There is a big problem in corporate America today. According to Gallup’s State of the American Workplace, only 30% of employees consider themselves “engaged” at work. As a result, corporations are embarked on multi-million dollar employee engagement programs in an effort to improve these numbers. Unfortunately, they are barking up the wrong tree. Employee engagement programs aren’t the solution to poor engagement. While there is a high correlation between employee engagement survey results and business performance, there is no proof that the former causes the latter. And that’s because it doesn’t. Engagement, as measured by employee surveys, does not cause success. Engagement is, at best, asymptom of success. Employees who are succeeding and feeling good about their contributions to your company are naturally more likely to:
Great book! Clarity is the most powerful force that fuels human endeavors and this book convincingly demonstrates the value of strategic clarity and its deep power to boost productivity, profit, and employee engagement. Ann’s principles and techniques counter the automatic-conditioning and the decision-making habits of the organizational machinery that produce dis-clarity. This book is filled with unconventional and practical wisdom to transform leadership, productivity and collaboration, and to architect a management system that unlocks your team’s full potential.
I’ve written numerous articles about clarity blindness and the general inability of people to recognize the ubiquity of disclarity surrounding us. Today I want to share four critical reasons why you need to make clarity a priority. Clarity represents a huge opportunity whether you care about profits, productivity, employee engagement, confidence, commitment, conflict, or politics.
I recently had the pleasure of joining marketing strategy expert Linda J. Popky, president of Leverage2Market® Associates, on the Marketing Thought Leadership podcast. Our topic, “Let Me Make That Perfectly Clear: How Clarity Ties to Organizational Success,” covers some of my favorite topics and perennial questions: What is clarity? Why is it so uncommonly found in today’s organizations? How can clarity improve productivity, performance, and employee engagement? Why is it so important for marketers and other knowledge workers? Listen to this podcast. Podcast Transcript:
A couple of months ago, I wrote a piece called 15 Time Wasting Activites Corporations Encourage Daily. Growth strategist Alastair Dryburgh of London commented that my list of wasteful activities comprised the main tasks of management. And he was absolutely right. I bet if you asked random leaders and employees alike to list tasks of management, they would mention most of those 15 time-wasting activities. Activities like reporting, reviewing, planning, meeting, discussing, and documenting. Why are these wasteful?
“I hadn’t realized how entrenched I was in so many time-wasting habits until Ann Latham made them transparent. It’s almost embarrassing,” said Jim Goodwin, CEO of CHD. Just a few days ago, I talked with another client who told me that after working with me, he can’t not see the lack of clarity surrounding him. The lack of specificity, the lack of cognitive process clarity, and the lack of effective communication that are so ubiquitous. The language that drives activity, not results. The time-wasting habits so firmly entrenched in business-as-usual. The disclarity that was completely invisible to him before, and that is now so transparently an obstacle to progress. I share these examples to demonstrate that just because you are a competent, successful, hard-working leader, like these two, doesn’t mean you are aware of the disclarity around you.
Remember when Bambi was born and Thumper was jumping around yelling, “It’s happened! It’s happened! The new prince is born!”? Well, that pretty much describes the way I’ve been feeling the last few days and I’m really excited to share my news. No fawn, unfortunately, more like a dawn! My newest book, The Clarity Papers, has arrived! Furthermore, the Kindle version will be available for free tomorrow, January 24th, through Friday this week. I’ll post a reminder tomorrow morning with the link so you don’t forget. What’s The Clarity Papers about?
The Clarity Papers The Executive’s Guide to Clear Thinking and Better, Faster Results – New in 2018! Buy it on Amazon What’s Standing Between You And Greater Success? Clarity comes first. Without it, we walk around the block to get next door, sabotage perfectly good strategy, erode profit, and thwart innovation. Most leaders believe they have clarity themselves and in their organization, but how do you know for sure? The Clarity Papers, a series of standalone, thematically related papers, will help you determine if a lack of clarity is standing between you and greater success. It will also provide specific techniques for creating strategic clarity from the top of your organization to the bottom. Disclarity is ubiquitous. Ann Latham, founder of Uncommon Clarity®, Inc., has been bringing the Power of Clarity to clients representing more than 40 industries for over a decade. Her clients enjoy increased speed of implementation, employee engagement, innovation, and profit. You can’t afford not to read this book. Buy it on Amazon Uncommon Meetings 7 Quick Tips for Better Results in Half the Time Buy it on Amazon Uncommon Meetings is short and powerful, just as your meetings should be. How many total hours are you and your employees spending in meetings each month? What would it be worth to you if you could cut that time in half, dramatically improve the results, and reduce the number of attendees? Start saving that time and money now! Read this book today! Discover the: Single most important rule for short, valuable meetings One change that will make you a stronger meeting leader Seven secrets to great results and finishing on time Techniques to double the value of each attendee Criteria for canceling meetings Reasons most meetings are slow and painful despite having agendas Don’t attend another meeting without reading… read more →