The Clarity Compass

If you’re constantly fielding “Got a minute?” questions from your team, here’s the hard truth: your decision-making process lives entirely in your head, and no one else can see it.

The Clarity Compass fixes that. 👇

The Clarity Compass is a one-page cheat sheet that captures the exact four filters you (likely unconsciously) use when making any high-level decision. When your team has it, they can make decisions as good (or even better) than you would, without pulling you into every choice.

Here’s how to build one:

Your “North” is your 3-Year Target…your clearly stated revenue and profit goals. This is where every decision must begin, because if it doesn’t get the company closer to its goals, there’s no reason to move forward.

For example…

If a decision doesn’t push toward this target, it’s a distraction.

Your “South” is where you write out your Company Purpose (a.k.a. your “Why”)…the impact you want to have on the world. Your company purpose statement should be:

IMPORTANT: Avoid fluffy, meaningless statements like, “We help humanity thrive…” that will only make your employee’s eyes roll.

Some of my favorite company purpose statements are:

Remember, it doesn’t have to be world-changing to be inspiring…it just has to be real.

Your “East” is where you list out your Core Values…the behaviors you protect at all costs.

IMPORTANT: This should NOT be a list of obvious, “permission-to-play” values like “Honesty,” “Integrity,” and “Hard work.” (If you’re going to list those, you might as well include “Breaths oxygen” while you’re at it.)

These should be the unique traits that define how you and your team operate…the behaviors that define your culture and the ones that you will hire, train, and (if necessary) fire by.

Your “West” is where you list out your Strategic Anchors…the unique, differentiated competitive advantages that enable you and your team to win in the marketplace.

No company can be great at everything, so it’s important that you maintain a list of your strengths (as well as your weaknesses) to ensure you’re only pursuing opportunities where your strengths give you a real shot at victory.

The next time an important decision needs to be made, instruct your team to run it through each of the “Four Cases” on your Clarity Compass in the following order:

If the answer to any of these questions is “No,” then the decision is “No”…or “Not right now.”

It’s that simple.

⚡ Action Step: Download the Clarity Compass template and schedule a time to fill in all four points with your leadership team. Once completed, make it a rule that everyone brings a copy of the Clarity Compass to every meeting, every planning session, and (most importantly) every time they come to you with a decision.

Soon, instead of hearing “Got a minute?” you’ll start hearing, “I ran it through the Clarity Compass, and here’s what I think we should do.”

P.S. The Clarity Compass is just one of the six (6) tools that make up a complete company “Operating System.”

If you’d like our help building out a custom “OS” that de-bottlenecks you from your business so you can scale your company (without sacrificing your soul), schedule a free Scale Session today.

Here’s some other content from the Scalable network, plus some other cool stuff I liked and thought you might like, too: