3 tips for leading with clarity | Liz Guthridge, Connect Consulting Group

While noting a couple of new related books on the topic of clarity in leadership, Guthridge provides her own useful tips for clarity in writing and other forms of communications:

When striving for clarity, keep in mind these three C’s—call to action, context and consistency—that I encourage my clients to adopt. ... These three C’s help you put yourself in your customers’ shoes. When you are customer-centric, you generally can deliver clearer messages that resonate better.

Guthridge goes on to describe her three C's, summarized below:

1. Call to action. Before you decide what to share, consider what you want people—such as employees—to do. That will help you articulate not just interesting, but also useful information—information that’s actionable. ...

2. Context. Put your points into context of your goals and the day-to-day events and actions that support them. And continue to give concrete examples that show the connections. ...

3. Consistency. Make sure your words and actions are in sync and aligned with the points you’re making. Consistency also needs to extend across the organization ....

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This article is featured in today's (July 26) Garbl's Plain English Paragraphs -- available at the Plain Language tab above and by free email subscription.

For more information on clear, concise writing, check out Garbl's Plain English Writing Guide. In seven steps, it explains how you can  improve your writing skills by using plain-English techniques:

• Focusing on your reader and purpose
• Organizing your ideas
• Writing clear, effective paragraphs
• Writing clear, simple sentences
• Using suitable words
• Creating an enticing design
• Testing for clarity.