Leading Through Uncertainty. Jude Jennison
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as the pace of change accelerated. They had learned to seek and create certainty amongst chaos, identify risks, prepare for them and accept the things they could not control.
But that’s easier said than done.
There are huge challenges facing leaders today. We live and work in uncertain times in an era of rapid change, driven by technology and the global economy. As people live longer and work longer, your career may span 50–60 years where previously it was about 30. In the last 50 years, we’ve experienced substantial change in the way we work. The next 10 years are likely to transform beyond recognition as new technology influences further the way we live and work.
Traditional forms of leadership are unsuited to addressing the current global problems of fear, polarisation and disconnection that exist in the workplace as well as the wider society. New and effective ways of leading need to evolve quickly and replace command and control, competition and hierarchy with collaboration and shared leadership. Yet few people have been trained to behave in this way. While everyone likes to think they are collaborative, few truly know how to embody it. The time for dialogue and exploring how we move forward together, embracing our differences, has never been greater. In parallel, the pressure people are under has never been more intense.
How we lead in business and the decisions we take fundamentally shape the world and society. The responsibility of leadership lies with each and every one of us.
The challenge of uncertainty
Uncertainty is uncomfortable. It is something to be embraced rather than feared, but it requires a shift in our thinking and behaviour. Uncertainty creates unforeseen opportunities if we are willing to step over the edge and out of our comfort zone. It also creates stress and overwhelm, fear and polarisation, and in those moments, you wonder whether you can continue like this. The volume of workload is overwhelming, and the fundamental desire to get everything right and be in control is not possible or sustainable.
A different approach is required in leadership. Somewhere, somehow, something has to change. You cannot meet aggressive targets in an environment of uncertainty unless something shifts.
Employees are experiencing the discomfort of leading through uncertainty. They know they need new skills, yet they don’t always get the relevant development. They want to evolve, yet often they lack the appropriate support to do so. The spotlight is on them, and there seems to be little room for failing and recalibrating. It’s uncomfortable and creates stress as people put inordinate pressure on themselves to “get it right”. Leaders need to find a way to ease the mental and emotional load, for themselves as well as for their team. Uncertainty generates a wealth of emotions that we must face head on and accept as being part of the process. We can minimise those emotions by adapting our behaviour and developing new skills.
In addition to the pressures of work, we are human beings experiencing the challenges of life. As work and life are more integrated than ever before, the challenges we face become more difficult to balance. Life is not certain for any of us. We can plan for things as much as possible, but events will always happen outside of our control. We can choose how we respond, and our choices have consequences.
Uncertainty has a cycle. It requires a letting go of one thing so that something new can emerge. Beginnings are often uncertain because the outcome is unclear, and beginnings arise from the ending of something else. People often feel as though their back is against the wall in uncertainty, and they make decisions from that state. We are all somewhat unskilled in uncertainty, and we are all also skilled in it. We have moments when we have no idea what to do and moments when we are willing to risk everything and take a stand for what we believe in.
We spend huge amounts of time imparting knowledge, believing we need to have the answers.
Uncertainty provides an opportunity to step into “How can we…?” This is a paradigm shift from knowing to not knowing, from individual knowledge and power to collective wisdom and collaboration.
Throughout this book, I explore how leaders in organisations must recognise the human challenges that we face – in ourselves and each other – and embrace them in leadership. Challenges are here to stay. Our role as leaders is to meet those challenges with curiosity, compassion, gentleness and courage.
Horses and uncertainty
In the course of my work as an executive coach and strategic leadership partner, I bring clients to work with my herd of five horses. It may sound strange but the horses invite clients to return to their true nature while working in an environment of uncertainty and unpredictability. It provides an opportunity for people to explore how they lead out of their comfort zone. Working with horses creates an embodied experience of leadership where people flex their leadership style, find new ways of leading and increase self-awareness through feedback.
My clients work with me and the horses on the ground. No riding is involved. Once you put a rider on a horse’s back, the relationship changes. When you work with a horse on the ground, it is based on pure partnership where neither party has ultimate control over what happens. It provides an environment for people to explore a different way of leading that is more relational, more collaborative, and based on engaging and inspiring others to work with you.
Horses are masters of sensing beyond the words, and they provide non-judgemental feedback on your non-verbal communication. They don’t care who you are or what job you do. They want to know whether you can lead them to safety, be clear about where you are going and include them in the decision-making through a solid relationship based on trust, mutual respect, confidence and compassion. The hierarchy is definitely flat when you enter the paddock. Your negotiation skills are about to be put to their greatest test. By including horses in the exploration, people show up more fully and gain greater insights into where their leadership is in flow and where it is not, thus allowing an opportunity for recalibration throughout the day.
Research shows that in the presence of horses, you align the head, heart and gut, combining the wisdom of your intellect with your emotions and gut instinct. The human race has been trained to rely on the information in our brains, yet we have so much more wisdom in our reach. When we align the intellect with our emotions and gut instincts, we are more authentic, have more clarity and behave in a more congruent manner.
A client leading Kalle
By their very nature, horses appear to be unpredictable to most people. That’s largely because we don’t always understand their behaviour. As a prey animal, their primary goal is the safety of the herd. They work as a cohesive unit and share responsibility for their collective safety. They therefore provide an ideal learning environment for leading through uncertainty.
Working with horses provides an environment of uncertainty where your leadership is in the spotlight. The horses require the same qualities of a leader that a human team requires – clarity, direction and purpose, balanced with relationships based on trust and mutual respect. They need all of this to feel safe, as people do, too. Ultimately, the horses want to know that you are authentic and acting with integrity. If you create an environment that makes them feel safe, they come with you; if you don’t, they plant their feet and refuse to move. Either way is feedback and a chance to recalibrate and expand your leadership capabilities by trying new approaches.
When people first meet the horses, they are often scared because they don’t know whether the horses will cooperate. The sheer size and presence of horses can be intimidating and invoke anxiety. Some people say they’ve never met anyone bigger and stronger than them, and it immediately poses a threat. This is especially true for men, many of whom often unconsciously use their physicality to exert power, whereas women are used to not being physically the strongest in the room.
Overpowering a horse physically is not going to be the answer. Telling them what to do because you are the boss doesn’t work here. Being a people pleaser won’t get you a result either. The horses want to know that you can lead them through uncertainty, balancing clarity and focused action with strong relationship skills.
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