·  The Podcast to Maximize Your Impact as a Leader  ·

Tasking Miscues that Cost Leaders Trust

How Clarity Comes to the Rescue

Picture one of your best workers. Talented. Committed. The kind who says "yes" and means it. Now picture this person, after three long days of work on something you asked for, walking into your office a little proud, a little nervous — only to hear five spirit-crushing words: "That's not what I wanted."

In that moment, something breaks. Not the deadline. Not the deliverable. Something quieter and far more expensive: the worker's confidence in you as a leader.

In this episode, Dr. Mike Armour makes a case that most executives underestimate: for leaders, clarity is not a communication skill. It's a critical strategy for building trust. And at the senior executive level, it may be the single most underrated driver of trust.

Dr. Armour lays out the four questions that every leader must answer in tasking conversations to assure that the leader and the person being tasked share a common perspective on the issue at hand. The questions are:

• Where are we now?
• Where do we need to go?
• How will we get there?
• And how will we know when we've done well?

These questions force clarity on the leaders and provide clarity for the workers. Dr. Armour argues that clarity isn't a soft skill you get to after the real work of leadership. Especially in top leadership positions, it is as vital to the real work as integrity and excellence. Trust, he says, is the quiet currency you spend to buy the one thing you cannot lead without: the trust of your people.