If ever there were a time for business leaders to take a moral stand, it’s now. So why is it a struggle for some?

Even as the uncertainty of this moment persists.

This lack of clarity is testing our ability to lead teams in a moment when we need teamwork more than ever. 

The trick with the middle game is this: you don’t try to win. You aim to improve your position and options, until a way forward emerges.

When you’re learning something, you wobble — it’s your nervous system responding to the unfamiliarity of a new move and course-correcting. That wobbling IS how you learn. And if we intervene to stop that wobbling, we inadvertently inhibit learning. Let people wobble!

Here’s a couple of reasons why it’s hard to end things, from a social science perspective, and why it’s so important, from a leadership perspective.

Good storytelling is arguably the most vital leadership skill for motivating people through change. 

We can’t make the uncertainty — or the anxiety — go away. But we can lead through it with love not fear…

When we are leading into the unknown, we operate in a context of failing — because we do not yet have the ability to implement something that we are only just beginning to master. The key is to focus on the way we lead, not the outcome.

Before leaving my post at SYPartners, I interviewed my colleagues about their experience of senior leadership teams — the teams that sit at the top of an organization. 

Leadership doesn’t belong to those who occupy any particular role! It belongs to anyone who — from our TJA definition — “influences and motivates people to achieve a shared vision and improve an organization”.

The heart of leadership is intention — you cannot lead if you have no direction in mind for yourself and others to follow. But intention can become fixed in people’s minds as expectation, a hardened belief that something will happen vs an open-minded commitment to a purpose.

Getting to the next level of performance for you, your team, or your organization almost always requires a deep learning curve.

As leaders we are going to run into moments that need bravery — where emotional or political stakes are high, there’s disagreement, and a feeling of risk for at least one person.

How to have a decision-making conversation.

How to have a planning conversation.

How to have a problem solving conversation.

How to have a vision conversation.

Wisdom from 12 leaders on how they lead when there is no certainty.