Why this matters
If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that certainty has become a luxury.
Across every sector I work in, leaders are navigating continual change. New priorities emerge before old ones are embedded. Funding shifts. Technology evolves. Organisational structures change. Customer expectations continue to rise.
For many leaders, this creates an uncomfortable tension.
We want to provide certainty. We want to reassure our people. We want to have the answers.
But increasingly, we don’t.
And perhaps that’s okay.
One of the biggest myths in leadership is that confidence comes from certainty. In reality, confidence often comes from something far more powerful. It comes from TRUST.
People don’t necessarily expect us to know exactly what’s around the corner.
What they do expect is honesty, consistency, visibility, and confidence that we’ll navigate whatever comes next together.
That has fundamentally changed the way I think about leadership during change.
Leadership is about helping people move through uncertainty with confidence.
Why it resonates
One of the conversations I have regularly with leaders sounds something like this:
“I don’t want to communicate until I know exactly what’s happening.”
It’s an understandable instinct.
We don’t want to create confusion.
We absolutely don’t want to speculate or say something today that changes tomorrow.
But silence creates its own story.
When leaders stop communicating because they don’t yet have all the answers, people naturally fill the gaps themselves.
Rumours begin. Your people’s assumptions grow.
And the overall anxiety increases.
The absence of communication quickly becomes communication.
I’ve seen this happen during restructures, organisational redesigns, transformation programmes and periods of significant uncertainty.
Interestingly, the leaders who maintain the highest levels of trust aren’t usually the ones with the most information.
They’re the ones who communicate consistently—even when the message is simply:
“Here’s what we know today. Here’s what we don’t know yet. Here’s what we’ll keep you updated on.”
Those three statements do something incredibly important.
They replace uncertainty with transparency.
People can handle uncertainty far better than they can handle feeling excluded.
The deeper shift
Earlier in my leadership career, I believed my role was to reduce uncertainty.
Today, I think differently.
I believe my role is to increase confidence. And there in lies an important distinction.
Because I can’t always control external events, guarantee funding decisions, promise that priorities won’t change, or remove every challenge my team will face.
But I can influence something equally important – how people experience uncertainty.
- Will they feel isolated?
- Or connected?
- Will they feel ignored?
- Or informed?
- Will they feel like change is happening to them?
- Or that they’re helping shape what comes next?
One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned is that leadership during change isn’t measured by how much certainty we provide.
It’s measured by how present we remain.
I’ve watched leaders transform difficult situations simply because they kept showing up.
Whether it is through regular check-ins, honest conversations, listening more than talking, acknowledging concerns instead of dismissing them or creating space for questions.
None of those actions remove uncertainty, but they create confidence.
That’s one of the principles that sits at the heart of Leading Through Others.
People don’t need perfect leaders during change.
They need present leaders. Leaders who continue creating clarity where they can, while acknowledging what they cannot yet control.
Your challenge
Think about a change your team is currently experiencing.
It doesn’t have to be a major organisational transformation. It could be a new system, or a restructure, or even changing priorities. Perhaps you are setting new expectations or the team is under increased workload.
Now ask yourself three questions:
- What do my people genuinely know?
- What assumptions might they be making because I haven’t communicated recently?
- What conversation am I delaying because I’m waiting for complete certainty?
This fortnight, don’t wait for the perfect update.
Schedule a conversation. Tell your team what you know today.
Be honest about what remains uncertain. Explain what you’re doing to navigate it.
Then ask one simple question:
“What concerns or questions are on your mind?”
You don’t need to solve every concern immediately.
Sometimes people simply need to know they’ve been heard.
Leadership during uncertainty is really about ensuring nobody feels like they’re facing uncertainty alone.
How I can support
Leading through uncertainty has become one of the defining leadership capabilities of our time.
Throughout my career I’ve supported leaders through organisational redesigns, service transformation, operating model development and significant system change.
One thing has remained remarkably consistent.
Successful change isn’t created by project plans alone.
It’s created by leaders who know how to bring people with them.
That’s why Leading Through Others dedicates significant attention to leading change through conversations rather than simply through communication plans.
The framework is designed to help leaders create trust, maintain confidence and build capability, even when circumstances continue evolving.
Whether through executive coaching, leadership development programmes, keynote presentations or strategic advisory work, I work alongside organisations to strengthen the leadership capability needed for today’s environment.
By helping leaders to develop the confidence to lead well regardless of what the future brings.
Because in the end, leadership is truly tested when people look to us during uncertainty and discover that, while we may not have every answer, they know they won’t have to navigate the journey alone.
And sometimes, that’s exactly the leadership people need most.
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