How often do things go wrong because of lack of clarity?
…‘But I thought *you* were doing that?’
…‘What do you mean, I don’t have permission? You asked me to fix it!’
Here’s a simple, powerful way to improve clarity.
Take a piece of paper, divide it into three columns.
Think of a task, role, or project you’ve been given by someone.
In the left box, write the hard boundaries — their ‘must haves and red lines’, the fixed things you have to deal with.
In the right box, write the things you have complete freedom to decide about.
In the middle, put the wishy-washy ‘check with me first’ stuff.
Take this humbly to them, and say ‘I was just trying to get clear, I really want to do a good job of this — can you help me for five minutes?
Just setting out boundaries and freedom generates a lot of clarity!
And if some of the middle column can be absorbed into more boundaries on the left, more freedom on the right, so much the better!
To access ‘the three box model’, click here: https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/document/C561FAQERzvWv9FH1KQ/feedshare-document-pdf-analyzed/0/1608691664524?e=1610560800&v=beta&t=Nuo6cFkt24awDY_FRPuJ6ly9citP9HS3ECQAej2f8m8
Where could you try this today? Maybe the Christmas lunch planning?!
