It’s hard to be a leader when all heck is breaking loose. In times of uncertainty or rapid change, people are looking to you and relying on you to support them in their work and their ability to earn. The pressure can make even the strongest managers fall back on bad habits.
Stop, breathe, and trust that just because circumstances are uncertain, your leadership doesn’t have to be. There are eight basic steps to successfully leading your team through uncertainty as a manager or supervisor.
Remember and keep reminding yourself of whatever is never going to change—about your business, your career, and your life—at least if you can help it. Use your core mission and values as anchors of alignment.
Tune in to what’s changing right now, all around you, and prepare yourself and others to adapt and adjust as needed. In an uncertain environment, changes often come so rapidly it can be unhelpful to think too far into the future. Evaluate which concrete actions will have the most immediate, tangible impact, make a plan, and execute.
Your long-term, intermediate-term, and short-term goals will likely have to change. The trap—for you and your team—is holding onto priorities which no longer make sense in a new or less certain context. Those simply must be put on the backburner, until the next time you revisit execution priorities.
Make a Stop, Continue, Start list for the current actions of yourself and your team, at least for right now. What are the things you are going to stop, at least for now? What will you continue to do, at least for now? What do you need to start doing, for as long as current circumstances continue?
Over-communicate using best practices for in-person and especially remote communication. Stay in regular structured dialogue with people up, down, sideways, and diagonal. Follow best practices for team meetings and one-on-ones. The key here is to maintain rigorous communication structure with every interaction great and small.
Keep getting stuff done and keep helping your colleagues get stuff done. Every day look at your to-do list and then make a DO-TODAY list. What are you going to get done today?
Be as flexible and generous with others as you possibly can be. What short-term accommodations might people need? How can you help set up your colleagues for maximum success? What can you do to serve every person who relies on you and every person upon whom you rely? In every interaction with every person, how can you add value?
Take care of yourself. Take care of your spirit. Take care of your mind. Take care of your body. What do you need to do to bring your best self to every interaction with every person?
Learn more about best practices for managing through uncertainty in my free, on-demand webinar: Leading Through Uncertainty