It is not the strongest of the species that survive,
nor the most intelligent,
but the one most responsive to change.
Continuing forward from our previous article that provided an overview of leading through uncertainty and why it is important, we explore in depth three strategies for success when everything changes all the time: Anchoring, Perspective Taking, and Caring.
Learned skills for leading through uncertainty
As a Principal Technical Program Manager at Amazon, I was normally only involved in projects if they were in some type of transition or trouble. That means I spent the last 8 years working with teams in an environment of uncertainty. As I reflect on my time in that role I’ve settled on ten key fundamental skills that I learned to help teams develop into their new realities.
Yes, you read that right: learned skills.
Good uncertainty leadership is a skill that every one of us can intentionally learn. You will find that these skills center around communication and fostering a culture that simultaneously embraces change while limiting extraneous change.
1. be an anchor in the storm
Provide stability in areas that you are able to control
Leading through uncertainty means being the anchor in the storm. In fact, your calm, consistent presence alone can be a stabilizing force. As change happens, though, your values must be consistent. How you apply your values may change as the environment changes. Be agile. Be responsive to the environment, but be consistent with yourself.
Protect your team from the shifting tides
Furthermore, in an uncertain environment, you and your team area likely not the only ones feeling unmoored. Your own leadership is likely feeling some unease because tariffs are constantly shifting or a major customer contract is in re-negotiation. Rather than passing that unease or rapidly shifting priorities down to your teams, be a seawall protecting your team from the shifting whims of your own leadership. If you are passed extra or changing goals, communicate to your leadership how this will impact your teams work already in flight, as there is likely something they are already doing that will need to be deprioritized and not finished to accommodate new work. Endeavor to limit how much strategic shifts actually change the day-to-day tasks of your team, or consider how what they were already working on can contribute to this new goal. Sometimes a strategic change doesn’t impact a team at all and may just be noise they don’t need to be bothered with!
Build a vision and remain focused on it
Additionally, as a leader, you can provide your team agency. Rather than being buffeted by the winds of the latest trend, if you provide a vision that serves the customer and community, it is likely to persist despite tactical changes. “Make money” is a basic responsibility of business, but it isn’t a vision that will survive truly bad times. With an outcome-focused vision, your employees can be empowered to connect their own work to its downstream impacts. As employees take ownership of that vision, they can help steer the ship in the storm, making decisions appropriate to their level that help you stay on the proper heading, or, even more powerfully, give you advance warning if they see a risk to the vision approaching. The Titanic may well have been able to cross the Atlantic if the lookouts had binoculars.
2. Perspective Taking to lead through uncertainty
Expect change and prime others to expect change
It is ok to talk about the possibility of change with a note of hope and optimism. You can also ask your employees what needs to change so that they have agency in an uncertain environment. It is healthy to see uncertainty and change from multiple perspectives to find silver lining in every cloud. Hope is a powerful motivator. According to C.R. Snyder’s Hope Theory, it increases achievement and health. You can create this powerful condition by taking alternative perspectives and adopting the positive one.
Don’t assume that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow
Linked with expecting change, sometimes we need change. In an uncertain environment, we don’t know what processes, laws, or personnel may change tomorrow, so it is worth checking in to make sure that you aren’t making outdated assumptions. Something that may have been easy for accounting to take care of yesterday isn’t today because they moved some function over to marketing. Something your engineers used to be able to do in five minutes now requires an approval from the business unit. Or perhaps your customers have transitioned from one social media platform to another. Keep your eyes open and be receptive to new ideas! Good ones can come from anywhere.
Include the human element in swift decisions
At the end of the day, most of us do what we do to serve other people. Dogs don’t pay our business for kibble, their owners do. If people didn’t buy peaches, then orchards would be significantly smaller. Without consumers, Amazon wouldn’t need to ship packages or host web-based content. Additionally, consider the perspectives of your employees and peers. If you don’t have time to actually speak to them to understand their positions, try to have that debate in your head to consider what the problem looks like from another seat to improve your decision-making. That way, you will be better able to explain why the decision you made was the right one after the fact to gain the buy-in you will need to implement it.
3. Care for the business...and the humans
Don’t make any promises you can’t keep
In an uncertain environment, there are a LOT of things you cannot promise. You can’t promise that people won’t get fired, or reassigned, or that their jobs won’t change. Don’t promise these things because it will do nothing but burn trust if and when they happen. All you can promise is that you will be transparent and honest and will do the best you can for them in those situations. Only promise things that you, independently, can do. I have a couple of former managers that lead in this way through very unfortunate circumstances and they are on my short list of folks that I would drop everything to help if they needed it. The trust and loyalty this stance affords you will pay dividends when the road gets tough and you need to draw against that bank of trust.
Communicate change clearly, concisely, and compassionately
When the going gets tough, you are going to have to think more deeply about what you communicate and how you communicate it. The listener is going to be paying attention to every subtle cue to try to divine what the future holds. Take the time to write down and practice what you want to communicate, then do so in as few words as reasonable. Explain why the decision was made in a way that aligns with your mission and expressed values.
Be transparent, but not wishy-washy
When should you communicate? Generally, once a decision is made. Pending decisions add unneeded stress. That stress should be firmly on the decision-makers, not those waiting for their decision. That means, be transparent with decisions already made and make decisions quick enough so you don’t need to be mum about them for very long. Your employees and peers will be able to sense your unease and absorb even if they don’t know what decision is pending, so make the decision and announce it as quickly as reasonable. Your employees will also feel buffeted around if you flip-flop back and forth on decisions. It’s ok to ask for help with decisions, too, as long as you don’t draw the process out.
Treat everyone with respect
Be ready – you will not make everyone happy. One mistake I see many leaders making is trying to force a job to fit a person because that person is a good person. At the end of the day, forcing a round peg in a square hole won’t make the person or the business happy. Enable your people to make the right decisions for themselves by being transparent and compassionately direct. You need to make decisions best for the business and the mission, which means that sometimes a person doesn’t fit the business anymore. That is a separate factor from caring for the people. You can take care of them as a person that your respect, support, and endorse inside or outside the bounds of the business you work in.
Create space for change.
Everyone around you is learning and changing as well. If you have asked for something sensible three times before and gotten a “no,” that doesn’t mean you stop asking. As the environment changes and those around you gradually learn and adapt to it, the answer may well change to a “yes.” It is possible, even likely, for people to learn new skills and ways of being. Educate, ask, and see what happens.
Take action
Is your team in a period of uncertainty now? We can help you strengthen your culture-building muscle. Consider a custom professional development program to help your leadership team navigate through turning your culture around. Improve your retention. Increase employee and customer satisfaction. Deliver value. Don’t hesitate to reach out here so we can help you continuously improve.
