06/08/2026
🔑 The leader who communicated intent but not instruction 🔑
📌 A Managing Director I worked with had the same conversation with three different members of his team, each on a separate occasion, in the same week — about the same project.
Each time, he thought he had resolved it. By Friday, it still had not moved.
📌 When I sat with him to review the conversations, the problem became clear.
📌 He had been communicating intent rather than giving instructions. He was describing what he wanted to achieve, not what he needed each person to do and by when.
📌 His team was capable. They were also confused. Capable, confused people do not deliver — they check with each other, wait, and eventually do something safe.
📌 We redesigned how he opened project conversations. The new format had three elements: the outcome, my specific role in it, and what I need from you and by when.
Two weeks later, the project had moved.
📌 The problem was never the team. It was a lack of clarity — and clarity is always the leader's responsibility.
How clear are your team's current priorities — not to you, but to them?
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