You can’t have a great employee experience without clarity. And if you lack clarity, growth will be a struggle.
What do I mean by clarity? I’m talking about three primary areas:
- Who are we?
- Where are we going?
- What should I be doing?
Let’s take the last one first. Starting in the hiring process, you need to be clear about responsibilities and expectations. And then you need to help them achieve those expectations from day one. Without clarity, their employment starts with an expectations gap that can almost never be bridged.
Second, you need clarity around business goals. What are you trying to achieve? Where are you going? What is important for everyone to do right now? Without that clarity, people just put their heads down and do whatever they think they should be doing.
Third, and maybe most importantly, you need clarity around your culture. People need to know who you are. What behaviors are encouraged and what are out of bounds. Think about it as what you always do and what you never do. Without that clarity, culture becomes the worst behavior you’re willing to tolerate.
In almost every employee survey I have conducted or reviewed, employees fault the company for a lack of communication. Nine times out of ten, they’re referring to a lack of clarity in one or more of these three areas. It’s not that they want more email or meetings.
No. What they want is the clarity that leads to a great employee experience. And growth.
Is that what you want? Try being clear.