Leading Through Uncertainty

Taking action in the face of uncertainty is scary. As uncertainty and complexity increase, our deepest survival instincts become set off even more. At times like this, who hasn’t felt the urge to respond by withdrawing and avoiding just taking the next step?

These pressures impact everyone, but they are particularly pronounced for leaders. Not only are leaders trying to sort out matters in their own lives, but they also have a team of colleagues or entire organizations turning to them for guidance, support, and stability. These uncertain times are a chance for leaders to rise by anchoring with equanimity, leading with transparency, and responding to the world pragmatically.

Our growth starts when we name what we don’t know.

Take a look. In nature, growth happens at the edges. The same is true of us. We grow at the edges of what we know – and don’t know! Acknowledging what we don’t know facilitates growth. When we stay in the center of our knowledge, we can’t expand. Growth, whether it is individual growth or organizational growth, requires learning. Learning requires not knowing. But leaders are often looked to for answers, not for uncertainty. This can make it especially difficult for leaders to acknowledge what they don’t know.

Compassionate leaders recognize that being uncertain comes with the territory, and act courageously to name that uncertainty which is native to the landscape. By doing so, they can then turn to face the unknown, the uncertain, and move through the process to possibility. Curiosity and creativity travel with you along the path of not knowing.

As INSEAD professor Nathan Furr has written, “although we may call for innovation, transformation, and change, most people back down at even the hint of risk, falling into a series of behavioral traps that limit organizations’ ability to grow and adapt. The challenge is that all growth, change, and transformation inevitably come paired with uncertainty. We have to go through the uncertainty to get to the possibility.” The way you’ve always done it, the way of doing what you know, stymies growth and fuels stagnation in a world that is rapidly evolving. 

Offer maximum transparency.

Who doesn’t like to have an orderly decision-making process: weigh the choices, reach a decision, and then wrap it up with a shiny bow to present to their team or to the outside world? Unfortunately, especially in uncertain times, that process doesn’t work. Making decisions can be messy, and allowing that messiness to be seen can help keep your team pulling together, and can generate better information for the decision itself.

Transparency begins with disclosure of what is already determined. There’s enough uncertainty in the world that you don’t want to be magnifying it by failing to share what is known. When decisions are made, communicate those decisions as quickly as possible to those affected. We all want to know where we stand, even when decisions don’t go the way we’d like them to go. For example, as organizations have transitioned from fully remote work to hybrid or return-to-office work, the sooner employees know what the structure will be, the sooner they can begin to make plans for their own specific circumstances.

But sharing what is certain is not the only way transparency helps during periods of uncertainty. It is also valuable to be open with your team members regarding what you don’t know. Simply revealing that you are unsure of something provides information to your team with respect to where a given decision may be in its process. And if you are uncertain because of questions whose answers you still don’t know, ask for help. Those with helpful answers will be more likely to come forward. In addition, the act of revealing that you are unsure and need help makes you more human and relatable. It gives your team permission to ask for help when they are unsure. Your vulnerability will build your team’s sense of belonging, connection, and psychological safety. 

The world itself is highly uncertain.

Sometimes we simply can’t understand why things are happening the way they are. Sometimes the world simply doesn’t make sense. Trying to create a narrative that explains a perfectly ordered world is like building sandcastles at low tide. Inevitably, something will come along to knock the structure awry. 

These last few years have been particularly challenging to make sense of. Our political, environmental, and social worlds have all been thrown into deeply challenging turmoil. It’s not just what is swirling outside of us, either. Our inner lives may also be dealing with chaos. Pay attention to your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions of your inner compass.

Learning to operate in an environment of uncertainty strengthens our ability to function in the world as it really is, as opposed to how things were yesterday or how we might prefer it to be. The only way beyond uncertainty is through. Avoiding it or denying it only prolongs the difficulty. 

In closing…

Instead of resisting uncertainty, acknowledge and develop ways to work with it. Use it to unite your team in pursuit of new solutions. Use it creatively and with curiosity to explore what is emerging new in the world. Use it to grow. The uncertainty and complexity of our world is not going away. Leadership success today and in the future will be strengthened by the willingness to face uncertainty boldly.