What exactly does it mean to set direction? Setting direction is determining the goals, targets and goals desired in our lives. Setting a direction can also be known as setting a clear direction for goals , both for personal and collective life, such as corporate goals.

Setting or determining the direction that we can find in everyday life. For example, determine where the west is by using the compass pointer online, compass compass online or we can do it conventionally by learning how to determine the direction of the compass. Logically, if the direction of the wind alone needs to be studied, then determining the right direction for life certainly also needs to be had, right?

A Clear Message is Needed to Establish the Right Direction

In life, everyone on this earth must know where they are going, at least this is a clear statement made by David Scholz to us all. David Scholz is the head of marketing at Leger Marketing, a strategic research and marketing company in Canada with more than 600 employees. Scholz asserted that setting direction is the main task of a leader. However, determining the right and clear direction can only be done when we deliver a clear message to others . In short, giving a clear message is an important skill that must be possessed by leaders.

In his statement, David Scholz said that “If no one tells you, then you will set your own direction”. How is the result? As a result, if there are 100 employees in the company, the 100 employees will go in different directions.

Life always offers us very fast changes. This condition has made almost all leaders in the organization or company to continually clarify or explain the direction of the company. Does this need to be done? Yep! Of course. By setting clear directions, employees will be more confident in making their contributions. They know, where companies bring their career destinies. Will the company lead them to career success or vice versa?

To set the right direction, we need to have a clear message. In this case, the leader always describes the future through “vision”. Successful leaders are certainly able to paint an interesting picture of the future, especially about how the company, leaders and all employees achieve success in the future. David Scholz said that setting the right direction in the future is a very important action. Why? Because if we can’t articulate something clearly, then everyone will interpret our message with different views.

In other words, each leader must be able to set direction, create shared goals and guide the behavior of each subordinate. Therefore, every leader needs to develop their vision clearly, especially about the company’s future direction. By describing the right direction for the future, we will have clear guidelines for moving forward.

In addition to vision, a message must also have clear and consistent content so that people who read it become more trustworthy. According to David Scholz, clear messages and visions not only benefit others, but themselves. A clear message will increasingly make employees, clients, business partners and executives more confident with the company’s future

A clear message will also provide strong expectations for the recipients of the message. Expectations will become very clear when the message sets out the responsibilities each employee has, so that employees know what they will get when they are able to fulfill all their responsibilities. In addition, employees will also understand how their work can contribute to the company’s vision. In other words, a clear message will create convincing expectations.

There are other things that we need to think about besides vision, message and hope that is, performance. Through performance, employees want to know what expectations leaders have for them. Employees also want to know that their leaders always pay attention to their hard work. Therefore, leaders must explain their expectations regarding employee performance very clearly. Also, don’t forget to give them feedback, because providing feedback will guide employees to become clearer with company expectations.

Through a clear description of performance, employees will understand how they should value the discussions held with their coworkers, how they should support or provide support to colleagues, and so forth.

How can a clear message be conveyed properly? 

Try to take the time so that we can think well about what things become very important and become part of our focus. Make all of them as priorities and goals that we want to achieve. If we already have the priorities we want, then include all of them in a clear message, which we will share with all employees.

In addition, to ascertain whether the message we are compiling is clear or not, we need to hold weekly meetings with our team. Find out whether all employees already have a clear view or articulation of the message we convey? If not, then try to realign it. Make our message as specific as possible, until all employees are really clear about the meaning of the message. Give maximum effort to reduce ambiguity by reducing jargon that makes other people confused. Avoid words that lead to ambiguity, especially when we make presentations, written communication or discussion meetings in the office.

A sense of confusion will damage the performance of employees, and as a leader it is a very important task to set the right direction with a clear message. Thus, employee performance will increase and shared goals will be more easily achieved.