I recently attended this year’s CIPD Festival of Work conference in London, and found that although there was much talk about AI, productivity, and the pace of organisational change, this was not the main theme.
Instead, it was that leaders are being asked to create clarity at a time when certainty simply doesn’t exist.
The organisations, teams and individuals I work with are also experiencing continual change- not in one industry, but across all of them. Priorities are shifting, teams are restructuring, and decisions are being made, only to be revisited a few months later.
I hear leaders quietly share the same thing: ‘I feel like I should have the answer.’
Perhaps that’s because many of us developed our careers with a particular expectation of leadership, where the leader is the expert, predicting what would happen next and providing confidence because of their certainty.
Today’s workplace demands something different, and perhaps the most valuable leadership capability now is not certainty at all, but clarity.
The old leadership model has changed
For many years, leadership rewarded expertise. The person with the deepest technical knowledge often became the manager, then eventually the head of the department and director. Meanwhile, strategic planning was an annual exercise which stretched to a horizon of three or even five years ahead, and leaders could forecast, predict and control with more confidence.
Today’s environment makes that increasingly unrealistic, where AI continues to reshape how work is done, markets move faster, organisations reorganise more frequently, and global events have created deep ongoing uncertainty.
This is not simply a period of change, it is the permanent environment that leaders must contend with, so leadership itself needs to evolve.
Leading through uncertainty? Regain your clarity
Clarity creates confidence
I sometimes hear that leaders believe they need to reassure people by appearing certain. Ironically, this can create more anxiety when reality inevitably changes.
Instead, I’ve found that people respond well when leaders communicate with honesty and clarity, which might sound like this:
‘We don’t yet know the final outcome, and this is what we know today.’
‘This is our priority for the next four weeks.’
‘This is what we’re testing in this current phase.’
‘This is what success will look like.’
Notice how it is not pretending to predict the future, but helping people understand the present, giving clarity reduces unnecessary ambiguity and allows people to focus their attention on what matters now.
Think like a Wimbledon tennis player
At the time of writing, Wimbledon, the world-famous tennis competition, is happening here in London, and I’m noticing how the world’s best tennis players succeed.
They move constantly, they adjust, every shot demands a response, as they dart around the court. Yet after almost every move, they return to centre, where they regroup, reset, focus on the ball and then get ready to move again.
Leadership increasingly feels the same: respond, recentre, pause, refocus and prepare for the next move.
It’s certainly not clinging to a plan that no longer fits the reality, or focusing on longer-term forecasting, instead effective leaders help their teams understand where they are today, what to focus on right now and be more experimental.
Communicate confidently when the answers aren't clear
Communication has become a strategic leadership capability
One of the hidden risks during uncertainty is silence and a lack of communication. When communication becomes inconsistent, delayed or vague, people naturally fill the gaps themselves, which is when rumours spread, assumptions are made, and people get distracted by ‘what ifs’.
This is why clarity is helping people understand priorities today, explaining why decisions are being made and acknowledging honestly what remains unknown.
As one speaker at the conference put it, ‘clarity is kindness.’
I couldn’t agree more- your communication becomes the environment your team experiences, and being clear, even when the news is not positive, is much better than the noise of silence and ambiguity.
Discover the leadership capabilities that help in uncertainty
Different attitudes to uncertainty
One aspect that is often overlooked is that people experience uncertainty differently, where some are energised by experimentation and the opportunity of the unknown, while others find the constant ambiguity deeply uncomfortable.
In my Cultural Intelligence work, I regularly see how our relationship to risk and uncertainty is influenced by our cultural background, previous experiences and is one of ten personal behavioural preferences we can measure.
This means being aware and genuinely curious about how others are experiencing the uncertainty, and helping them through change.
Your team is not looking for perfect predictions, but they are looking for direction, honesty and clarity.
Questions to reflect on
- Where could you replace a drive for certainty with creating greater clarity?
- What assumptions might your team be making because of a lack of communication?
- How consistently are you communicating today’s priorities, rather than tomorrow’s forecast?
Next steps
If you’re navigating these challenges yourself, you can find practical frameworks in my book, Become a Global Leader, to support you.
And if you’re leading through significant change and would value tailored support, coaching can help you strengthen your leadership communication and create greater clarity for your team. Let’s talk about how I can help.
