How to Thrive in Uncertain Times: Tips for Managers

Are you feeling stressed and overwhelmed by the strategic uncertainty facing your company? Do you worry about how to lead your team effectively in such a volatile environment? If so, you're not alone. Many managers struggle with the challenges of ambiguity and redesigning how we work today, especially in times of crisis.

But don't let the lack of clarity at your company cast a shadow over your confidence or performance. Even in the most challenging and ambiguous of situations, you can put yourself in a position to succeed when you commit to taking pragmatic action while demonstrating emotional steadiness and drawing on the expertise of others.

How to Lead with Confidence When the Strategy Is Unclear

Summary:

We frequently find ourselves managing in situations where the company or unit strategy is unclear, in flux, or constantly changing. The best managers find ways to provide steady, realistic direction and to lead with excellence, even when the strategy isn’t clear. There are three things you can do today that will put you in a better position to manage strategic ambiguity:

• Take pragmatic action by getting back to basics to deliver value, placing intelligent bets on what you do know, and embracing short-term strategies by operating in sprints.
• Cultivate emotional steadiness by being learning more about the situation, acknowledging and navigating your emotions, and keeping team communication open.
• Tap into others’ expertise by imagining what the leader you respect the most would do, engaging other managers, and embracing the wisdom of thought leaders.

Following these three approaches, you can keep lack of clarity at your company from cast a shadow over your confidence or performance.

Why You Need to Manage Strategic Ambiguity

It’s one of the few facts in business everyone agrees on: Without a clear and compelling strategy, your business will fail. From MBA programs to business books, to the last keynote you attended, you’ve heard it repeated, again and again.

Despite this, we frequently find ourselves managing in situations of strategic ambiguity—when it isn’t clear where you’re going or how you’ll get there. Why does this happen?

Some of the common causes of strategic ambiguity are:

• Market conditions shift rapidly.
• Customers have more choices than ever.
• Resources are constrained.
• Executives leave, interims are appointed, and recruitment drag on.

The list continues, and even if your company is nimble enough to set strategy effectively at the top, keeping the entire organization strategically aligned is an entirely different challenge. Your company might have a clear strategic imperative, but your unit or team might not.

But here’s the good news: You don’t have to wait for someone else to provide strategic clarity. You can take charge of managing yourself and your team through strategic ambiguity—and you can do it today.

In this blog post, I’ll share three things you can do right now to manage strategic ambiguity more effectively: take pragmatic action, cultivate emotional steadiness, and tap into others’ expertise. These are proven practices that I’ve seen work for managers at all levels and in all kinds of industries. Let’s dive in.

Take Pragmatic Action: How to Deal with Uncertainty in Business

Uncertainty is inevitable in business. Whether it's due to market fluctuations, changing customer preferences, or strategic shifts, you can't always predict what will happen next. But you can take pragmatic action to cope with uncertainty and keep your business on track.

In this post, I'll share some practical tips on how to deal with uncertainty in business. These tips are based on my own experience as a consultant, as well as on the best practices of successful businesses.

Focus on what you can control

One of the biggest sources of stress and anxiety in uncertain times is feeling powerless and helpless. You may feel like you have no control over the situation and that everything is out of your hands.

But that's not true. You always have some degree of control over your actions, your attitude, and your response to uncertainty. Instead of worrying about things you can't control, focus on what you can do to deliver value to your customers, your team, and your organization.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What are the most important goals and priorities for my business right now?
• What are the expectations and needs of my customers and stakeholders?
• How can I improve the quality, speed, or efficiency of my work or service?
• What are the best practices and standards in my industry or field?
• How can I align my actions with the mission and vision of my organization?

By focusing on what you can control, you'll be able to maintain a positive mindset and a proactive approach. You'll also be able to demonstrate your value and contribution to your business, which can boost your confidence and credibility.

Place intelligent bets

Another way to deal with uncertainty in business is to place intelligent bets. This means making informed decisions based on the available data, evidence, and insights, while also acknowledging the risks and uncertainties involved.

Placing intelligent bets doesn't mean gambling or guessing. It means using your logic, intuition, and creativity to explore different scenarios and possibilities, and then choosing the best option based on your analysis and judgment.

To place intelligent bets, you need to do some research and planning. Here are some steps you can follow:

• Gather relevant information and data about the situation, the market, the customers, and the competitors.
• Identify the key assumptions, uncertainties, and variables that affect your decision.
• Generate multiple options or alternatives that could address the problem or opportunity.
• Evaluate each option based on its pros and cons, feasibility, impact, and alignment with your goals and values.
• Choose the best option based on your criteria and preferences.
• Implement your decision with confidence and commitment.

By placing intelligent bets, you'll be able to take advantage of opportunities and mitigate risks in uncertain times. You'll also be able to adapt and adjust your decisions as new information or feedback becomes available.

Operate in sprints

A third tip for dealing with uncertainty in business is to operate in sprints. This means breaking down your work into short-term projects or tasks that can be completed in a defined period of time, such as 30, 60, or 90 days.

Operating in sprints has several benefits:

• It helps you focus on the most urgent and important issues or goals.
• It allows you to test your ideas and assumptions quickly and get feedback from customers or stakeholders.
• It enables you to learn from your successes and failures and make improvements or changes as needed.
• It creates a sense of urgency and momentum for you and your team.
• It reduces the risk of wasting time or resources on irrelevant or outdated activities.

To operate in sprints, you need to follow a straightforward process:

• Define your sprint goal: What do you want to achieve or learn in this sprint?
• Plan your sprint activities: What are the specific tasks or steps you need to do to reach your goal?
• Execute your sprint: How will you perform your tasks or steps efficiently and effectively?
• Review your sprint: How did you do? What did you learn? What worked well? What didn't work well?
• Adjust your next sprint: What will you do differently? What will you do more of? What will you do less of?

By operating in sprints, you'll be able to deal with uncertainty in business more effectively. You'll also be able to deliver value faster and more consistently to your customers, team, and organization.

Cultivate Emotional Steadiness

Strategic ambiguity pushes you out of your comfort zone. When there’s clear, unwavering direction, you can focus on defined targets and deliver results. When strategies shift, or are hinting toward a shift, it’s normal to feel unsettled, and you’ll see this in your team too. Here are three steps you can take to help yourself and your team navigate the emotions of strategic ambiguity.

Be proactive. Learn more.

One of the reasons I suggest pragmatic action is because doing something concrete helps you move beyond your raw emotions. But there’s more to emotional steadiness. Questions arise naturally: How will this impact my group? What if everything we’re doing today alters? What if this involves job changes, layoffs, or lost resources? Learn as much as you can so you’re informed, not just reacting to rumor and innuendo. Use your internal network and ask others in the organization for insight, context, and clarity. When you’ve done the hard work of sense-making, you’ll be able to anticipate the questions your team will ask and prepare the most effective answers you can.

Acknowledge and navigate emotions.

Emotional steadiness requires that you be intentional about the way you show up in the workplace. Your role is to be calm, transparent, and steady, all while painting a vision for the future. Acknowledge your emotions and talk to a peer or your boss if you need to work through them. Play out the worst-case scenario in your mind and then move on to the more likely outcome. Chances are the reality isn’t as bad as what you might conjure up when your emotions are heightened. Commit to avoiding stress responses, frustration, rumors, or other nonproductive behavior. Your team members are watching and taking their cues from you.

Keep team communication open.

Strategic uncertainty can cause managers to communicate with team members less frequently and less openly. “If I don’t have clarity to provide, why not wait?” the thinking goes. But this approach can backfire and create more anxiety and confusion among your team. Instead of waiting for perfect information, communicate what you know and what you don’t know as soon as possible. Be honest about the challenges and opportunities ahead and invite feedback and questions from your team. Share your own emotions and how you’re coping with them and encourage your team to do the same. By keeping communication open, you can foster trust and collaboration among your team members during times of change.

Tap into Others’ Expertise

Leading through periods of uncertainty and change can be isolating for managers. Remind yourself that you are not alone. You have a network of people who have likely faced similar challenges and you can tap into their experiences. Here are three ways you can tap into the expertise of others for support.

• Imagine your most respected leader’s approach. What would they do in your situation? How would they handle the ambiguity or state of flux? How would they view the way you’re handling yourself? This exercise can be incredibly powerful in helping you stay calm and emotionally steady, exercise your critical thinking, and take pragmatic action even in the most uncertain circumstances. Those we most respect have demonstrated traits we admire. Tap into their strengths to inform your own. For example, if you admire Steve Jobs for his innovation and vision, you might ask yourself how he would approach a new project or a market shift.
• Engage other managers. Managers often believe they need to “be strong” and go it alone to demonstrate managerial confidence and competency. That’s not true. My executive clients reach out to peers and former colleagues regularly for advice, counsel, and emotional support. If someone you know reached out to you to ask for your advice, you’d happily provide support and feel valued as a peer. Your network will feel the same. Start the conversation with “I could really use another point of view” and you’ll be surprised how quickly others engage. For example, you might reach out to a former boss or a mentor who has gone through a similar challenge and ask them how they handled it or what they learned from it.
• Embrace the wisdom of thought leaders. Your network becomes global when you expand beyond those you know personally to those you can access in today’s digital environment. The greater your understanding of how others think about strategic agility and change leadership, the better you’ll be able to navigate ambiguity in your company. The brightest and most inspiring minds are at your fingertips—read books and articles, listen to podcasts and interviews, and watch instructive videos, webinars, and more to expand your thinking and learn new approaches relevant to your specific situation. For example, you might read a book by Daniel Pink on motivation or watch a TED talk by Simon Sinek on leadership.

The ability to thrive during periods of strategic uncertainty separates the great managers who go on to become exceptional leaders from the rest. Strategic uncertainty is the state of not knowing what will happen in the future that could affect your business goals and plans. It can be caused by factors such as technological disruption, regulatory changes, market shifts, competitor moves, customer preferences, or geopolitical events.

Strategic uncertainty is not a rare phenomenon. According to a McKinsey survey, more than 80% of executives said they faced moderate or high levels of uncertainty in their industries.

Moreover, strategic uncertainty can have significant impacts on business performance. A study by Harvard Business Review found that companies that faced high levels of uncertainty had 65% lower shareholder returns than those that faced low levels.

But strategic uncertainty is not something to be feared or avoided. It can also be a source of opportunity and innovation.

As the famous quote by Winston Churchill goes, "Never let a good crisis go to waste." The key is to embrace uncertainty as a reality and learn how to adapt and respond to it effectively.

Read more on?Adaptive leadership?or related topics?Change management,?Managing employees,?Organizational culture?and?Hybrid work

Wishing you a happy healthy week!

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