Episode 244: Clarity - A Leader’s Secret Weapon

Darrin Peppard (00:00.984)

Have you ever felt, as a leader, like you're just running from one issue to the next? I mean, your day is full. You're solving problems. You're answering questions. You're checking the boxes. But somehow, you end the day realizing you didn't actually move the needle on what matters most. If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Every leader I know has been there, caught in this swirl of busyness, where urgency overshadows their purpose.

Here's a truth bomb for you. You don't need more time. You don't need to work longer hours. What you need is clarity. Clarity is what turns activity into progress. Clarity is what allows you to say no to the noise. Clarity is what allows you to say yes to what truly drives impact. Today on episode 244 of the Leaning Into Leadership podcast, we are gonna talk about clarity.

and how great leaders leverage clarity to truly impact their organization. Before we do that, I want to talk about our new partners at Digicoach. Let's face it, leadership is complex. Between meetings, management, and everything else that's on your plate, finding time for meaningful feedback can be tough. That is where Digicoach comes in. This powerful walkthrough and coaching platform helps leaders simplify the complexity

of observation and feedback so you can focus on what really matters, students and instruction. With Digicoach, you can collect real-time data during classroom visits, identify trends, and then turn that information into clear, supportive coaching conversations. It's all about helping leaders provide feedback that's consistent, timely, and centered on growth, not on gotchas. Because when coaching becomes part of your daily routine, everyone wins.

You'll build trust, strength and alignment and drive continuous improvement across your school. So if you're ready to bring more clarity, consistency and confidence to your leadership, visit digicoach.com and mention that I sent you for some special partner pricing. Once again, that's digicoach.com. Now let's dive into today's episode. When I talk about clarity, I'm not just talking about having a plan or having a checklist. To me, clarity is alignment.

Darrin Peppard (02:27.862)

It's alignment between your purpose, your priorities, and your actions. When leaders are clear about what matters most, they don't chase every fire that pops up. They don't allow distractions to dictate their direction. And most importantly, they give their teams something solid to hold onto. A vision that anchors them when things get messy. You see, without clarity, that's when we tend to drift.

We tend to lose sight. We tend to start chasing things that don't necessarily tie to what we have as a goal. What happens? People lose confidence. Energy gets scattered. That is when frustration starts to show up. That's when burnout starts to creep in. And we all know Brene Brown said clear is kind. When leaders are clear, they remove confusion. They make it easier for people to succeed.

I mean, the reality is you can't hit a target if you don't know what it is. So having that level of clarity is what allows trust to build. When your team knows what to expect and why it matters, why it's important, that is when they really start to buy in and start to trust you as a leader. And it all comes back to clarity.

But here's the thing, clarity doesn't happen by accident. It's built with intention. And it always starts with you as the leader. So let's talk about some steps that you can take to gain more clarity, not only for yourself, but for within your organization. The first step toward leader clarity is intentional work. You can expect your team to be clear. good God, let's try again.

Darrin Peppard (04:24.878)

see, I gotta get a time mark here. Okay, that's about the 415 mark. Okay. The first step toward clarity is internal work. You can't expect your team to be clear if you aren't. So ask yourself, what is my purpose as a leader? What are my top three priorities? And does my time really reflect those priorities? Because your calendar really is the truest reflection of your clarity.

A wonderful article by Hubert Jolly that's in the Harvard Business Review. I'll link it in the show notes for you. Hubert Jolly, former CEO of Best Buy, talked about living from his priorities, living from his values. That's what we really need here. Make sure that you are super clear about your purpose, which was the first of Jolly's five areas. He said, make sure you are clear about your purpose as a leader.

Make sure you're clear about your priorities. So what are your top three priorities? And then again, edit your or rather audit your calendar to find out does my time actually reflect my priorities? Stephen Covey said it very, very well. The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but rather to schedule your priorities. That's a quote that hits hard because most of us spend our days reacting.

answering the next email that comes flying in or fixing the next problem that happens to come our way. But great leaders really take control of their time. They make space for reflection. They build in time to be intentional about relationship building. And ultimately they have their eye on results. Clarity means pausing long enough to ask, does this align with my purpose? Before you say yes to something.

Let's be honest, as a leader, you have people come at you all the time with ideas or requests or asks. If those things don't bring you closer to your purpose, if they don't bring you closer to your vision, you need to be willing to say no, but you can't do that unless you take that pause. So take that pause and ask, does this align with my purpose? Does this align with my vision for our organization? Before you say yes.

Darrin Peppard (06:52.365)

Now I learned this the hard way early in my career. Early in my career as a leader, I was in full superhero mode. I was trying to fix everything and help everyone. I was super busy. I mean, I'm sure it looked like I was absolutely doing a great job, but I was not effective. A leadership coach helped me see that I was being reactive instead of intentional. Once I identified what success looked like for me and for my team, everything changed.

Decisions got easier, my days had purpose, and my team began to trust that when I said something mattered, it really did. Why? Because I had clarity. That's what clarity does for you. It focuses your energy and builds confidence in those around you. Once you find your own clarity, the next step is helping others find theirs.

Clarity has this thing about spreading through communication and through consistency. Your people should be able to answer three very simple questions. Number one, where are we going? What's our vision? Number two, why does it matter? What impact is this going to ultimately have? And number three, how does my work contribute? What is my role in this vision?

If they can answer those three questions, you've created great alignment. If they can't, you need to go back and work back through that. Make sure that they understand your vision. Make sure that they understand their role in achieving that vision and making it come to life.

clarity isn't built through a single speech. It's not built through a memo. Not in any way, shape or form. Clarity is built over time. It's built through repetition. It's built through modeling. So here's three ways, I think three very practical ways that you can inspire clarity within your team. Number one, communicate clearly. Really communicate what your vision is. Make your vision so simple.

Darrin Peppard (09:07.169)

that anyone could explain it in a single sentence and then repeat it often as often as possible. Don't talk about it once and just hope that it happens. You need to breathe life into that vision by talking about it constantly. You see, if you don't, that's when clarity fades. So you as the leader, you need to keep that fresh constantly.

in front of others, so continue to speak to that vision. Number two, model it all the time. People believe in what they see a whole lot more than what they hear. Your actions speak louder than words. We've heard that before. We know that. If you preach collaboration, but make every decision in isolation, your actions drown out your words. You need to model consistently.

what it is you want to see, what it is that you would love everybody else to be doing. Because if you don't do it, there's no way they're going to do

Darrin Peppard (10:15.851)

make sure you're modeling. And number three, empower it. Be intentional here. Invite others to that conversation. Invite them into defining success. Ask them simply, how does this connect to our purpose? And what do you need clarity on before you move forward? The more that they can define success, the more that collectively you can say this is what success will look like, the more likely they are to take ownership.

When people own clarity, they own their roles. They develop agency. And agency is what creates momentum. Then instead of just you as the leader driving the vision, your team is driving and owning that vision.

Darrin Peppard (11:08.201)

Next up is creating a culture of clarity. Once you've got that team on board, now make it a part of your culture. The goal isn't just for you to be clear here. This is for everybody to be clear. It's to build a culture of genuine clarity. Man, that is when everything transforms. A culture of clarity exists when everyone understands the purpose, the why.

when roles are clearly defined. The more that they do, that is when accountability really starts to feel like shared ownership instead of this top-down control or looking to catch you doing things wrong. It's we are in this together. It's that word accountability stops being about consequence or ultimatum and becomes, don't want to let anybody else on this team down.

That is what accountability should be. And that type of accountability only happens when you have a culture of clarity. How do you build that? Well, make sure everybody's aligned around a shared goal. Regularly check in. Hold meetings where people are discussing outcomes, not just tasks. Ask things like, what are we trying to achieve and how will we know when we get there?

so that it isn't just you defining success, it's everybody collectively saying, man, when we get this accomplished, when we get to where we wanna be, this is what it will look like. Because it becomes a shared vision, a shared image of what success is, not just you as the leader.

You can be a good leader and just have that vision without it being shared. But if you want to be a great leader, man, get aligned around share goals.

Darrin Peppard (13:06.093)

Two, make the invisible visible. Yeah, share data, share progress, share the wins openly, share the failures openly. When people see how others are doing work and how that connects to the mission, to that vision, man, does engagement just start to soar. It also continues to reinforce trust.

when you're open and transparent about, here's our data. This is the reality of who we are right now. Whether that's good, or indifferent.

Same thing with progress. Same thing with the wins, and again with the failures. Just be open and authentic. Back to Hubert Jolly. That was number five for him. Be authentic. Being authentic means that you're going to make the invisible visible. Here it is. Here's who I am. Here's what I would love to see. And then celebrate aligned behaviors. Recognition is what reinforces clarity. You've heard me say it here on the show a number of times.

recognize, reward, reinforce what it is that you want to see. When someone acts in line with your values or within the areas of your priorities, when somebody is doing the things that you want to see done, celebrate it publicly. It really tells everybody, this is what matters here. This is what we want to see here. We have this tendency not to celebrate the things we want to see and just tend to focus on the things we don't want to see.

You want to build a culture of clarity, you've got to have that celebration built in, where when the things you want to see happen, you call it out, you thank it, you congratulate them, you allow them to be that positive example. What a great way to grow a team.

Darrin Peppard (15:04.94)

Watch for some warning signs here because clarity might fade when you have mixed messages, when you have competing priorities, or when leaders start giving different directions. That may tell you that your culture of clarity is maybe starting to wane just a little bit. When you see that, that's the moment to pause, to regroup, and to realign. Don't wait for it to self-correct. You gotta step in as a leader.

and sure that gets taken care of. Clarity is not a one-time achievement. It's a leadership discipline, and it requires constant attention and constant intention.

As we wrap up today's episode, I want to leave you with a challenge. If I've asked the people that you lead, what your top three priorities are, would they get the same answer as what answer you gave when I asked earlier, what are your top three priorities? I think it's a wonderful question. It's one thing to say I know what my priorities are, but do the people that you lead that you are charged with leading, do they know what your priorities are?

If not, that is your next step. Start by getting clear for yourself what truly matters most right now, then communicate it, live it, make space for your team to align around it. Remember, clarity begins with you. Clarity grows through communication. And clarity becomes culture when everyone is focused on that same purpose. The clearer you are,

the more confident your people are going to be, the more likely they are to hit the target that you want to have them hit. Clarity. It is your secret weapon, leader. It is your secret weapon. Hey, thanks for joining me here on this solo episode of the Leaning Into Leadership podcast. If you're ready to gain more clarity in your leadership and help your team do the same, grab a free copy of my awesome Leadership Action Guide.

Darrin Peppard (17:16.766)

at DarrenPepper.com. There's also a link down in the show notes for you to go directly to the awesome Leadership Action Guide. But please go spend a little time at DarrenPepper.com. Check out our brand new website, get on our mailing list, and check out some of the incredible things that we have to offer you and your leadership team.

When leaders lead with clarity, organizations move with purpose. That's the message from today's episode. Until next time, keep leaning in, keep leading well, and remember, the road to awesome is always about becoming clearer and more intentional. Thank you so much for joining me on Leaning Into Leadership. Until next time.

Have a road to awesome week.