I recently worked with 24 leaders and participants of regular virtual meetings.

A few weeks later, I asked co-workers of this group for evidence of improvement and I thought I would share the results.

My group was seen:

• Driving toward clearer criteria for making decisions
• Prioritizing more effectively
• Communicating more clearly
• Choosing a variety of approaches to move things forward rather than waiting for the standing meetings
• Bringing greater value to discussions
• Proposing better ideas
• Maintaining perspective relative to the “big picture”

One co-worker summed it up as follows: “Their performance has jumped to the next level.”

While these results thrilled my client, they weren’t what she expected.

Why? Because her objective was to make meetings more effective. I’m sure she expected to hear about better agendas, more action items, good meeting notes, and the like.

But my conversations with this group mostly weren’t about meetings and the things most people associate with meetings. Instead, we talked about clarity and how to create it. If you are crystal clear about where you are, what you are trying to achieve, and how to get there, you will be ready and able to:

• Step up and voice your opinion with confidence
• Guide any conversation
• Keep your eye on the big picture and avoid getting dragged into the weeds
• Establish crisp decision criteria that improve and speed decisions
• Communicate more clearly
• Establish clear priorities
• Weigh alternatives and assess risk more easily
• Handle detours and minimize unproductive emotion with aplomb
• Move yourself or a group forward effectively

If you can create this level of clarity, will you be able to run short and powerful meetings? Absolutely!

But this level of clarity will also make you more effective and more productive in every conversation, and even when sitting alone at your desk. The value of clarity is huge. Its ability to improve quality and productivity is worth millions and millions, especially since organizations are increasingly dependent on knowledge workers who spend so much time thinking, communicating, and making ever more complex decisions.

As with any problem, improvement requires correcting the root cause. And more often than not, the root cause involves a lack of clarity. Unfortunately, many people:

• Assume they are clearer than they really are
• Don’t see the confusion that slows everything from meetings to independent decisions
• Believe that a lack of clarity is simply inevitable

Do any of these describe you? If so, you are missing a great opportunity to increase productivity and get better results. Clarity is the answer. Guaranteed.

If any of the results mentioned above would be valuable to your organization, give me a call today at 1-800-527-0087. Let’s talk about how you can create greater clarity in your organization.