Introduction to clarity
Clarity in communication means that the listener can hear, understand, and accurately interpret the message you’re sending. In other words, they can correctly interpret what your message means, not just the words you’re saying or writing.
For example, while on a mission with your team to identify an enemy location you ask, “Is the enemy to the left?” and your teammate responds, “Right.” This is not clear communication. Do they mean, “Yes, you’re correct and the enemy is on the left?” Or, do they mean, “Negative, the enemy is on the right?” If you’re facing a different direction than your teammate, whose left or right? Clear communication can help you understand each other quickly and efficiently.
To help you increase the clarity of your communication, you can:
- Reduce noise and distractions.
- If you’re in a noisy environment, do what you can to either reduce the noise or move to a quieter location. This can help your listener hear you better. If reducing noise isn’t possible, you can use gestures or visual signals to communicate clearly.
- Have a clear picture of what you want to communicate.
- If you don’t know what you’re trying to say, chances are your listener won’t either.
- Clarify what you’re thinking in your head before speaking. It can be helpful to create and use a checklist (much like aviators’ pre-flight checklists) or an outline to help you remember the important points of your message.
- Speak simply.
- The more information you share, the more chances there are for misunderstandings. So the more plainly you communicate, the better. Your information is more likely to be correctly understood if it’s simple. This means use less jargon and acronyms, especially when communicating with people who are unfamiliar with them, such as those outside your team or civilians.
- Make your message relevant to your listener.
- If you’re speaking on a more complex topic, be sure to define the new or more complicated terms and compare new concepts to things your listeners probably already understand.
- Whether you’re speaking or writing, make it clear why your message is important for them.
- Put aside your personal biases.
- Your attitudes and biases affect the clarity and accuracy of your message. This can leave your listener guessing what you mean.
- Confront your personal biases before communicating with others. This helps you make sure what you have to say is accurate.
How to use clarity
Though there are many reasons why you need to communicate clarity in your personal and professional interactions, these 3 ways are probably the most relevant to you as a Service Member:
- Communicate clarity for mission success.
Clear and specific instructions are vital for mission success. Since issuing and obeying orders are the basis of military protocol, it's essential that leaders communicate clearly. If they don’t and their team has to apply their own “interpretation” of what’s said, this can put their mission at risk. For mission success, leaders should always provide straightforward orders and communicate simply when sharing information.
- Communicate clarity to improve team health and performance.
When Service Members serve in high-demands roles, clear guidance on their roles and behaviors can decrease depression and burnout. Clarity helps Service Members clearly understand what’s expected of them and, when coupled with social support, can decrease the stressors of the demanding job and even increase tolerance to greater job demands.
Additionally, when leaders use clarity in their communication, Service Members trust them more. Trust is important for the health and safety of teams, and can affect team cohesion and morale.
- Communicate clarity to resolve conflict.
Misunderstandings are common when communication lacks clarity. And misunderstandings can lead to conflict. When someone doesn’t understand what the other person means or interprets the message differently than the speaker intended, it can escalate conflict. Although avoiding conflict completely in your interpersonal relationships is impossible, using clarity in your communication can help ward off unnecessary conflict. Additionally, using clarity in your conflict resolution can help restore understanding and improve your relationships.
Ideas for how to adapt clarity
How you use your “clarity tool” is different based on the situation. For example, in your personal and professional relationships, clarity is used differently when you're in a position of authority as compared to when you’re communicating with a peer. Clarity is also used differently when you're giving orders as compared to when you’re clarifying misunderstandings during conflict.
Regardless of the situation and its context, it’s helpful to ask for feedback from others to improve your clarity. No matter their level of understanding, if you ask, “Do you understand me?,” they’ll likely respond with an obvious “yes.” So, instead of asking, “Do you understand me?” ask for more specific feedback such as, “What do I want you to do?” From their responses, you can make sure they correctly understand what you meant. Asking for and receiving feedback from your listeners can help you clear up or adjust your communication to increase your clarity.
Reflection
To help you think about when to pick up your clarity tool and improve your communication toolbox, reflect on:
- In what situations do I already communicate with clarity?
- How does communicating with clarity in these situations affect my personal and professional relationships?
- In what situations do I want to communicate with clarity?
- How would communicating with clarity in those situations affect my relationships, both personally and professionally?
- What’s my plan to improve how I communicate with clarity?
- What resources can I use to improve my clarity skills?
- What’s my plan if I’m struggling to communicate with clarity?
- How will I ask for feedback when communicating with clarity?
- What other communication toolbox skills can I try?
Additional resources: Clarity
Check out these other HPRC articles about clarity:
