Clarity makes all the difference!

 

Clarity!  Most of the conflict in our lives and work is about the lack of clarity.  Too many times in my life, I did not understand the expectation, or I was not clear in my communication to another about what I expected. 

Sometimes, the issue is benign like getting the wrong kind of bread at the store on the way home. Other times, it can be catastrophic, even deadly.

Douglas Fouts retells the World War II story of Exercise Tiger.  A preparatory simulation for D day later that year. (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/deadly-consequences-poor-communication-douglas-fouts/)

"On the morning of April 27th, 1944, the plan was to launch this practice assault at 7:30am in the morning, however, one of the ships that was going to be used for the was experiencing operational issues that required repairs. The decision was made by the generals to postpone the practice run an hour…but the communication of this decision broke down and therefore the majority of watercrafts being used to drop troops didn’t get the message. They proceeded forward at 7:30am, letting their troops out, resulting in bullets and shells beginning to fly from the shoreline.

Confusion was running rampant.

The soldiers on the shore that had received the message about the postponement may have thought that the boats that appeared and started expelling invaders were actually enemy troops. The men jumping out of the landing craft and slogging to shore saw the live rounds actually taking down their fellow soldiers and believed that they were actually under attack from Nazi regiments, so they began to actually shoot back.

It is said that close to 450 men of our own Allied forces lost their lives that day, all as a result of friendly fire,"

Gratefully, most of us are not in such deadly situations. We are usually trying to figure out how to proceed with a project, how to best teach a lesson, who is making flight reservations, how will we move the materials from the warehouse to the stage before the dress rehearsal and so on.  

I think many times, there are assumptions made.  We assume we are understood, or we assume we know what is expected.  In the end, we know what it means to assume. 

For leaders this is a crucial moment to close the loop on the conversation and make sure your team knows who is doing what.  The next time you are in a discussion and a task or decision is to be made, before you leave the conversation determine: "Is it You, is it Me or is it We?"  Get Clarity!