In times of uncertainty, leaders often grapple with how best to support their teams. One common instinct is to assume that employees prefer direct guidance during uncertainty: clear instructions on what to do and how to navigate turbulent situations.
This approach is reasonable, particularly in high-stakes situations. But the real differentiator of great leadership during times of ambiguity? Coaching.
Why Coaching Is the Best Approach During Uncertainty
When faced with instability, coaching can help leaders nurture resilience, encourage critical thinking, and connect on a human level.
Coaching provides the opportunity to:
- Settle the Mind: Uncertainty can induce stress and anxiety. Coaching gives people a moment to breathe and gather their thoughts. This stabilizing effect enhances mental clarity, allowing employees to approach challenges more effectively.
- Process Emotions: Coaching creates a safe space for employees to discuss their feelings regarding uncertain situations. By articulating their emotions and identifying their root causes, employees can better overcome the psychological demands of uncertainty. This processing is vital for personal and professional growth.
- Explore Options: Engaging in a coaching dialogue allows team members to brainstorm potential solutions together. This collaborative exploration can bring new ideas or solutions into focus at a time when clarity is lacking.
- Foster Empowerment and Accountability: A coach empowers individuals to take ownership of their role and responsibilities. When employees feel empowered and accountable they are more engaged and proactive, even in the face of ambiguity.
- Encourage Innovation: Uncertainty often breeds creativity. Coaching can help teams harness their innovative potential by encouraging out-of-the-box thinking and solutions that may not have emerged in more stable conditions.
Coaching During Uncertainty: A Strategic Leadership Approach
Coaching can be categorized into three essential areas: performance, satisfaction, and engagement—areas that remain relevant than ever during periods of ambiguity and volatility. Each area is vital in navigating change and maintaining a healthy workplace culture.
Coaching for Performance: Aligning Focus Amid Chaos
Coaching for performance reinforces what truly matters. Here, leaders can help employees recognize and recommit to their established goals. The essential questions a coach may ask include:
- Which performance metrics still matter in this new environment?
- What should evolve to reflect new realities?
By guiding team members through this reflective process, coaches help clarify priorities, keeping performance on track even when the landscape shifts.
Coaching for Satisfaction: Anchoring to Core Values
It’s easy for individuals to lose sight of their personal values during times of change. A strong coaching relationship can help employees reconnect with what genuinely matters to them. Focusing on personal values—whether that’s work-life balance, autonomy, or recognition—serves as a compass during challenging times.
Leaders should emphasize the importance of these values, ensuring that employees understand their significance and how they can be preserved. This focus can enhance individual motivation and job satisfaction, leading to more positive workplace outcomes.
Coaching for Engagement: Connecting as a Performance Driver
Effective coaching is deeply relational and involves facilitating open lines of communication. Leaders should ask employees what they need to perform their best. This might include checking in more or less frequently, fostering greater transparency, or adjusting job responsibilities to accommodate changing personal needs.
By remaining engaged and present, leaders can adapt their approaches to better support their team members, ensuring that everyone feels valued and connected.
Empowering Future-Focused Leadership at Scale
When Havas Health & You, a global leader in health and wellness communications, sought to invest in the next generation of leaders, they partnered with GP Strategies to develop a transformational leadership initiative. The Developing Leaders (DL) Program was designed to refine leadership skills and ignite a ripple effect of leadership across the organization.
Through one-on-one coaching, mentorship, peer feedback, and immersive workshops, the DL Program encouraged participants to begin their journey with introspection—exploring who they are as individuals—before progressing to understand the needs of those they lead. Emotional intelligence was a cornerstone of the experience, helping leaders bring authenticity and inspiration into their leadership style.
What made the program especially impactful? Its design encouraged leaders to “pay forward,” creating a self-sustaining model of coaching and support that scaled organically through the organization. This case illustrates how intentional coaching interventions don’t just solve for the present—they build leadership cultures for the future.
Results:
- 88% reported stronger leadership capabilities
- 87% saw noticeable improvements recognized by their teams
- 100% increased their leadership confidence
Great Leaders Coach Through Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity
Rather than merely telling employees what to do, true leadership in a crisis comes from rich, supportive coaching relationships. By focusing on performance, satisfaction, and engagement, leaders can cultivate a resilient workforce capable of navigating uncertainty with confidence and clarity. When organizations embrace coaching as a core leadership value, they position themselves not only to survive through disruption but to thrive within it.
Ready to strengthen your leadership and drive meaningful change through coaching? Explore how GP Strategies can help: Leadership Coaching Solutions.
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