The Importance Of Clear Communication In Flexibility

Most workplace stress doesn’t come from too much work, it comes from unclear work. - Vague tasks that aren’t clearly defined with clear deadlines - Meetings without a purpose during your time of flow state  - Interruptions often kill your momentum and waste hour(s) you might never get back - Projects where everyone’s guessing what “done” means. For neurodivergent brains, this isn’t just frustrating — it’s exhausting. Our mental energy gets taxed by ambiguity before we even start the real work. Here’s the unlock: Clarity = cognitive accessibility. Clarity saves brainpower the way automation saves time. It’s not over-communication, it’s fuel. 🔋 Don’t hestitate the questions: 1. How urgent is it? 2. Is this higher priority over what I'm currently working on? 3. What specifically should I be looking for? 4. Do you want me to read/annotate/edit it? 5. What/who is this document for? 6. When should I do this by? 7. Should I email you or arrange a meeting when I'm done? If you want your team’s brilliance, say what success looks like, why it matters, and when it’s needed. That’s not micromanagement. It’s respect. To give clear instructions, try covering: - What you need - When you need it - Why you need it Clarity isn’t over-communication, it’s kindness.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned as a leader? People crave freedom, but not ambiguity. The challenge is finding the balance between giving employees the flexibility to achieve their goals while providing enough direction to ensure they understand the outcomes you want. Freedom is essential for employees (even very senior ones!) to feel ownership over their work. Employees crave decision-making authority - some control over their time, schedule, and outcomes. This autonomy gives a greater sense of accomplishment when they meet their objectives. However, this freedom can backfire… if there is too much ambiguity. Some leaders accidentally create environments of uncertainty, assuming that they are empowering people by leaving them entirely to their own devices. Sometimes they can’t help but share the new idea of the day, pulling teams right then left. However, even senior leaders want to know what they are solving for, and when a goal is ambiguous, it becomes much harder (or even impossible) to accomplish. Leaders have the obligation to communicate a clear objective and outline expectations. With clear parameters, employees understand the stakes and overall objective of their work. Without them, people may define the task in ways that misalign with the organization's goals or become paralyzed by the lack of direction. As a leader, you can strive to create “overlapping paradigms” - enough freedom AND enough clarity on what you want people to accomplish. The balance between these forces creates two important outcomes: accomplished goals and accomplished employees.

The lack of clarity in organizational communication is one of the leading causes of employee frustration and turnover. In particular, unclear instructions – like the infamous “pls fix” became memes. And yet, the equally unhelpful “Do better, bosses” seems to be the most typical response. But how many have been taught the foundations of clear managerial communication? Let’s do better, shall we – and by that, I mean – let’s clarify how managers can provide clear instructions. But without micromanaging and killing creativity. In this article, I develop a clarity + creativity communication formula by modifying the 5Ws (What, Why, Who, Where, When) and 1H (How) framework used in project management. This can turn "pls fix" into: What (is the task): Streamline the presentation. Why: We want the client to know we do not waste time. How: Focus on the core message – we can deliver results with an efficient and proven process. Provide findings from the latest quarterly report and two examples.  Who: You are responsible. When: It needs to be ready by Tuesday. And then, to support innovative thinking, we can add the C (Creativity) statement like "If you come up with any suggestions for making this even more memorable/impressive/convincing, let me know." The same approach works equally well for the shop or store floor or the boardroom. Read on for more research, examples, and specific cases! None of us are born master communicators. But a structured framework supporting both clarity and autonomy can help. #communication #management #creativity #innovation #clarity #performance #motivation