Most leaders have the following guidance to their follows: "Deal with it." This advice is a reflection of an abdication of leadership responsibilities. It is also a sign that they are clueless of how to deal with it. To be fair, in a small percentage of cases, they may be challenging their audience to rise to the occasion.
Leaders can take some concrete steps to deal with ambiguity:
- One, acknowledge it exists. This will immediately calm people down. When people think the other person has clarity and they don't, it really bothers them and leads to stress.
- Two, describe the ambiguity. Knowing why there is ambiguity actually helps to know the root cause. If if the problem is unsolvable or unknowable, there is a certain comfort in knowing that your worry is legitimate. In a peculiar sort of way, this reduces the worry for some.
- Three, ask for proposals. Don't ask for suggestions. The difference is, if someone makes a 'proposal' and you accept it, they get to follow thru execute. If they make a 'suggestion' and you accept it, someone else has to execute. I split hairs here to make an important point.
- Four, point out the opportunity for creativity and collaboration. If people start talking to each other, the fog may lift earlier than later.
- Five, be very careful not to judge people in this period. Judgment is a reflection of poor leadership and a sign of a leader's insecurity in general, this just aggravates the situation if displayed in ambiguous situations.
- Six, don't ask people to 'take initiative' and 'do something'. They will even if you don't ask them to. Problem is, they will try to help, but make things worse. Alignment to customer outcomes and priorities, coordination and timing is crucial.
- Seven, create a plan. Most teams freeze in their tracks and are unable to plan. Ironically, this is when they need planning the most.
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