How to build trust while leading through uncertainty
In 2024, about half the world voted in national elections. Across all those elections, almost every incumbent party facing election lost vote share; among democracies, over 80% saw the incumbent party lose support compared to the previous election.
While there are many reasons for this, it’s undeniable that we’re in a challenging leadership environment. Our societies’ problems are complex and multifaceted, requiring global or regional solutions.
Few simple solutions exist to complex issues. Communicating the limits of a leader’s ability to influence those solutions and the nuances of the tradeoffs involved is difficult, especially when the electorate is busy, overwhelmed, and frustrated. But when leaders can’t follow through on those simple promises, trust erodes.
So, when the incumbent leaders can’t articulate a vision to solve real problems, and the simple ideas they campaigned on don’t work, we pick new people.
What does this have to do with you?
Business leaders are in the same predicament. Many of our challenges are multifaceted, complex problems with significant uncertainty and no simple answers. There are lots of factors that are outside the leader’s sphere of influence. So making progress as an organization is more challenging.
We face the same risk as our political leaders. If we can’t make progress or communicate the complexity, our teams will vote us out (switch jobs or disengage).
How do we lead our teams in this environment?
In 2025, I’m recommending that leaders level up their communication to lead through uncertainty:
- Overcommunicate. Tell folks what you see, explain how you address it, and update them as things change. Do that in emails, videos, meetings, and 1-2-1s. Build a pattern of regular communication with your leaders and the whole team. Tell the story long past the point where you are sick of talking about it.
- Listen. When communicating your vision and direction, make room for feedback and take it seriously. The best CEO I ever worked for insisted that a company update meeting wasn’t over until he got a minimum of 3 questions. In smaller gatherings, he’d ask us what we saw, ask for different perspectives, and listen more than he talked.
- Create “hooks.” Is there a story you could tell, a diagram you could draw, or a metaphor that helps communicate your point of view? Use a variety of mediums to get your point across.
- Communicate about what you control and what you can’t. It can be hard to talk about things that are outside our control. It can make us feel weak. It may sound like we’re taking a victim stance. But it’s also honest. We can’t predict the future, and there are things we can’t control. By focusing on what we can control, we direct our whole team toward efforts that produce results.
How are you communicating differently in 2025?
