Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty: 2025 is NOT 2017

(1st in a series of 4)

We’re living at a time of uncertainty when both work life and personal life are buffeted by political, environmental, and social anxiety. Our employees, colleagues, board members feel it; our nonprofit clients, patients, students, and visitors feel it; so too do family and friends. The uncertainties many of us face around the nation’s direction and world events, around government policies and key funding sources that might impact our programs, around the economy and our fragile environment make this a challenging time and a changing landscape for the good that the nonprofit sector seeks to do. The ideological cleavages that have grown between individuals and between groups can exacerbate our feeling of uncertainty as they compromise important relationships on both the personal and professional level.

How to lead in a time of uncertainty? This series, by Plan A Advisors and Dr. Steve Axelrod, is for board chairs, chief executives, and everyone holding a position of responsibility in the nonprofit sector.

Acknowledge that this time is different. When we last addressed uncertainty, it was the beginning of the first Trump administration when the President’s statements were extreme, but the Administration’s ability to execute was more constrained. This time, the President’s appointees and policies lack both empathy and restraint and pose a far more palpable threat to our organizations and those we serve.

Recognize the ubiquity of anxiety. Recognize what everyone is experiencing and understand that anxiety is stirred and felt on a personal, institutional, and communal level. Exercise a calming presence and communicate regularly to engender confidence that you are steering the ship in the right direction, despite the choppy waters.

Be open-minded, but firm about guardrails. Being open minded and generously inclusive is an important leadership quality… up to a point. In recent years, there has been an expectation that organizations will take positions and make statements about a host of issues important to employees. However, a nonprofit’s mission legally binds an organization in terms of the programs it runs and the resources it expends; wading beyond those boundaries can place a nonprofit at risk or distract it from its core mission. Think hard about what your organization can and cannot do. Communicate those guardrails to staff and constituents with empathy, but firmness.

Build self-awareness. Clarify your own values; crisis is an opportunity to “live” them through a time of stress and uncertainty. They are your North Star when you feel buffeted by different constituencies and different agendas.????@

In two weeks: “Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty: Reinforce a Shared Sense of Purpose”

“Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty” was first issued in 2017, and co-authored by Plan A Advisors and Dr. Steve Axelrod. Dr. Axelrod holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from New York University and has over four decades of counseling experience. He has been retained to work with leaders in a range of organizations, from nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies, and has lectured on the psychology of work at the executive level and the powerful influence of a leader’s psychological dynamics on organizational performance.