive than they actually are. This is the opposite of clarity, and it has devasting effects in the organisation, when clarity is eventually achieved, starting with a betrayal of trust, and often ends with large financial losses from re-work, duplication and missed deliverables.

Tip 2 – STICK WITH SPECIFICITY

Specificity means to stay on topic. To create clarity, you need to remain focused on the subject.

As humans, we often have a tendency to try to be thorough and give people all the information we have, all-at-once. It feels more efficient and transparent. This is normal. According to David Rock (HBR article), it can feel painful to leave anything out. However, providing information that is too broad or too general, creates confusion and misinterpretation, not clarity. When there is too much information, you are asking people to exert a lot of cognitive effort to process it, and sort it out within their brains.

A lot of business communication we see, contains general platitudes e.g. “We are all leaders”, and ambiguous goals e.g. “We need to improve our processes” or “Let’s grow our sales”. These are too broad and generic to provide clarity. People need to know exactly what you are aiming for e.g. “Our top 10 projects are [list] and they are combined investment of $1 billion, that we need to deliver by 31^st January 2028. This is the information I need to share with you to enable us to deliver this…”.

Areas you can provide clarity in an environment of uncertainty include setting clear expectations for:

• Goal (Purpose, Objectives, End State Vision, Scope)
• Role and accountabilities (delegations, decision rights)
• Relationships (rules of engagement, stakeholder’s expectations)
• Process/Cadence – these are the steps we are taking, when we are meeting/reporting back
• Measures (Performance expectations – Quality vs quantity)
• Visibility of Progress – this is what we have done so far and this is what we still need to do
• Visibility Strengths and weaknesses – where are we strong and where are we improving
• Support mechanisms

Tip 3 – COMPREHENSION IS THE GOAL

Creating clarity means that people understand what it is you are saying, in the way that you intended, and vice-versa. When you are seeking clarity, you understand the message that someone else is sending you, and there is no miscommunication or mismatch of expectations.

This is accompanied by a level of accountability, and thus vulnerability. If people truly understand the information you have provided, they can point to you as the source of information, that they based their decisions and actions on. You cannot claim that they misunderstood what you were saying.

Only communicate information that is accurate, timely, and helpful, and that aids in sense-making and uncertainly reduction.  If you don’t have an answer, talk about the process.

It is important, therefore to reflect on and be aware of the quality of information you have, and acknowledging when you don’t have quality information.

How do you do this: