Leading Insights for a Changing World
Our first edition explored Understanding. This edition turns to Communication: how leaders share ideas, invite perspectives, and coordinate action with others. Communication is easy to mistake for a message sent. A leader announces a decision, explains a plan, or asks for input and assumes the exchange is complete. Yet every conversation also carries signals through…
In this edition of Leading Reframed, I introduce my CLEAR Communication Model as one way to approach those exchanges with greater intention. The articles also explore how leaders can open dialogue, navigate difficult conversations, and create space for people to participate in what happens next.
As you read, think of a conversation you have been postponing or one that did not go as you hoped. What might change if you approached it with a different question, a different tone, or more room for another voice?
Good coaching depends on more than asking thoughtful questions. It requires a conversation in
which both people understand what is being explored, why it matters, and what should happen
next. The CLEAR Communication Model offers coaches and leaders a practical way to create
that understanding.
The meeting ends with a clear instruction, a firm deadline, and no questions. The leader leaves believing the team is aligned. A week later, the work tells a different story. One person has pursued speed,
another has protected accuracy, and a third has waited for approval that no one realized was necessary.
Everyone heard the same instruction. They did not leave with the same understanding of what it
required.
The familiar response is to communicate again: restate the message, simplify the language, distribute
the slide deck. Sometimes that is exactly what is needed. But repetition cannot resolve a difference that
has never been brought into the conversation. Nor can it reveal a concern that someone decided was
unsafe to express.
The problem may not be that the leader failed to speak clearly. The organization may have treated
speaking clearly as the whole task.
Baseball appears to pause between pitches. In reality, those pauses are filled with
communication.
The catcher lowers a hand between their knees. The pitcher nods, shakes their head, or steps off
the rubber. An infielder moves two steps toward second base. A coach touches an arm. A runner
extends a lead. The umpire settles into position behind the plate.
No words have been exchanged, yet nearly everyone has communicated something.
Baseball is often described through its visible actions: the pitch, the swing, the catch, the throw, and
the run. Underneath those actions is an extensive communication system connecting players,
coaches, umpires, fans, and even opponents. Some messages are intentionally sent. Others are
conveyed through posture, timing, movement, and reaction. Some must be understood immediately.
Others are deliberately concealed.
A baseball game is a conversation conducted largely without sentences.
Leading Insights for a Changing World
One email when a new issue publishes. No spam, no daily noise — just the monthly issue and the occasional important update.
Leading Insights for a Changing World
One email when a new issue publishes. No spam, no daily noise — just the monthly issue and the occasional important update.
