One of my favorite moments in a leadership workshop happens about ten minutes in.

I'll ask the room a simple question:

"How many of you feel like everything at work is a priority?"

Almost every hand goes up. Then I ask the follow-up.

"If everything is a priority... what's actually the priority?"

The room gets quiet.

Sometimes people laugh. Sometimes they stare at each other.

Then someone inevitably says, "That's the problem."

Exactly.

It isn't that people don't want to work hard. It isn't that they're lazy. Most employees I meet genuinely want to do a good job. They care about their work, their customers and their teammates.

The problem is that many of them are trying to hit a moving target. Every email is marked urgent. Every meeting is "important." Every project has the highest priority, and every interruption demands immediate attention.

When everything feels urgent, people spend less time on meaningful work and more time figuring out what they should be doing in the first place.

Ironically, I see this happen even more during the summer. Vacation schedules change, coworkers cover for one another, and projects get shuffled when key decision-makers are out of the office. New priorities appear while old priorities never disappear.

By August, many teams aren't burned out because they've worked more hours; they're burned out because they've spent months trying to keep up with constant uncertainty.

As leaders, we often assume our employees need a vacation. Sometimes what they really need is clarity.

Clarity Reduces Stress

One of the biggest misconceptions about burnout is that it's only caused by working too much. While workload certainly matters, I find that confusion is just as exhausting.

Think about driving somewhere you've never been before. Would you rather have a GPS giving you clear, turn-by-turn directions… Or have someone say, "You'll figure it out."

Most of us would choose the GPS, not because driving is difficult but because uncertainty is mentally draining. Our employees experience the same thing every day.

When expectations aren't clear, people fill in the blanks themselves. They second-guess their decisions, worry they're working on the wrong project, and wonder if they're missing something.

That invisible mental load quietly chips away at energy, focus, and confidence.

Summer Is the Perfect Time to Reset

One thing I encourage leaders to do every summer is hit the pause button, not on productivity, but on priorities. Before fall ramps up, ask yourself a few simple questions.

Does everyone on my team know the top three priorities this week?

If you asked five employees individually, would they all give the same answer? If not, the issue probably isn't motivation. It's communication.

Do people know who owns what while coworkers are on vacation?

Assumptions create unnecessary stress. Clear coverage plans create confidence.

Where are employees waiting on me?

One of the greatest gifts a leader can give is appropriate decision-making authority. If every small decision requires your approval, your team doesn't just become slower; they become less confident.

What meetings can we eliminate?

Not every meeting deserves a permanent place on the calendar. Sometimes the most productive meeting is the one that never happens.

And perhaps my favorite question...

What's making your job harder than it needs to be?

I've asked this question in organizations across the country; rarely do employees respond by asking for more meetings, more policies, or more reports. Instead, they talk about unclear expectations, conflicting priorities, communication gaps and processes that no longer make sense.

Most of the time, they don't need leaders to work harder. They need leaders to remove obstacles.

The Best Leaders Become Filters

I often tell leaders that one of the most important parts of their job isn't creating more work. It's filtering the noise.

Your employees are bombarded with emails, instant messages, deadlines, meetings, notifications, and requests. Leadership isn't supposed to be adding another voice to the chaos. Leadership is helping people understand what deserves their attention today, and what can wait until tomorrow.

That's where clarity becomes an act of service.

A Challenge for This Week

The next time you're talking with your team, resist the urge to ask,

"How's everything going?"

You'll probably get the usual answer. "Good."

Instead, try asking one of these:

• "What's getting in your way?"

• "What's one thing I could make clearer?"

• "What's taking more time than it should?"

You might be surprised by the answers. Sometimes a five-minute conversation removes five weeks of frustration.

Final Thoughts

As I travel and speak with leaders, HR professionals, and teams across the country, one message keeps surfacing.

People don't expect work to be easy. They want to know where to focus their energy.

The healthiest workplaces aren't the ones with the fewest challenges. They're the ones where employees understand what's expected, feel supported, and aren't forced to guess what matters most.

If your team feels overwhelmed right now, don't automatically assume they need another motivational speech or another wellness initiative. Though I don’t mind providing those, start with clarity.

Because when everything feels urgent… Nothing truly is.

Let’s Continue the Conversation

If this article struck a chord, I'd love to invite you to continue the conversation.

On Thursday, July 30, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, I'm hosting a FREE virtual leadership workshop on Eventbrite:

The Cost of Ambiguity: How Unclear Expectations Hurt Performance

We'll explore how role ambiguity, shifting priorities, and unclear communication quietly contribute to stress, burnout, disengagement, and lower productivity—and, more importantly, what leaders can do to create greater clarity and accountability without micromanaging.

Whether you lead a team of five or five hundred, you'll leave with practical strategies you can put into practice immediately.

I hope you'll join us as we learn how clarity isn't just a communication skill; it's one of the most powerful leadership tools we have.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1992389451483?aff=oddtdtcreator