Weathering Uncertainty Workshop

Your activation guide keeps you connected beyond the Weathering Uncertainty Workshop, designed to help you apply key concepts to your daily work. Use these resources to strengthen your personal resilience, enhance team motivation, and develop effective coaching skills during challenging times.

Understanding Uncertainty and Personal Resilience

Group Connection Concept

Key Aspects of Uncertainty and Personal Resilience

There is a multitude of challenges that you’re facing and acknowledging them is the first step to effectively navigating it:

  • High-pressure environment, changing political climate, negative news, trying to innovate during uncertain times, layoffs, and motivation challenges.

  • Moving from "crisis mode" to establishing a grounded "new normal" requires intentional effort.

Handling all this uncertainty requires Personal Resilience, which is the ability to adapt to stressors through physical, mental, and emotional flexibility. Components include emotional regulation, self-awareness, optimism, social support, and self-care.

Two primary resilience strategies are:

  1. Change how you think: Practice self-reflection and create awareness around your thoughts. Challenge assumptions vs. facts.

  2. Control what you can: First, identify what you can and can’t control. Then focus on what you can control and try to accept and let go of what you can’t.

Self Discussion Questions

Continue the Conversation

  • SELF: “What am I bringing to the dynamic in this challenging moment (e.g. bias, assumptions, hopes, fears, narrative, states like hunger / sleepiness etc.)?”

  • OTHER: “What is my team bringing with them?”

  • SPACE-IN-BETWEEN: “How is our relationship / dynamic impacting the change we are trying to make?”

Takeaways or Things to Try

Take Action Together

Think back to a time when things felt better:

  • When was this time? What did it feel like?

  • What made it feel better?

  • What was your inner narrative at this time?

  • How has this changed when compared to today?

Think of a recent situation at work that made you feel stressed:

  • When was this time? What did it feel like?

  • What made it feel better?

  • What was your inner narrative at this time?

  • How has this changed when compared to today?

Team Dynamics and Motivation during Uncertainty

Group Connection Concept

What’s Happening on Our Teams?

During stressful times, leaders can make mistakes which can amplify the angst:

  • Poor communication: Lack of transparency or failing to listen.

  • Reactive decision-making: Trying to move too quickly without fully assessing the situation.

  • Trying to control everything: Micromanaging and lack of adaptability.

  • Losing sight of core values: What is your WHY!

  • Isolating themselves: Carrying the burden.

People have three fundamental needs that drive motivation:

  • Autonomy: Control and choice over their work.

  • Competence: Opportunities for mastery and growth.

  • Relatedness: Connection and sense of purpose.

Self Discussion Questions

Continue the Conversation

What is a challenging moment you have faced with your team?

  • What did you notice?

  • What went well and what could be improved?

Takeaways or Things to Try

Take Action Together

What leaders can do?

  • Acknowledge what you can control - be transparent.

  • Create space to hear employees’ concerns - listen to understand, don’t listen to fix or defend.

  • Address issues head on.

  • Stay open to solutions that may differ from the norm or status quo.

  • Celebrate small wins and acknowledge efforts.

  • Revisit company values - make sure the current ask is aligned with the “why” and mission of the company.

Coaching Skills for Leaders

Group Connection Concept

Motivational interviewing provides a framework for coaching conversations

Utilizing the processes of motivational interviewing will support creating cohesion and movement during challenging times.

  • Engaging: Rapport building to develop trust and get to know who you’re working with.

  • Focusing: Explore what the person needs and wants.

  • Evoking: Ask them to talk about the whys behind their needs.

  • Planning: Discuss the how of accomplishing this together.

    OARS is a set of core communication skills used in Motivational Interviewing:

  • Open-ended questions that elicit exploration.

  • Affirmations that recognize strengths and efforts.

  • Reflections that demonstrate understanding.

  • Summarizing to clarify and validate information sharing to provide resources.

Self Reflection Questions

Continue the Conversation

Practice the use of OARS and make people feel heard and understood:

• Open-ended questions: “I know things have been challenging lately. How are you doing?”

• Affirmations: “I really appreciate how hard you’ve been working despite the challenges. Your dedication and resilience don’t go unnoticed.”

• Reflections: “It sounds like you’re feeling overwhelmed by the workload and uncertainty, and that’s completely understandable. You care about doing your best and this pressure is making things tough.”

• Summarizing: “So from what I’m hearing, you’re feeling stretched thin and need more clarity on priorities. You also want to feel more supported as we navigate these challenges. Does that sound right?”

• Information sharing: “One thing that might help is prioritizing tasks based on urgency and importance. We can also look at redistributing some work or setting clearer expectations. Would you like to explore those options together?”

Group Reflections & Intentions

Take Action Together

Work through a few scenarios you may encounter with your team.

• Be curious and authentic.

• Think about Self – Other – Space in between.

• Remember the goal is to help people (1) change how they think and (2) control what they can.

• Use OARS to ask better questions / help people feel heard.

• Hold boundaries while showing you care.