When we find ourselves in an uncertain context and we are feeling stressed / nervous / overwhelmed / anxious / fearful (all of the above hour to hour at the moment?!), our brains search for solutions. We quickly jump to conclusions, answers, fixes that will make that discomfort go away. But as we are experiencing right now, the messier the context, the less answers there are, and the more unhelpful it is to jump in or wish it away.
Right now as leaders we need to ride the wave of emotions for ourselves, and hold the space for our people as they ride their emotions. We can’t fix it for anyone. We can’t make it go away.
But we can make it an experience to connect, build trust and learn from. Whether you are in a position of difficult decisions because there’s not enough work and you don’t know what's next, or you are scrambling all hours of the day and night to create new solutions to problems we’ve never seen before, I encourage you to remember the…
Pause for a moment for your own well-being and clearer thinking.
We cannot possibly know all the information, let alone all the answers right now. When there’s lots of uncertainty we need to ask more questions.
Then step in bravely, with curiosity for what you might get right and what you might get wrong. Then flexibly pause to reflect, and try again. Mostly just taking a moment, however tiny, whenever you can, to Pause and momentarily just sit in the mess.
When we find ourselves in an uncertain context and we are feeling stressed / nervous / overwhelmed / anxious / fearful (all of the above hour to hour at the moment?!), our brains search for solutions. We quickly jump to conclusions, answers, fixes that will make that discomfort go away. But as we are experiencing right now, the messier the context, the less answers there are, and the more unhelpful it is to jump in or wish it away.
Right now as leaders we need to ride the wave of emotions for ourselves, and hold the space for our people as they ride their emotions. We can’t fix it for anyone. We can’t make it go away.
But we can make it an experience to connect, build trust and learn from. Whether you are in a position of difficult decisions because there’s not enough work and you don’t know what's next, or you are scrambling all hours of the day and night to create new solutions to problems we’ve never seen before, I encourage you to remember the…
Pause for a moment for your own well-being and clearer thinking.
We cannot possibly know all the information, let alone all the answers right now. When there’s lots of uncertainty we need to ask more questions.
Then step in bravely, with curiosity for what you might get right and what you might get wrong. Then flexibly pause to reflect, and try again. Mostly just taking a moment, however tiny, whenever you can, to Pause and momentarily just sit in the mess.
