Leading in Times of Uncertainty
Dear Leader,
I hear you when you say you’ve reached your limit on the amount of things that are uncertain right now. You’ve been telling me you’d like to hit the pause button on everything and just catch your breath. But you also feel like you cannot pause — you are a leader, and people across all areas of your life are looking to you for some certainty, direction, and answers.
How do you lead in times when you don’t feel certain yourself, you don’t have any more answers, and you are just as anxious as everyone else?
These are a few strategies I rely on, and that we teach here at the Center for Trauma and Leadership:
Take a breath and regroup. The more people are looking to you for signals of reassurance or clues for how to react to the unknown, the more you need to be centered and grounded in yourself. Ideally this is an ongoing practice, but wherever you are right now, you can take sixty seconds to come back to your center. Breathe, feel your feet on the ground, listen to part of a song you love, look at something beautiful, or say three things you are grateful for. Sixty seconds, and then you can get back to the fray. If you have more time, take a walk, go for a run, take a nap, or have a good cry.
Lean in to your strengths. Most of us use our strengths without thinking about them, but something different happens when you are intentional about putting your strengths to use. It’s like a little boost of positive energy. The Gallup team that created the CliftonStrengths assessment describes a strength “as a task or activity that leaves you feeling strong.” When we’re dealing with a lot of uncertainty or stress, we need something easy to lean on that immediately bolsters us. (Don’t know your strengths? Take the CliftonStrengths assessment here. We highly recommend the full 34 version.)
Reconnect with your values. One of my top values is to be of service, and when I think of the meetings I’m having or the emails I’m answering as acts of service, or if I think of how I can be in those meetings and be intentional about acting from a stance of service, it reframes how I feel about the work of the day. I’m immediately more energized and less drained. (Brené Brown has a great list of values you can get started with here.)
Connect with someone who boosts you up. Talk to a friend or family member for five minutes. Don’t focus on what is hard about this time of uncertainty — it’s easy to get lost in commiserating about what’s hard — but instead use those five minutes to tell them how much you appreciate them, or express something you’re grateful for and ask them to do the same. Hug your kids, your pets, your partner. Make contact with a human who understands you.
Make a plan. Sometimes we are sitting in so much anxiety that it paralyzes us. If you are worried about something, get real and think about what could happen, and chart out a plan. It doesn’t have to be a whole five-year life plan. It might just be a plan for a day or a week. A question to ask yourself could be: “What is the hardest thing about this for me?” Then focus on a plan for that one thing.
The reality is that you do not have all the answers, or maybe even any answers. You are human and you feel the anxieties of the world just like everyone else does. Being a leader in times of uncertainty is not about making up answers or seeming strong in spite of it all — this is a time to show your humanity, to model how to resource yourself, and to be centered enough in yourself that you can enjoy the privilege of being there for others.
As Simon Sinek correctly said, “Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge.” And the only way to take care of others in a sustainable way is to do your best to be as solid as you can be in times of uncertainty.
Cheering for you,
Carolyn
Carolyn Murphy
Chief Executive Officer
Center for Trauma and Leadership