Navigating Leadership During Uncertain Times

Suman is an Image evangelist, author, TEDx speaker and the President of Image Management Professionals Association. As a pioneer in Image Consulting in India, she has dedicated her career to transforming individuals and professionals into the best versions of themselves.

Tough times call for tough decisions. When faced with uncertainty in teams and organizations, leadership, especially an executive presence in leaders, is the sole thing that can keep everyone working.

As a leader, you need to keep your team motivated and moving to strive for better. You don’t necessarily need to be the best at making “perfect” decisions, but you should be decisive – that is take quick, consistent, and confident decisions. Here are seven ways to lead through change and uncertainty:

1. Acknowledge the Uncertainty
Our brains are not wired to give a positive response in uncertain times. Lack of certainty is considered a threat to our brains, and we are naturally conditioned to feel overwhelmed in such situations, especially in our careers. If you are a high achiever who is always planning your life out to the last second, navigating uncertainty can be a negative experience, hindering growth.

But the first step to overcoming uncertainty in your leadership journey is to acknowledge it. Acknowledging and embracing is better than ignoring and pushing it away.

2. Embrace the Change
With uncertainty comes the real test of creativity, patience, and resilience. As a leader, navigating uncertainty is all about embracing the changing times by looking at the bigger picture.

Every challenge comes with a lesson. A strong leader knows that this is a learning opportunity. In such situations, it’s best to communicate with your team and motivate them to conquer the negativity.

3. Plan What’s in Control
Dwelling on negativity will only hinder the process of change and lead you nowhere. As a leader, it’s essential to focus on the other side of all the things that cannot be planned or manipulated, because even uncertain times have some moments that you can control.

Identify situations that can still be controlled. Think about everything you know and everything you don’t and how you can converse this to the team by staying within the limitations of your role.

Understand that when absolute information is

absent, people may start believing everything they hear without analyzing it. To avoid this, make sure to keep your team in the loop of information that you think is essential for them.

4. Speak to Your Team
The best thing you can do when navigating uncertainty is to be transparent with your team. Keep the communication channels open. Leading through change and uncertainty can be tricky, but keeping it straight can help conquer the tough times.

Sharing the burden with your network can help you gain new perspectives and deepen your understanding of the situation, leading to faster solutions!

Come up with a vision that helps your team solve their “why” agenda. Why is this important to them and the brand – this is the question to solve during changes. This can help them clear their goals and work scope, reducing stress and fostering clarity.

5. Listen to Your Team
While one side of communication is speaking the other is listening. Your efforts to communicate may go to waste if you don’t actively listen to what your team members feel during uncertain and challenging times.

Encourage your team to get their curiosity up and come up with new concepts and ideas. Leaders should create an environment where new perspectives are not only welcomed but should be expected from their team during uncertain times. These meaningful exchanges of ideas can spark creativity among the team members and even pave the way to new solutions.

6. Avoid Snap Judgments
Relying on past conclusions can create a false sense of control and may lead to misinterpreting or misunderstanding the current challenge. Hence, avoid making snap judgments for a moment of security.

7. Break the Perception of Perfection
Perfectionism in modern corporate culture isn’t about getting things the way they are supposed to be, but it is about appearing to be perfect in every situation. In the pursuit of this perfection during uncertainty, overachieving leaders may hamper their team’s performance by expecting perfection during tasks.

Breaking the wall of perfectionism is the key to navigating uncertainty. Perfectionism will not allow you to see the real result and may even hinder your ability to stop and move on from the said task. This can prevent your team from producing results and taking risks.

Lastly, Share Your Load!
The last thing you want during uncertain and changing times is isolation. And this is a persistent problem among leaders who believe they have the solo duty of solving everything by themselves. Sharing the burden with your network can help you gain new perspectives and deepen your understanding of the situation, leading to faster solutions!