10 Strategies for Leading in Uncertain Times

Leading through chaos isn’t about control — it’s about learning how to ride the storm.

To help today’s leaders do that, MIT has gathered timely insights from MIT SMR authors — researchers and executives who are experts in numerous aspects of managing during uncertain and chaotic times. MIT also reached back for a few lessons gleaned during the pandemic that are quite useful right now. Use these strategies to steer your business, your team, and yourself through the ongoing disruption.

1. Build resilience for surprises.  “Given the unpredictability and multidimensional nature of political risk, it is more important than ever for companies to invest in being better prepared to deal with the often rapid impact of political surprises. This resilience may take different forms — for example, ensuring flexibility to recover critical operations quickly (such as by investing in a diverse supply chain, such that inputs or suppliers can be switched quickly when tariffs are put in place); setting up buffers against potential shocks (such as by diversifying the product portfolio or building up amounts of cash); or creating a modular supply chain (such that the impact of shocks is contained).  “Making such moves requires adopting a mindset that balances efficiency with the longer-term considerations of creating value through differential preparedness.”
2. Train teams to not freeze.  “One common emotional response to uncertainty is freezing. Of the business leaders who participated in MIT research, 32% said they have felt paralyzed by uncertainty when it was time to act. Even more, 42%, said they have put off thinking about decisions because it is uncomfortable. … Treating decisions as experiments can make a difference. …
3. Toss out the crystal ball — strengthen your change muscles instead.  “The belief that successful leaders and companies can predict the future, set a clear direction, and stay the course doesn’t encourage people to reevaluate assumptions or to start, stop, and change direction. … Adaptive companies may seem like they are always two steps ahead, but the key is not the ability to predict which way the wind will blow but rather the ability to sense the prevailing winds and adapt quickly to ride with them.”
4. Expect to be uncomfortable.  “Acknowledge that as a leader, you get to live in uncomfortable places that are never going to get comfortable. Uncertainty about the future is one of those places, and you will be a better leader for admitting the limits of your knowledge — and the limits of risk management and probabilistic thinking.”
5. Focus your team on medium-term goals.  “Looking three months out can create a longer-term sense of stability for your people, but it’s a short enough time period that, even if things shift around you, you likely won’t have to change your mission. … As Jamie Woolf and Heidi Rosenfelder, founders of Creativity Partners, advise, ‘To better enlist your team in the cocreation of the future, try asking questions like “What new sources of profit can replace dwindling ones?” or “What can we do to break down silos within our team?” ’ ”
6. Customize the calm.  “During times of uncertainty, different employees want different kinds of support delivered in different ways. … Managers must prioritize two behaviors: individualized consideration and building trust. … By prioritizing employees’ individual needs and understanding their fears, managers can target and address the sources of their uncertainty in a volatile environment.”
7. Communicate that you’re all in it together.  “Send regular messages to employees that emphasize ‘we’ and ‘us.’ Employees pay more attention to certain messengers than others. … By using collective pronouns and language, leaders can help reinforce a sense of safety and moral support among workers.”
8. Say something before the silence does.  “In difficult times, employees need to know the company’s actual status as soon as is reasonably possible. If you’re not giving your employees regular updates, they’ll make up what they don’t know to fill the information vacuum. Leaders need not worry about overproducing or overediting what they say; the most important thing is to speak and write in an authentic voice — and do it promptly.
9. Cultivate sensemaking at all levels.  “Sensemaking involves pulling together disparate views to create a plausible understanding of the complexity around us and then testing that understanding to refine it or, if necessary, abandon it and start over. … It is considered essential for innovation and crucial to the development of nimble teams and organizations.
10. And Prioritize the crisis; ignore the noise.