Clarity Changes the Conditions of a Conversation
Clear communication cannot turn another person into a better communicator by magic. It can change the conditions they are responding to. Ambiguous language asks the listener to guess. Hidden requests create work the listener may not know they are doing. Mixed signals make response harder.
A clear statement reduces some of that noise. What happened? What do I mean? What am I asking for? What am I committing to? What do I not know?
When one person becomes clearer, the other person has a clearer object to hear, question, accept, reject, or correct. That does not guarantee reciprocity. A listener can still misunderstand, avoid, manipulate, or refuse the conversation. Clarity is not control.
It is a contribution to the conversational environment. One person cannot single-handedly create mutual communication. They can reduce the amount of confusion they are adding to it. Sometimes that is enough for the whole conversation to become easier to work with.