Have you ever heard a leader say, “I thought they knew what they were supposed to do?” Have you ever said that about those you lead? Either situation should make us cringe.

Leaders’ No. 1 job is to create clarity in their organizations. Lack of clarity leads to lack of accountability and, ultimately, frustration and conflict.

As much as we’d like to think we aren’t, humans are animals. Social animals. In the wild social animals are led by an alpha who provides guidance (usually in the form of violence) on what is acceptable behavior in the pack.

Animals also have little capacity to process language, so all of their clues about what is acceptable and how to be accountable come from the alpha’s behavior.

When an alpha—in the wild or in business—is unclear about the behavior that is acceptable and the consequences for not showing the right behaviors, the animals in the group will demonstrate the behaviors they believe the alpha wants. If the alpha doesn’t punish or correct those behaviors, their group members will continue doing those activities until their alpha erupts with frustration, which the alpha actually caused.

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