Clarifying Team Objectives

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.

Is your team paralyzed by complexity, or are you driving results with clarity and aligned execution? Far too often, companies get trapped in cycles of over-analysis and internal competition, where personal brand-building overshadows creating real business value. This environment not only slows progress but also erodes confidence and accountability, especially when leadership doesn’t set the tone or communicate a compelling vision. The path to transformation starts at the top, with leaders who clarify direction, build true alignment, and foster a culture where execution and action are non-negotiable. When advising C-level teams, I use a simple but powerful framework: 🤜 Clarify the vision and priorities, ensuring they are understood, not just announced. 🤜 Create real alignment by mapping team incentives and metrics to shared objectives, not individual fiefdoms. 🤜 Cultivate a bias for thoughtful action, making decisions and learning by doing, rather than over-analyzing or second-guessing. 🤜 Drive accountability with regular touchpoints and honest feedback, reinforcing wins and redirecting when needed. Model and reward the behaviors that build trust, momentum, and progress. Change doesn’t happen by chance, it happens when leaders commit to clarity, alignment, and action at every turn. #leadershipculture #getthingsdone #organizationalalignment #visionandexecution #growthmindset

In sports, powerful execution is easy to spot. The boundaries are clear, the scorekeeping is obvious, and there's even a referee to enforce the rules. Take Bill Belichick, an enormously successful former NFL coach. He didn't talk much about winning championships—he focused on defining jobs. His players weren't just told to "win the game." They were given clear, specific, and measurable tasks to master. In business, execution gets much messier. How do you know you've done enough? The landscape shifts constantly, making it tempting to simply react to each new challenge. I learned this firsthand when launching a new product line at a company I worked for years ago. We had the vision, the talent, and the resources—but we were drowning in complexity. We missed our goals, which attracted unwanted attention of senior leadership and the board. I learned the hard way that powerful execution had three essential steps: 1. Define the boundaries – What does success look like this week, month, or quarter? 2. Simplify the complex – Break the vision into smaller, digestible, and measurable steps that you can easily report. 3. Assign clear ownership – Who is responsible for what? One way to define a leader is as someone who steps into chaos and creates order. The true test isn't managing the complexity—it's piercing through it. Without this clarity, you're drifting. Just as Belichick's players excelled through role clarity, your team needs specific, actionable direction. They need boundaries they understand and roles they can own. If you want your vision to translate into powerful execution, ask yourself: 1. Have I simplified this enough for my team to understand what success looks like this week and this month? 2. Have I made success measurable? 3. Does every person know their role? When clarity replaces chaos, your team doesn't just move—they execute with purpose. 

I've worked with hundreds of teams, and the #1 request that team members consistently make of their leaders surprises me every time. No, they don't wish their bosses were more warm toward them. No, they don't wish they gave them more compliments. What they actually want is much simpler: “I really wish my manager was more clear.” They want to know where they actually stand in terms of performance, rather than some weird mind voodoo about “growth opportunities.” They want to know exactly what they could be doing better rather than some vague, passive-aggressive notion of “be more collaborative” or “take more ownership.” They want to know if their ideas are actually being considered and would prefer an outright “no, not this time,” rather than some blanket corporate speak of “we're processing everything...” Above all, what teams crave is CLARITY: “I wish I knew where I stood” “I wish I knew what I could exactly do differently” “I wish I knew where we were going with the overall strategy” “I wish I knew what the rest of the team was working on and what is going on” They want to know what you actually mean, rather than what you think they want to hear. How do you create this clarity? One of the best ways to do this is to SET UP A TOPIC MARKER. That is, signal that something important is coming -- so they don't mistake your significant message for “just another thing I should be roughly aware of.” For example, when you want to be clear about a person's performance: 🔴 Don’t just say this: “It'd be great if you could try this next time.” 🟢 Try saying this: “Let’s take a moment to check in and get on the same page about your performance.” Or, when you want to be clear about team direction: 🔴 Don’t just say this: “Here's what we're working on.” 🟢 Try saying this: “I want to emphasize what our overall direction is and why.” You'll notice in the ineffective examples, you're rushing into talking about the topic without first signaling its importance. Set the stage. Flag their attention. Mark the topic. -- I wrote more in-depth about how to create this clarity in last week's newsletter. Link to the piece is in the comments below.

One of the best ways to build stronger teams and deliver great results is simple: get clear on expectations. Whether you're leading a project or completing a task, clarity is everything. Always know: What needs to get done When it’s due How good it needs to be At Infinitive, every project starts with a detailed SOW outlining roles, responsibilities, and timelines. Clear agreements upfront reduce rework, ensure happy clients, and keep projects on track. This lesson isn’t new to me. Growing up with my dad and brother in the Army, I learned that even life-or-death missions hinge on clear orders. The Army teaches that clarity is a two-way street: the person giving the order must be specific, and the receiver must confirm they understand. While our work isn’t life-or-death, clear expectations lead to better outcomes, happier teams, and stronger relationships. Always feel empowered to ask clarifying questions and repeat back what’s expected. Great results start with clarity. Make it a habit. 

When the plan falls apart, what keeps your team moving forward? Before launching on an A-10 close air support combat mission, we always received updates on the ground commander’s intent. That context was critical. It helped us make fast, tactical decisions that aligned with the broader strategic objective. The whole point of a commander’s intent is to give the team clarity and flexibility. It provides a shared purpose and empowers people to act, even when the situation is chaotic or the original plan no longer applies. In high-stakes environments, that clarity makes all the difference. As A-10 pilots, we had to be ready for just about anything. Understanding the intent behind the mission allowed us to adapt in real time because we knew the objective, we understood the why, and we were clear on how much risk we could take to get the job done. The same applies in any organization. If your team understands your intent, they’re better equipped to make decisions, respond to the unexpected, and seize opportunities without waiting for step-by-step instructions. So how can you help your team feel that sense of clarity and empowerment? ▶️ Explain the “why” behind goals, missions, and policies . . . not just the “what.” ▶️ Encourage questions. Clarity builds confidence. ▶️ Share your decision-making process so others can model it. ▶️ Once the team understands your intent, trust them to act on it. Clear intent fuels confident action. Even when things don’t go as planned, your team can still move forward with purpose. #LeadWithCourage

“The oncall keeps assigning random tickets to my team!”, a manager yelled, “My team is not the dedicated operational team they can dump all problems on. We have to deliver features for customers and evolve our system architecture for long term, just like other software engineering teams. This is not fair!” “Well, maybe it is time to clarify what your team’s charter is.” I answered, “define what you own, and most importantly what you do NOT own. And make sure people agree with you” A big part of a manager's job is helping their team create a solid team charter. It's kinda like a fence between neighbors - it sets the boundaries and responsibilities for the team, so everyone knows what's what. Much like a fence, a team charter has to be built on solid ground. It starts by clearly laying out the team's purpose, mission, and goals - the whole reason the team exists. This shared understanding gives the team a strong foundation to build on and guides their work. But the real value of a team charter is in setting boundaries. These rules and limits spell out what each team member is responsible for, and more importantly, what they are NOT responsible for. They create a framework for how the team communicates, works together, and resolves conflicts. Without these parameters, the team could end up drifting into uncharted territory, kinda like a property line with no fence. Now, a team charter isn't set in stone. Over time, things can change - maybe a new person joins the team, or the goals shift. When that happens, the charter needs to be revisited and the boundaries re-evaluated and reinforced. Just like a fence that starts to wobble or a foundation that settles, a team charter can get outdated and unclear. The team leaders have to stay on top of maintaining this important document, making sure the boundaries stay well-defined and respected by everyone. By having a solid team charter, organizations empower their teams to work with clarity, focus, and mutual understanding. It's like a well-built fence - a foundation for productive collaboration, minimizing conflicts and fostering trust and respect.