I just returned from Greece where I spent the holidays. Even there, as the townspeople celebrate Christmas and the New Year, leadership issues arise.

My Greek brother-in-law’s sister opened a restaurant last summer to take advantage of a prime piece of land with a view of the beach and to try her hand at a new business. While we were there, the conversation in the family revolved around all the things she did wrong her first year, the most notable of which was her inability to manage her staff.

She assumed that all she has to do was hire seasoned staff and the rest would take care of itself. Not so. Her restaurant, from the family reports, was in disarray from the start because she assumed that the staff automatically would take the initiative to do whatever was needed. Delays in seating customers and making sure they had water and menus, erratic efforts in taking orders, inconsistent food preparation, clusters of staff in the kitchen with no one up front to seat the customers, people waiting for their checks, and uncleared tables were commonplace.

Her assumption, that good staff will know what to do, is common. Leaders often fail to recognize that staff need specific direction, particularly when newly hired. They then run into problems, like those of my Greek sister-in-law, with work not getting done because no one has taken the time to tell the staff what is expected.

Other leaders, here in the United States, have complained to me about their staffs, too. One leader was disappointed that his staff didn’t demonstrate the same initiative that he had when we was their age, saying, “I’m not asking for much, really, just that they look around, see what needs to be done, and then go do it.”

Another, concerned that the clients were not being treated as well as she wanted, said, “It’s not a complicated process – think of customers like guests in your home and then do everything you can to make them feel welcome.”

And still another, disapproving of the infighting and backstabbing amongst the staff, said, “They should have learned how to get along with one another in kindergarten.”

In each case the leaders made an assumption that the staff should know something that the leader knows, but which the leader had never taken the time to explain clearly.

Leaders give several reasons for why they don’t do so, among them:

“Look, I hire only the best people. They should know what to do.”

“I’m not a babysitter. They’re grown people who should be able to look after themselves.”

“They’re professionals and, as professionals, they don’t need me to tell them what to do.”

“I haven’t got the time, that’s their job.”

“I’m paying them to work, not to wait for me to tell them what to do.”

None of these reasons are valid, though, since the buck stops with the boss. One of the first responsibilities of a leader is to make sure that everyone knows what to do. Any confusion or ambiguity on the part of the staff is the leader’s responsibility to fix.

How many times has your staff been confused or uncertain as to what to do? How much of their confusion or uncertainty was because you failed to communicate your clear and precise expectations?

Merriam-Webster reports that integrity was the most frequently looked up word on its dictionary website for 2005.

Integrity was looked up more than 250,000 times on the website during the same year that leaders were so frequently accused of a lack of integrity.

Is there a connection? Perhaps. The lack of trust so many Americans feel about their leaders may be traced to their belief that leaders no longer have integrity.

What can leaders do? Leaders should ensure that their actions mirror their words and their words reflect the highest possible ethical standards. It may not solve the societal dilemma, but it will help.

I have a close friend, a CEO, whose goal for December was to attend not one single holiday open house, happy hour, or year-end party. He argued that what started as a reasonable effort to celebrate has evolved into a month-long marathon of events whose original intention has been lost.

The formerly quiet, informal holiday events have expanded into more grandiose and public events for anyone who has ever done business with the companies hosting the celebrations. Killing two birds with one stone often makes sense, but not in this case.

In an age when the number and range of possibilities can multiply exponentially, sometimes simplicity makes the most sense.