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Uncertainty and the unknown: scary, unsettling, unpredictable. Or exciting, challenging, offering the potential for growth. Which ever camp you’re in, you’ll know that uncertainty and the unknown are constant phenomena in organisational life.

Transition

Transition – which organisations and senior people find themselves in every day, in one sense or another – means moving from familiarity, and at least a degree of predictability, to the uncertain and the unknown – and also to a fresh opportunity to step up, and to be more creative and versatile.

Uncertainty is an inevitable part of both our personal lives and our organisational lives. We need to come to terms with it, find creative ways of working with it, and mould our relationship to it so that it works for us.

Awareness and understanding: know yourself

Self-awareness, self-understanding, and awareness of the systems we’re part of give us a foundation of ‘the known’ in a context where much may be unknown. This, in turn, can give us a greater sense of safety and agency.

Leaders and others who are self-aware know their values, their purpose, and their motivations. They are aware of their emotions, and the effect of those emotions on their thinking and their behaviour, and they will have learnt how to manage these emotions so that their thinking and their behaviour are productive. They’re aware of what enables, and what inhibits, their best work.

They often know how to be ‘in flow’, which nourishes them. They understand how to manage themselves so that they are inspiring leaders of others. They tend not to allow their own behaviour to take them by surprise or to trip themselves up with unmanageable emotions.

All this helps to build a firm and reliable platform that is strengthening and resourcing.

Strategies for facing the unknown

The effectiveness with which we raise and maintain our awareness is directly proportionate to the effectiveness of our thinking and thus of our behaviour – and both our thinking and our behaviour are influenced by our emotions. Equally, our emotions are influenced by our thinking and our behaviour. Well-managed emotions can steer us safely through a storm (and into harbour), while emotions that are running wild can blow us off course and take us, and our teams, somewhere we never intended to go and over which we have inadequate influence.

Get to know your thinking patterns

Exploring our thinking patterns – and particularly the assumptions and judgments that are so easy to mistake for reality – can illuminate the motivations behind our behaviour. This can provide sharper clarity on what is driving us, and therefore clearer options for that behaviour.

This way we get to know ourselves better – and we know better what we can count on ourselves for, so we expand the territory of the known.

Equally, understanding what and who are influencing us can help reduce uncertainty. This includes identifying long-established loyalties to ideas, people and well-trodden paths, some of which may serve us, and some of which may be outdated.

That understanding can help to give us a sense of mastery when our response to uncertainty might otherwise leave us feeling depleted and helpless.

Acceptance of what is

When we’re fearful of the unknown, it can be useful to remember that it is the ‘now’ which will always become known. Whatever is, is. Acknowledging and accepting that saves energy and creates a greater sense of calm and ease, which in turn allows better-quality thinking to emerge.

The acceptance of what is – acceptance of the now – is perhaps the most powerful source of calm in the turbulence of uncertainty. Mindfulness – awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally, according to Jon Kabat-Zinn – encourages focus and distances us from distracting thoughts and emotions. Not only is it calming, but it also nurtures a quiet confidence in the present moment.

Uncertainty and the unknown will continue infinitely, but they can be managed and mastered – and may even become positives.

Photo by Alan Levine via Compfight

The uncertain and the unknown

Uncertainty is an inevitable part of both our personal lives and our organisational lives. Self-awareness, self-understanding, and awareness of the systems we’re part of give us a foundation of ‘the known’ in a context where much may be unknown. This, in turn, can give us a greater sense of safety and agency. In addition, the acceptance of what is – acceptance of the now – is perhaps the most powerful source of calm in the turbulence of uncertainty. Mindfulness – awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally - encourages focus and distances us from distracting thoughts and emotions. Not only is it relaxing, but it also nurtures a quiet confidence in the present moment.

Humility and the advancement of the executive career

Humility is the capacity to recognise that you – how ever junior to me – offer something (a talent, a skill, an insight) that I don’t have, and that in that sense you are important to my success as a leader, and to our success as a team and as an organisation. Indeed, I am dependent on you – no matter in how small a way - in the system that we are all part of. Humility can be a key - albeit surprising - factor in the advancement of executive careers. More and more organisations are recognising the value of – and are recruiting for – talent that demonstrates the ability to be humble.

Inconvenient truths

My latest article, in Coaching at Work magazine's reflection column (Jan/Feb 2019 edition), looks at our reluctance as human beings to face uncomfortable facts, and the implications for organisational behaviour, especially where this can be counterproductive, or lead to ignoring obvious truths, such as poor leadership or distress in a team. I believe my role as external coach carries responsibility to surface and illuminate what may be hidden or opaque, to peel away layers of wilful blindness and enable sight of reality, which can be uncomfortable, confronting and liberating for my clients

Authority, courage and the leader

There's an interconnection between a leader stepping appropriately into their authority, on the one hand, and their courage, on the other. An effective leader understands their team and their client group, and is able to stay up to date with their needs, changes in those needs, and changes in the context and the system that impact on those needs: they are in touch with the ebb and flow – and act on it - without getting sucked in to the detail, and they can anticipate and prepare for changes. This takes courage.

Who am I? Shifting the focus

My latest article has been published in Coaching at Work magazine's reflection column. In it I explore the question that leaders sometimes put to themselves (and to their coaches): ‘Who am I if I don’t have the answers?’ The question is about both identity and performance – at the very least. While a leader is judged on the results they achieve, achieving outcomes rests in turn on a broader underpinning than just getting things right - notably process, meaning and system.

Trust and transition

Trust is a fragile commodity, and is damaged when the psychological contract (even more than the formal contract) is not respected and/or there is abuse of goodwill, when people feel exploited, disrespected or manipulated, when they have a sense that there’s a hidden agenda, or when they start to question what they had taken for granted about integrity. The outcome may be reduced motivation, performance that is restrained, constrained or diminished, and commitment that is short-lived or superficial. When trust is justified, discretionary effort, engagement and motivation are sustained and built. This is all highly relevant at a time of transition. As a leader you ignore the impact of trust at your peril.

Leading through systemic complexity

The task of leadership in our time is increasingly often described as complex – and leaders are often challenged as to how to deal with it. Leaders whom I work with arrive sooner or later at the realisation that question(s) they bring to coaching are either obviously or surprisingly complex, requiring a holistic approach to address them. Those whose behavioural pattern is to rush towards quick answers can find the exploration of what’s actually happening to be confronting, frustrating, uncomfortable – and rich in learning. In complexity what matters is strengthening relationships between people, recognising and understanding influences and forces rather than exerting control, accepting emergence rather than being focused on planning for outcomes, and a readiness to work with boundaries and perspectives rather than a sense of objective truth.

What's the difference? My article in Coaching at Work

In the Coaching at Work conference session I ran in July 2018, we set out to explore differences and connections between generations. Generation Z guests wanted to be recognised as individuals and to have their diversity valued, rather than focus on their differences as a group from the rest of the population. And coaches reflected that coaching students was no different from coaching anyone else. So what's the difference?

Resilience in a changing world

Leaders are constantly required to deliver more with less. But their resilience can’t be taken for granted. Resources that are particularly valuable for building resilience include: Self-compassion and self-care; mindfulness and acceptance; awareness of habitual thinking patterns such as confusing assumptions with reality; clarification and articulation of purpose; building adaptability and the ability to flex; physical resourcing through sleep, diet and exercise.

Leadership, culture and successful selling

Leaders often start their careers by excelling technically. However, as their careers progress, they require an increasingly nuanced approach – particularly in relation to communication. Leadership means getting things done through people, not in spite of them, and leaders need to tap in to their self-awareness and to convert that into self-managed communication. In the high-stakes climate of the oil and gas industry, from Texas to Saudi, the leader has a consistent need for humility, integrity, curiosity, a willingness to think beyond the usual boundaries, trust, an awareness of one’s impact, and a finely-honed capacity to listen and to respect each individual.

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