8 Ways to Deal With Uncertainty At Work
How well do you deal with uncertainty at work? Humans hate uncertainty. Our brains are wired to see uncertainty as a threat and push us to take action to survive that threat. Research has proven that humans in general would rather experience pain than face uncertainty. That is how much our brains want to avoid uncertainty.
Uncertainty itself is not really the problem. Our reactions to uncertainty usually cause ourselves problems we could do without. Most of us experience reactions to uncertainty as feelings of anxiety, stress and fear. Too much of these emotions too often, and our health is going to start suffering.
8 Ways to Deal With Uncertainty At Work
- 4 ways to deal with uncertainty at work at a personal level
- 4 ways to help your team deal with uncertainty at work
I have worked in and led teams in business situations with high levels of uncertainty – for example in business turnarounds where business survival was very much at risk and in businesses growing at over 100% every year. I absolutely know the importance of learning to mentally cope with high levels of uncertainty and remain personally productive.
The impact of uncertainty on teams is also very detrimental. Think about the distraction caused by a group of individuals worrying about the future. Reducing uncertainty as much as possible and reducing team members’ reaction to uncertainty is vital to keep the team productive and delivering.
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4 ways to deal with uncertainty at work on a personal level
These are the four approaches I have found very useful
- Accept a level of change and uncertainty
- Worry about what you can control and not about what you can’t control
- Focus on the present
- Create contingencies and action plans
1 – Accept a Level of Change
Our work environments are always changing. They have to be because the marketplace and your business’ competitors are always changing. Therefore, any business needs to adapt to these changes to survive and thrive. It is when the pace of change at work increases to levels we are not used to that triggers our personal reactions to uncertainty.
Work on your self-awareness and in particular work out what you fear or what insecurities are triggered in situations with a lot of change. This can really help you manage your anxiety, stress and fear reactions. It is like knowing about a hot button. When you know someone is pressing it, you can choose how to react. If you don’t realise you have this hot button, you just react, usually badly.
2 – Worry About What You Can Control
To deal with uncertainty at work, worry about what you can control and try very hard to let go and not worry about what you can’t control. This is easy to say and not so to do. Separate all the areas you are thinking and worrying about into what you directly control, what you influence, and what you have little or no influence or control over. Work on what you can control and influence. Let go of and stop worrying about everything else. Worrying about it will not change the outcome of the situation. Stopping worrying about what you can’t control will massively help your mental state and your reactions to uncertainty.
3 – Focus on the Present to Deal with Uncertainty at Work
Keep yourself in the here and now. Focus on what task, activity or project you can work on right now. Create a clear to do list of tasks and activities that contribute to a good result for you, the team and the business and work down your to do list. Try your best not to think about the areas of uncertainty. Keeping yourself busy with what you can do, takes your mind of the future and reduces your negative reactions to uncertainty.
4 – Create Contingencies and Action Plans
To deal with uncertainty, create contingencies and actions plans. Ask the “What will I do if…” questions rather than “What if…” questions. This mental change moves you from worrying about what might happen to planning what you will do if a certain situation happens. Planning your steps and taking those steps if a situation happens is 100% within your control. This change reduces your uncertainty and is a very positive step to deal with uncertainty at work.
These 4 ways to deal with uncertainty at work will help you personally. Next we are going to talk about how you can help your team cope with higher levels of uncertainty, which helps keep team performance high in periods of uncertainty at work.
4 ways to help your team deal with uncertainty at work
Your team’s performance, motivation and happiness will drop with increased uncertainty. When individuals on the team are worrying about what is happening next, they are not focusing on what they need to do right now to keep the team delivering. As a manager, the 4 ways to help your team deal with uncertainty I think you must action are:
- Over-communicate right now
- Keep talking about direction and expectations
- Help the team develop new skills and opportunities
- Be open and honest about what is happening
1 – Over-Communicate
When your team is facing uncertainty, an essential step to counter uncertainty is to start over-communicating. Book in extra team meetings. Have a one-on-one meeting each week with your reports. Send out update emails. At least double the amount of communication you do to your team. The more your team knows about what is happening, the less uncertainty they will feel. The more reassurance you can provide, the more opportunities you give them to talk through their fears, the more you create a team approach, with everyone supporting each other; the more productive, motivated and happy your team will be. Over communicate to reduce uncertainty.
2 – Keep talking about direction and expectations
To deal with uncertainty in your team, keep talking about direction and expectations. Keep your messaging consistent. Keep the team moving in the same direction. Maintain the same expectations with the team. Keep repeating until your team get bored of hearing your message. Creating certainty in team direction and expectations reduces the impact of uncertainty elsewhere.
3 – Develop New Skills & Create Opportunities For Your Team
To help the team deal with uncertainty, help the team develop new skills and create new opportunities for them to learn. This is part of helping the individual create contingencies and action plans as we discussed earlier. For teams that need decision making, solution building and teamworking skills, to improve what the team delivers, making the time to teach, coach and mentor others in these skills is very valuable for the team as well as the individuals. Better skills mean high team performance and better job security and desirability on a personal level.
4 – Build Trust By Being Open & Honest About What Is Happening
Building and maintaining trust is a big factor to help the team deal with uncertainty. A great way to build trust and reduce uncertainty is to be open and honest about the situation with the team. It is better they hear what is actually happening than rely on the rumour mill for information which we all know can wildly inaccurate. Talk about the positives and present the negatives in a positive light. Being open and honest is a very important action to reduce uncertainty at work.
There is a lot you can do to reduce the uncertainty a team feels and the distractions created by uncertainty. All of the actions we have been through are largely in your control. Do help your team reduce uncertainty by providing certainty wherever you can and by communicating a lot in an open and honest way.
in summary
Dealing with uncertainty at work is important for our own mental and physical health. It is just as important to help our teams reduce uncertainty and its effects on team motivation and performance.
As a quick reminder here are the 8 ways to deal with uncertainty at work. The 4 to use for your personal wellbeing are:
- Accept a level of change and uncertainty
- Worry about what you can control and not what you can’t control
- Focus on the present
- Create contingencies and action plans
And to help your team deal with uncertainty:
- Over-communicate right now
- Keep talking about direction and expectations
- Help the team develop new skills and opportunities
- Be open and honest about what is happening
If you have any questions, please email me at support@enhance.training and I will get back to you.
