Clear Before Clever
Without instant understanding and obvious benefit, a message flounders and is lost before it has a chance to find its way home. Clarity of intent and purpose is paramount to communication success. Yet too many leaders are more interested in making an impact and proving their own intellect or importance. They seek to be clever before they've earned an audience who cares.
Clear storytelling is vital, but total clarity of value and personal meaning requires far more than words. Being clear also means knowing the precise goal of the engagement, the full vision of success, who will benefit and how, and why the interaction is important enough to engage in. Without these deeper aspects of comprehensive clarity, even the most clever speaker or team manager misses their mark.
You Can’t Force What You Can’t Feel
We're often told that to win attention in a meeting or session, we should open with a joke. Maybe share a little-known factoid about ourselves: "I'm Steve, I love tacos, my favorite hobby skiing, and I live in Chicago." Maybe comment on the weather or yesterday's ball game. Anything to sound accessible, likable, folksy.
Such cleverness is almost always come across disingenuous and forced. It may feel creative, but it lacks connective value. Until the reason for speaking is clear to the listener, they can't invest in such artifice.
Winning communication is about transformation. Before the cleverness kicks in, the team needs to know their time is being well spent. That benefit clarity begins with answers to their most pressing questions:
✔ What change is in store, and why should I care?
✔ Which new skill or worthy outcome is at stake?
✔ How will paying attention pay off in measurable ways?
✔ Where will my investment in you lead me?
Power of Process: Where Do We Stand?
Nothing activates like process. Specific actions leading to specific results. Memorable #CorporateStorytelling offers a clear view of achievable steps that, one by one, empower reachable success.
Without process clarity, bold promises and excessive hype have no shoulders to stand on. Too many topics, too much change, and too little safety lead to too big a question mark.
Process is the reliable plan of attack. It's the proof of concept that justifies the talk or meeting. No plan, no buy-in. No buy-in, no deliverable. Think of a clear process as an invitation to partnership. When the listener understands the shared target, they're more likely to contribute to its realization.
That's when cleverness can join the story. With clarity of purpose firmly established, inspiration and motivation compel action. We know where we stand and where we want to go. Now the joke, lived experience, or mutually appreciated story adds spark to take the internalized message and run it toward the goal line.
Bottom Line
Brené Brown says "Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind." To be kind to our audience—our team, our colleague, our friend—we have to speak and act with clarity of meaning and behavior. Once that's established, our cleverness can take root.
Philosopher Henri Frederic Amiel said, "Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing." There's nothing a little cleverness won't enhance and entice, but not until we see what needs enhancing and feel what needs enticing.
Craft the message to be clear before clever and our impact skyrockets. Everyone is on board and ready for the ride.
