My husband is fighting the clock with all he has. His vision started sliding a few years back, but he refused to accept the fact and get his eyes checked for glasses. It wasn't until our boys finally got irritated enough with him always having to ask them the score and time displayed in the little box at the top of the TV screen during sporting events that they were able to compel him to visit the optometrist. Now that his glasses allow him the clarity he needs, they can all watch sports together in peace again.

Are you looking for clarity as a leader? Read this issue of Promotional Consultant Today.

Leadership writer and pastor Scott Savage believes that teams deserve clarity. The teams we lead need to know exactly what's important, what's unimportant and where to focus time and energy in order to be most effective. In a recent post on Switch and Shift, Savage lays out five steps to achieving leadership clarity.

  • Recognize clarity leaks. You can't always expect clarity from a single meeting or memo. Savage equates message clarity to a small leak in a tire. There will be comprehension leaks over time and your job is to creatively find ways to communicate clarity to your team.

  • Implement clarity at every level. You can't delegate clarity. Leaders are personally responsible for making sure every member of every team has the necessary clarity.

  • Beware of gaps between words and actions. Teams will value the success stories you celebrate and the actions you reward more than words spoken in a meeting. Savage suggests leaders mind the gap, and narrow it whenever possible.

  • Leverage crises and challenges to reinforce clarity. Nothing communicates more about what you really believe than how you react in a crisis. When someone you lead fails, how you respond to that will speak volumes.

  • Wear down skeptics and cynics through consistency and patience. Team members, especially those who have been in place a while, have seen other leaders come and go and may have been burned in the past by a leader who didn't practice clarity. Your best weapon against potential skeptics is consistency. As Savage writes: "Your grit and fidelity to your vision can transform your greatest critics into your greatest cheerleaders."

Just like watching televised sports at our house, teams are more effective when everybody has clarity and knows the score.

Source: Scott Savage is a writer and a pastor, and serves on the executive leadership team at his church in Phoenix. Find his e-book, The Greater Than Challenge: A Guide to Reframing Your Life, at scottsavagelive.com.