clarity: even now and “even over”

When I zoom out and look at what is consistent across the best leaders I’ve worked for and with - they all pull this move. They deliver clarity, even and especially in the cases where it’s socially or emotionally risky to do so. Even and especially in the cases where, paradoxically, they’re clearly talking to you about the ambiguities.

Their clarity does work for their teams, even now and “even over.”

Some leaders deliver strategic clarity - this is our purpose! Yes, even now, in the face of these weird, bad, unexpected facts. Some deliver cultural clarity - this is how we show up for each other and those we serve! Yes, even now. Some deliver operational clarity - this is our process! Yes, even now.

In Holacracy, Brian Robertson offers a pithy mad lib to help you get that clarity in the face of ambiguity. He advises teams to get real about how little they can predict and to spend less time trying that. Instead, leaders of teams can say, “we deliver [desirable feature x], even over [desirable competing feature y].”

-Eric