Welcome to Lead with Clarity!
Many leaders struggle with the kind of clear thinking that allows teams to easily accomplish mission-focused, valuable work. This shiny, new substack is where I will be writing about how to bring clarity and effectiveness to the teams you lead.
I have worked for some mediocre and bad leaders in my career. Not only that, I’ve been a bad leader myself. Along the way, I’ve noticed a few things that good leaders consistently do and communicate to empower their teams:
Each team member recognizes that they’re known as individual persons who are valued by their employer and boss
Team members are able to tie the day-to-day work each one does to something important that makes the world better in some way
Team members know how to measure whether they’re succeeding in the job they’ve been hired to do
Team members clearly understand what their organization stands for and what it will or won’t tolerate in the way of acceptable behavior
Team members know what the organizational strategy is, what’s most important right now, and how to prioritize the tasks on his or her plate
Leaders have clear self-awareness of his or her strengths and weaknesses and how to best stay out of their own way
Leaders have a clear awareness of the talents and energies and passions of their direct reports and how to help everyone under his or her care succeed
Leaders are able to discern what’s important vs. what’s urgent
Most of what you read here is going to be about how to create the kind of clear thinking and action that leads to your team (of any size) being valued, safe, focused and successful. Working with others is hard, but sometimes we make it harder than it has to be. If you are aware of what makes you special, and the unique way you reflect the image of God, it’s so much easier to stay out of your own way. And, if you’re aware of what makes each of your teammates special - what their superpowers are - it’s so much easier to lean into those diverse talents to succeed.
This Substack newsletter is completely free. It’s designed to be a resource for Christians in leadership roles, from parent to operations manager to pastor to executive to project manager to head barista to small business owner. I want to help Christians be better leaders in every sphere of life and see Jesus glorified as we embrace and celebrate the image of His Father in every person we have the privilege of working with and serving.
I’m happy to interact in the comments with subscribers and will do my best to keep up, but don’t expect an instant response. One of the ways I keep margin in my life is turning off most notifications to keep from being distracted from what’s actually happening in a given moment. I’ll be back to comments every few days, though, and glad to engage about anything I write.
–James