Leading confidently through uncertainty
How can we be good leaders in times of disruption?
Our ‘new normal’ in the last few years has been associated with phrases like 'VUCA' (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous), adapting, change and disruption.
They’re often words we associate with stress, fatigue, anxiety and other negative connotations.
But uncertainty and disruption can bring about positive change – especially in leadership traits and approaches. Leading with compassion, empathy and flexibility is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a very good thing.
At our ChangeMakers event on 16 May – Leading through uncertainty in 2022 – we asked our expert UQ alumni about how uncertainty has affected leadership: what is most challenging and how can you navigate it? What do people expect and need from leaders in turbulent times? And how can leaders benefit from disruption and uncertainty?
Note: Brad Scott was unable to join the panel on the night as he was unwell. Baden Stephenson, CEO of Australian Rugby Union team the Melbourne Rebels, spoke alongside the panel instead.
Professor Nicole Gillespie
KPMG Chair in Organisational Trust, Professor in Management, School of Business, UQ, and International Research Fellow at Centre for Corporate Reputation, Oxford University
If the challenges of the pandemic have taught us anything, it’s that strength that comes from working together. In response to COVID-19, leaders, employers and policymakers had to make rapid and large-scale changes to meet stakeholders’ needs and stay viable.
Research shows that trust is critically important for successfully navigating uncertainty and disruption – yet it is during disruption that trust is most under threat, as employees feel the strain and vulnerability of an unpredictable future. So how can leaders maintain the trust of employees during uncertainty?
Our research suggests three leadership practices are critical. Firstly, openly and honestly communicating with employees about how the disruption is affecting the organisation and developing a shared understanding of how the organisation will navigate the disruption is key.
This includes making transparent required changes and priorities and how these align with the organisation’s values and purpose. We call this building a bridge to the future founded on core values and purpose.
Caring for and supporting employees emotionally and practically is also critical.
Leaders can develop the coping capabilities and resilience of employees by providing support mechanisms and creating psychologically safe environments to work through feelings commonly triggered by disruption, such as fear, anxiety and vulnerability.
Simple gestures such as acknowledging the difficulties affecting employees, rewarding small wins, being accessible and scheduling regular check-ins all make a difference.
Empowering employees and treating them fairly is always critical to trust, but particularly so during disruption.
Leaders can foster a sense of empowerment and control among employees by proactively consulting and involving them in decisions and changes that affect them and treating them as individuals with understanding and empathy.
Fairness also involves using consistent and transparent processes when making difficult decisions, and clearly and openly explaining how such decisions are made. Fair treatment, in turn, enhances engagement, wellbeing and acceptance of change.
Our research suggests that through these leadership practices, trust can not only be preserved during uncertain times, but even enhanced.
To read more, see: Preserving Employee Trust During Crises.
Professor Deborah Terry AO
Vice-Chancellor and President, The University of Queensland
Some of the most enduring quotes about leadership in uncertain times were delivered by the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) at his first Inaugural Address.
At the height of the Great Depression, Roosevelt opened his 1933 Inaugural Address with the words: “this is pre-eminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly”, before famously asserting: “that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.
But Roosevelt also acknowledged the challenges the nation faced, by saying: “only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment”.
To me, these quotes really distil the essence of great leadership in the midst of turmoil.
In times of uncertainty, a leader’s communication needs to be crystal clear – honest, transparent, upfront and timely.
But a leader’s communication also needs to show a degree of empathy and compassion for the impact that the situation is having on individuals, and across whole communities.
Leaders also need to be mindful that in times of crisis, people are craving reassurance and a sense of hope for the future.
Therefore, leaders need to acknowledge the challenges that people are dealing with, while also articulating a realistic path towards a better future that instils hope, by drawing on areas of strength or shared values.
I also feel it’s incumbent on leaders to role-model composure, courage and resilience in the midst of uncertainty, because these qualities help to instil confidence in others that is absolutely vital to recovery and the restoration of a sense of normality.
Or, as FDR also famously said in that 1933 Inaugural Address: “This is no unsolvable problem, if we face it wisely and courageously.”
Brad Scott
General Manager Football, Australian Football League (AFL).
Graduate Certificate in Applied Science (Sports Coaching) '18
Competitive balance is a key pillar in the Australian Football League (AFL). It strives to ensure that teams have an even chance of achieving success regardless of their financial strength. It also aims to ensure that supporters believe their team has a chance to win on 'any given day'.
Mechanisms include a player draft, salary cap on player payments and a soft cap on football department spending.
The system is designed to produce uncertainty of results, which is great for fans but can be a source of considerable mental, emotional and physical suffering for athletes and coaches.
So, athletes and coaches work extremely hard to 'control the controllable' and work to a strict training schedule that deliberately creates discomfort that leads to positive adaptation and builds resilience.
When the pandemic struck in March 2020, on the eve of the AFL season, all the 'controllables' were removed, replaced with a lack of visibility of when (if?) games were going to be played. Lockdowns prevented clubs from training as a group. The antidotes to uncertainty – structure, routine and repetition – were replaced with ambiguity.
Humans are hardwired to view uncertainty as a threat, and it was the role of club leaders and administrators to remind the industry that they were psychologically well-placed to navigate the uncertain environment and our leaders had a clear plan.
Two themes were constantly reinforced throughout the crisis:
- We would be flexible and agile
- We would complete the 2020 season, including finals, and award a premier.
These themes reinforced to our people that we needed to accept that change was inevitable, and it was likely that teams would need to relocate for long periods interstate (four months for some teams), sometimes with only one hour’s notice.
Flexible and agile became cliché, but it was critical in demonstrating that this crisis was not permanent, and that the situation was always evolving and that we would change with it and ultimately prevail. The same goes for any uncertain situation.
Image: Alswart / Adobe Stock
Dr Marguerite Evans-Galea AM
Co-founder and co-chair, Women in STEMM Australia, Director of STEM Careers Strategy, Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering
Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science '92, Postgraduate Diploma in Science '94
If there is one thing that we can be certain about, it is that things are uncertain.
Given the global disruptions of recent years, it is little wonder that people are feeling more unsettled and anxious than ever. These are reasonable and legitimate responses to uncertainty.
How do leaders navigate such times? With trust, empathy and respect.
Image: Feng Yu / Adobe Stock
Image: Feng Yu / Adobe Stock
While the ‘unknown’ can sometimes be seen as exciting or adventurous, when services are disrupted, people are displaced from their homes, or worse, they are sick or dying, there is no adventure.
Instead, there is confusion and loss of control which can quickly lead to self-doubt and panic. Almost instinctively, we look to our leaders for reassurance, guidance and advice.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still working out what our ‘new normal’ is — and it is still uncertain.
Successfully navigating uncertain times requires trust between leaders and their teams which must be mutual and regularly reinforced.
Entrust your team with important tasks, challenges and leadership opportunities. While mistakes can be made and forgiven, your words must equal your actions or your ability to lead effectively will quickly erode and dissipate when crisis strikes.
At work, when the boat starts to rock, it is the responsibility of leaders to steady the ship and instil some calm amidst the chaos, even when they themselves are feeling the pressure.
Image: ilyaf / Adobe Stock
Image: ilyaf / Adobe Stock
Great leaders kick their emotional intelligence into hyperdrive; they meaningfully connect with their staff and tune into their needs with sensitivity and understanding. Importantly, they acknowledge that everyone’s feelings are valid.
Leading with trust, empathy and respect will help your team maintain morale, focus and productivity through the most turbulent of times.
John Wylie AC
Principal, Tanarra Group (Funds Management), Former Chair of the Australian Sports Commission, Former President of the Library Board of Victoria
Bachelor of Commerce (Honours Class 1) ’83
As we partied into 2020, I looked forward to the year ahead: a 60th birthday party with friends from around the world, building our funds management business with new international strategies and clients.
Well that worked out well, didn’t it? As John Lennon famously observed, life is what happens while you’re making other plans.
That applied to all of us over the past two years. The experience taught me that life is a great teacher and not to assume that our assumptions are correct. It taught me new things about leadership: some of these worked well for our business, and some old insights were reinforced in new ways.
Our Tanarra leadership team and I resolved early on to use this upheaval and uncertainty to concentrate on the few simple, big things that would strengthen and improve our business strategically post-pandemic. On my daily walks around Caulfield Park during lockdown, I said to my wife that I wanted to look back in five years and know the decisions that we made peak-pandemic set us up for future success. If you’re strategic, especially at times of maximum stress or disruption, you draw ahead of your competition. Their eyes may be fixed on the ground in front of them, rather than the horizon.
A second positive aspect was experimentation and fun. When Victoria’s second lockdown was announced, we made a spur decision to have a weekly group video session with the coolest people we knew as a motivational and learning activity for the team. We called it ‘Legends in Lockdown’, and it was a huge success. We learnt not only about these leaders’ lives and experiences, but also that we could connect both with our local communities and incredible people leading their fields globally.
Finally, the pandemic reinforced for me the importance of empathy for those in leadership positions. Some of us had a large and comfortable cushion underneath our pandemic experiences – some of us didn’t. Telling someone who’s lost a relative, who can’t travel to see family, who can’t run their small business or is trying to juggle home-schooling with work that “we’re all in this together” is false, and it drove people apart rather than together.
Empathy – especially quiet, non-attention seeking empathy – has always been important in leadership positions, but never more so than during COVID.
We’re all a bit older and wiser post-COVID. Its final lesson for me was that we’re never too old to be learning! The curve balls will keep coming, and flexibility and adaptability will always be key.
Image: Ipopba / Adobe Stock
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