How can you help your team navigate uncertainty and achieve their goals?

Be upfront with your team about what the company’s facing and how it might impact them. This shows employees they can rely on you in difficult times. People will lose their trust in you if you don’t disclose information they need to know. Trying to soften the blow by withholding information until you have all the answers can create more stress for employees as rumor mills fill in the gaps. It’s okay not to have all the answers, and leaders should admit when they don’t know something—with reassurance that they are working toward a solution.

Clear Communication: Maintain open and transparent communication with your team. Share information, updates, and changes as soon as they become available. Encourage team members to voice their concerns, questions, and ideas. Actively listen to their feedback and address their needs.

Listen to your team. Have a clear plan but also leave yourself room to navigate the multiple ways your team members will need to receive the communication, process your vision, and align their strengths to meet your vision. Ultimately, remember the best plans should be laid with some flexibility as “planning” is the process of how we want to see the future, and not our command of the future. Your team will look to you in the moments of flexing and it’s always better when you can collaborate with them through those times.

In today's dynamic environment, having a clear vision to share with your team is sometimes unavailable or undeveloped. In contrast, most teams have designated goals for performance and success. While leading through the noise and distractions of uncertainties, lean into the basics of your business's core values and past success. I've found that this instills familiarity and confidence with your team as you navigate and refine the necessary changes through uncertain times. Whether you provide a customer service product or a specific widget, do more of what you do best! If your team is showing signs of fatigue due to uncertainty and rumors, put them on a productive path that separates your business from the competition and achieves goals.

The best thing a leader can do to help his people achieve their goals in times of uncertainty is to be a positive influence and help cast a vision people can rally around. It’s difficult times when a leader needs to be serving his team more than ever. Be available, be transparent, be encouraging and most of all be honest. By creating a culture of trust, people will soon navigate their way back to positive performance.

The most effective example I've seen of promoting risk taking was a team that had a dept award for the best risk taken regardless of outcome. If there was a strong business case for why the risk was taken and a lesson learned during failure, that was celebrated. That's putting your money where your mouth is in terms of encouraging your team to take risks.

We should reinforce the importance of open communication, collaborative learning, and the continual adaptation of strategies based on the team's evolving needs.From my experience navigating various organizational changes, I've found that facilitating a team's learning journey is integral to the success of any initiative

We recently started this again in our office: sharing our experiences with calls, failures, thoughts from prospects and role playing. It’s amazing how much role playing or even creative think tanks help! Practice your skill! We also are looking at places we typically don’t go into…learning so much, again!

This is a two way street which requires both the manager and team member to be honest and willing to be candid. This usually only happens when people are willing to make themselves somewhat vulnerable and openly share how they feel. If you achieve that, the discovery and disclosure on where the improvement opportunity is, can easily be achieved (I.E.: soft skills, training, etc).

Absolutely, the thing about uncertainty is the fear. Fear is like a brick wall, it can stop you. Your normal reactions take a back seat to the lizard brain. Our logic system gets set aside so to speak. However, the bricks don’t have mortar and are loose. When we talk about what the fears are and explore the environment around them a brick or two are removed, exposing some light. The light makes it easier to see the other fears and remove more bricks. The light expanded. The wall may never come all the way down but eventually there is a space to walk through together. We have to do it together.

Agree with trust and collaboration being important ingredients. However, they must be based on the effective communication of WHY behind the WHAT. Explaining why changes taking place ahead of the actual change will significantly decrease uncertainty and improve buy-in.

Build teams that test themselves in their actions using the three questions of: 1) Is it true? 2) Is it necessary? 3) Is it kind?

My personal success in achieving mutual trust and respect with coworkers, always stems from two things. 1. Build - Lay the foundation to get to know someone at a personal level. Be your genuine self, a good listener, empathy.... It might take time and not everyone is going to become friends, but you should strive for a healthy work relationship. 2. Continue to foster that relationship with integrity, just like you water a plant, and expect there might be some rough patches along the way.

Fostering a positive team culture is paramount to navigating uncertainty successfully. By reinforcing shared values, you establish a cohesive foundation that guides your team through challenging times. It's crucial to create an environment where each team member feels heard and valued, promoting a sense of belonging and commitment. Encouraging collaboration through well-designed team-building activities not only strengthens interpersonal relationships but also fosters a shared commitment to goals. Initiatives aimed at reinforcing mutual trust and respect contribute significantly to the overall resilience of the team, enabling them to navigate uncertainties with a collective and supportive mindset.

It's important in understanding the teams (collective and individual) fears and concerns. Don't trivialize it! Or assume "people will get over it" - because that's BS and a quick way to loose great people. We ALL have feelings and fostering a culture of empathy takes time and commitment, which ultimately has the greatest impact to achieve a healthy working environment, and a culture of openness. Nobody dreams of going down a career path to have no fun. Lighten up the conversation when you can to celebrate wins, achievements, birthdays! We are all people who have intertwined lives where the boundaries between work and our personal life are more blurry than ever before.

To manage stress and emotions in a team, foster a culture of open communication and support, encouraging team members to express their concerns and feelings. Provide resources for stress management and promote work-life balance. Lead by example, demonstrating resilience and a positive mindset, and implement strategies such as regular check-ins and team-building activities to enhance cohesion and emotional well-being. Lastly, address conflicts promptly, seeking collaborative solutions to maintain a healthy team dynamic.

It is also important to understand that different people experience stress on different levels. As a team lead, one cannot argue, "We are all experiencing the same uncertainty". The impact of the same uncertainty can be felt on different levels. Until and unless the team lead can acknowledge this fundamental difference, keeping team together will be challenging.

I would add to this that leaders need to flex their empathy muscles in these situations. Very often leaders can be just as stressed and emotional, all the while they have a greater line of sight into what's happening at higher levels within the business. Consider that your employees have the stress often without the benefit of the additional info/context.

In general, stress happens when people feel that the resources they have are insufficient to complete the task at hand. be curious about the source of stress for people, and help provide the necessary resources to address their needs or adjust the task to their current resources. Meet them precisely where they are now.

For me as an insurance professional, what has worked is, by staying updated on industry trends, providing risk assessments and mitigation strategies, offering guidance on policy development, and fostering a culture of client trust and support in times of uncertainty.

In navigating uncertainty and fostering goal attainment within a team, effective communication and collaboration are paramount. As a leader, you can provide clarity on overarching objectives while remaining adaptable to changing circumstances, encouraging open dialogue to address concerns and share insights. Prioritize transparent information sharing, ensuring that team members are well-informed about the evolving landscape. Regularly assess and adjust goals based on emerging information, and provide the necessary support and resources to empower your team in navigating ambiguity with resilience and a shared commitment to achieving their objectives.