Navigating Change pt. 4: Leading in Uncertainty

10 years ago I attended the first Catalyst conference, hosted by John Maxwell for emerging leaders under the age of forty.  It’s been a great privilege to have had attended four more Catalyst gatherings as an alumni in the past ten years.  Of all the experienced speakers and all the brilliant insights, the two lessons that have most significantly marked me have come from Andy Stanley.

One of these lessons is a principle he taught called, “Leading in Times of Uncertainty.”

Uncertainty creates the vacuum for leadership. As much as we might hate uncertainty, it is critical to our job security! The problem of uncertainty to the leader is like the problem of growing hair to the stylist. It is a symbiotic relationship.  Without uncertainty there would be little demand and consequently little need for leadership. As uncertainty increases, in our economy, organizations, educational institutions, human relations, and every other sphere of life, the value of leadership increases. Thus, I believe we are living in incredibly exciting times where the market value for stellar leadership is at a prime rate.

There will always be uncertainty. Thus, there will always be the need for stalwart leadership. What is needed most in times of uncertainty, according to Stanley, is clarity. As leaders, we often feel the pressure to have all the answers. Impossible. No one expects us to have all the answers but ourselves. What people do expect, however, is for us to have enough guts and insight to bring clarity to the situation.  Even if that means telling them that we don’t know what the answer is.

There are several ways to do this:

1. Acknowledge what you don’t know – focus on what you do.  In my leadership, this often looks like this, “What is uncertain at this juncture of our organizational journey is ___________; but what is clear is ____________.”  For the past year, the staff of our local congregation has been diligent in pursuing building leads for our move. When it came time to communicate with our people that we were moving, we still did not know where we would be meeting from week to week. That was uncertain. What was clear was that in two weeks we would be out of our building! Storage units needed to be reserved, moving trucks secured, and volunteers recruited. So that is what we focused on in our communication while continuing to answer all of the needed questions behind the scenes.
2. Commit Reasonably. Commit to finding the answers but don’t over-commit or over-promise.  A good leadership principle in decision-making is if you have 80% of the needed information, you have enough to make a solid, educated decision. Don’t paralyze yourself into waiting for 100% of the details to come in. They never will. That’s what leaders are for. We may make up the other twenty and sometimes forty percent. People who will think, gather counsel, pray, intuitively make the best decision they know how, and steward the consequences afterwards.
3. Return to the original vision. Stanley states that the safest place to be in times of change is the very thing that got you started on the journey to begin with: the original vision, values, and calling. What do you fall back on that helps re-clarify the muddy waters of change? What was the original idea of your business, ministry or family? What did you sign up for? What are those five to seven core values that you committed to never breaking?

 Leadership can be nerve-wracking at times. It takes guts. Nobody really knows what’s across the Jordan. There will always be giants in the land and fortified walls to bring down.  Moreover, there will always be people telling you can’t do either. And who knows whether or not you really can? THAT is uncertain. What is CLEAR is that you have one of two choices.  Lead forward in the midst of uncertainty or stay in a desert full of complaining losers and always wonder “What if?”