October 26, 2023 | By David M. Wagner

Several years back, I had the opportunity to make an offer on a century-old, craftsman style house.

Here’s the thing about century-old houses: they tend to have a lot of issues.

And boy, did this house have problems. The inspection report read like a laundry list of every (future) homeowner’s worst nightmares.

The problems were fixable. But the purchase made no sense unless the sale terms changed.

The month of negotiations and contractor discussions that followed was extremely stressful – because I had no idea if the sale would succeed or fall through!

Uncertainty and Anticipation

Our brains are built to anticipate the future. Research tells us that, when we are uncertain about what to expect in the future, we regard that uncertainty like a known threat.

Uncertainty is really stressful!

As leaders, we are more likely to encounter uncertainty than others. Will that grant come through? Is that new hire going to work out? What will be the response to that new program?

And leaders must take on the additional burden of creating certainty for their teams. When our team members know what to expect, their stress goes down and their performance goes up.

Here are some tools for dealing with uncertainty.

1. Show self-compassion. We know uncertainty is stressful. So let’s give ourselves permission to feel that stress, or even freak out a little if we need to (just not in front of our teams).

2. Use conditional planning. When an outcome is uncertain, create a decision tree with a plan for each possible result. That’s what I did to survive the home purchase – map out the key decision points and plan for each branch (“if the quote for repairs is higher than X, then withdraw the offer,” and so on).

3. Practice risk management. Treat uncertain future events like risks. (I’ve written about risks with regards to decision making before.) Building some realism around the likelihood and consequences of that outcome will make it easier to manage.

4. Set deadlines for uncertainty to resolve. We might be uncertain about when something will happen, in addition to if it will happen. If you’re waiting on something that might not occur (or might not occur in time), restore some sanity by deciding what you’ll do if it still hasn’t happened by a particular date.

5. Communicate plans with your team. Once you’ve got a plan (using the preceding tools), you can set your team members’ minds at ease by telling them what to expect. E.g., “if that grant doesn’t come in by this date, here are the three things we’ll do.”

These tips won’t make uncertainty any less prevalent, but they will make it a bit more manageable – and hopefully a little less stressful, for you and your team. I’ve helped dozens of teams build strategies and employ techniques like these to manage uncertainty. If you’re ready to get a better handle on an uncertain future, set a free consultation with me today.