{"id":5279,"date":"2020-10-15T10:13:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T10:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/"},"modified":"2021-08-31T10:38:34","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T10:38:34","slug":"leading-in-times-of-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"Leading in times of uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

We live in a new world where change has become the permanent variable. Certainties are gone! We lead teams under uncertain circumstances, and we must be ready to operate in \u201ca world as it emerges\u201d as Otto Scharmer of the ULab at MIT says. This tells us clearly that the main tool we have is ourselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is highly challenging for leaders and managers (middle management generally) who are under stress on three levels: firstly, the stress of their team members facing an uncertain world together with their fears and resistances; secondly, the stress coming from their managers or shareholders who demand certainty; and lastly, the stress they themselves emanate in the face of uncertainty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the main tool is our self<\/span>, we have some limitations: our main organ, the brain, is the same as it was 160,000 years ago and it isn\u2019t made for change, but to ensure our survival. Thus, it always opts to spend less energy, while for the sake of safety it drives us to do the same old thing as always. Yet another challenge!<\/span><\/p>\n

Leading teams to change reality and within a liquid reality is a complex task, which thus requires many self-care resources. Here are some recommendations and suggestions for tapping into more self-resources:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. <\/span>Confront fears through cooperation<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Fears are basic emotions that link us to our evolutionary past: they allow us to detect danger and put us on alert. So, to be afraid is natural in a situation of uncertainty.<\/span><\/p>\n

    We learnt from neuroscience that the main resource for facing fear is cooperation. In a complex scenario, a good strategy is to bring together collaborators to work, to share, to express these same fears. Being with others gives us security.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. <\/span>Connect through positive emotions<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Thoughts trigger emotions. For example, if I tell someone who is afraid of spiders that I have a spider in a box, he will probably be afraid regardless of whether the spider actually exists. Fear is spawned by the thought of the spider. Similarly, a driver on a motorway sees another car overtaking him and that makes him angry, even though the second driver had no intention of bothering him. Again, this is the effect of thought. That\u2019s what happens in uncertain and complex settings; thought leads us to think about fearful scenarios, triggering negative emotions and spurring anxiety. Anxiety is the fear that comes from thinking about something feared.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Uncertain contexts generate anxiety. All of us people fear the worst. There are two top strategies for combating anxiety, which also use thought: the first consists of being able to learn to deliberately attach ourselves to thoughts that breed positive emotions; the second, involves thinking about the different possible scenarios to befriend them. It has also been proven that in such situations meditation is a great help.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. <\/span>Stabilize ourselves in moments of stress<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        In troops of monkeys, the leader is in the centre, so that the rest of the group members see that he is calm, and they then can continue with their tasks tranquilly. In Mike McGuire’s[1]<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> research on monkeys and leadership, the conclusion was that leader monkeys had a higher level of serotonin than the rest. Serotonin is called the happiness hormone and it allows us to be calm in times of stress. A good leader must be able to regulate his serotonin: he must keep calm in uncertain times because that\u2019s important for the rest of the group.<\/span><\/p>\n

        How can we produce good levels of serotonin? The best ways are physical exercise, good sleep, meditation, and laughter. Thus, our recommendation is that, as leaders each one of us should think of looking after ourselves and our own stability. That way you will also take care of the rest of the group\u2019s members.<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. <\/span> Leadership as conversation<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Our acts of leadership are always conversational. However, in times of uncertainty, in complex and threatening contexts, it is necessary to change conversations. What kind of conversation content helps <\/span><\/span><\/span>us to shift the focus onto the team?<\/span><\/p>\n

          Firstly, we must work on analysing scenarios, contemplating everything from the most pessimistic scenario through to the most optimistic one, i.e. discuss what is feared, consider it as a possibility and from there to be able to think up different plans of action. Wedding ourselves to action allows us to surf uncertainty. Secondly, as we said before, it is important to encourage the group to express their fears and relieve tension this way. Finally, create a magical effect that leads to creating or redefining projects as well as planning for their future.<\/span><\/p>\n

          The volatile, ambiguous and startling circumstances, we face today require leaders who possess great emotional stability and, as Otto Scharmer already said, who can make full use of three key tools\u2014an open mind, an open heart and a desire\u2014to cope with uncertainty.<\/span><\/p>\n

          [1] Research on monkeys and serotonin, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          This is highly challenging for leaders and managers (middle management generally) who are under stress on three levels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[343],"tags":[222],"class_list":["post-5279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership","tag-leadership"],"yoast_head":"\nLeading in times of uncertainty - Glocalthinking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leading in times of uncertainty - Glocalthinking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is highly challenging for leaders and managers (middle management generally) who are under stress on three levels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glocalthinking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-15T10:13:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-31T10:38:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-29.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"815\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paula Molinari\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/\",\"name\":\"Glocalthinking\",\"description\":\"Un espacio para los profesionales de RRHH\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-29.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-29.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":815},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/\",\"name\":\"Leading in times of uncertainty - Glocalthinking\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-15T10:13:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-31T10:38:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fdba64aa04e48120e6b4dce3f99720c8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Leading in times of uncertainty\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fdba64aa04e48120e6b4dce3f99720c8\",\"name\":\"Paula Molinari\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/paulamolinari-75-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/paulamolinari-75-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Paula Molinari\"},\"description\":\"Es fundadora y Presidente de Whalecom, consultora l\\u00edder en Latinoam\\u00e9rica y de Joilab, el primer Career Center de la regi\\u00f3n que se lanz\\u00f3 en noviembre de 2016. Tiene una intensa vida acad\\u00e9mica: dirige el Programa Executive de Recursos Humanos y es profesora del MBA en la Universidad Torcuato di Tella y colabora con prestigiosas universidades de Argentina y del exterior. Desarroll\\u00f3 parte de su carrera profesional en el Grupo Techint y fue Directora de Recursos Humanos de Claro. En julio 2011, se lanz\\u00f3 su primer libro Turbulencia Generacional y en 2012 su segundo libro, El Salto del Due\\u00f1o sobre el proceso de profesionalizaci\\u00f3n de las empresas de due\\u00f1o. Ambos son bestsellers entre los libros de management en Argentina. En noviembre de 2016 se lanza una colecci\\u00f3n de minibooks, Herramientas para L\\u00edderes del siglo XXI, dirigida y editada por Paula, con los primeros seis t\\u00edtulos. En 2017, lleg\\u00f3 a las librer\\u00edas su \\u00faltimo libro, Desencajados, sobre los cambios en el mundo del trabajo. Para noviembre de 2017, una segunda temporada de las Herramientas para L\\u00edderes, con 6 nuevos t\\u00edtulos de minibooks. En los \\u00faltimos dos a\\u00f1os, m\\u00e1s de 30.000 personas participaron de sus conferencias en Am\\u00e9rica Latina.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/author\/paulamolinari\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Leading in times of uncertainty - Glocalthinking","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Leading in times of uncertainty - Glocalthinking","og_description":"This is highly challenging for leaders and managers (middle management generally) who are under stress on three levels","og_url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/","og_site_name":"Glocalthinking","article_published_time":"2020-10-15T10:13:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-31T10:38:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":815,"url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-29.jpg","path":"\/var\/www\/vhosts\/glocalthinking.com\/httpdocs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-29.jpg","size":"full","id":1753,"alt":"","pixels":1304000,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paula Molinari","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/","name":"Glocalthinking","description":"Un espacio para los profesionales de RRHH","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-29.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Diseno-sin-titulo-29.jpg","width":1600,"height":815},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/","name":"Leading in times of uncertainty - Glocalthinking","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2020-10-15T10:13:07+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-31T10:38:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fdba64aa04e48120e6b4dce3f99720c8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Leading in times of uncertainty"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fdba64aa04e48120e6b4dce3f99720c8","name":"Paula Molinari","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/paulamolinari-75-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/paulamolinari-75-96x96.jpg","caption":"Paula Molinari"},"description":"Es fundadora y Presidente de Whalecom, consultora l\u00edder en Latinoam\u00e9rica y de Joilab, el primer Career Center de la regi\u00f3n que se lanz\u00f3 en noviembre de 2016. Tiene una intensa vida acad\u00e9mica: dirige el Programa Executive de Recursos Humanos y es profesora del MBA en la Universidad Torcuato di Tella y colabora con prestigiosas universidades de Argentina y del exterior. Desarroll\u00f3 parte de su carrera profesional en el Grupo Techint y fue Directora de Recursos Humanos de Claro. En julio 2011, se lanz\u00f3 su primer libro Turbulencia Generacional y en 2012 su segundo libro, El Salto del Due\u00f1o sobre el proceso de profesionalizaci\u00f3n de las empresas de due\u00f1o. Ambos son bestsellers entre los libros de management en Argentina. En noviembre de 2016 se lanza una colecci\u00f3n de minibooks, Herramientas para L\u00edderes del siglo XXI, dirigida y editada por Paula, con los primeros seis t\u00edtulos. En 2017, lleg\u00f3 a las librer\u00edas su \u00faltimo libro, Desencajados, sobre los cambios en el mundo del trabajo. Para noviembre de 2017, una segunda temporada de las Herramientas para L\u00edderes, con 6 nuevos t\u00edtulos de minibooks. En los \u00faltimos dos a\u00f1os, m\u00e1s de 30.000 personas participaron de sus conferencias en Am\u00e9rica Latina.","url":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/author\/paulamolinari\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7627,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5279\/revisions\/7627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glocalthinking.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}