A recent National Car Rental commercial reminded me of just how important clear, concise communications is for anyone in a leadership role.  I loved the idea of a “business pro” being able to improve ROI (Return on Investment) through SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and getting all this done by COB (Close of Business).  It is a terrific line, but how often do we speak in a way that doesn’t clearly communicate our intent.

We recently did an informal survey of CEO’s regarding what they felt were their key success factors and one item  kept popping up.  That was their ability to clearly communicate the priorities of the company to their next generation leaders and the entire company.  In general, these leaders could tell you what their corporate priorities were but if you asked them if everyone else in the organization could list the same top priorities, there were a lot of puzzled looks.

If you are able to list your top priorities for the year, take the time now to clearly and concisely communicate those to the rest of your team.  If you’ve flinched at all to the question of “does everyone know our top priorities for the year”, then endeavor to clearly articulate them by COB today!