The 4 Things Leaders Need to Do First When Faced With Uncertainty When faced with uncertain times and unexpected events, leaders should follow these four steps to see success.
By Tyler King Edited by Chelsea Brown
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
When faced with uncertainty, effective leadership plays an important role in making decisions. but there isn't just one way to do this — there are many different ways! So, what are your options when you're faced with uncertainty? Through my experience in consulting with various companies through Assuras, here is what I have found works best for most companies.
1. Acknowledge uncertainty
When an uncertain situation occurs, instead of getting paranoid or panicked, effective leaders must understand how this uncertain event has happened and that there is no other option but to acknowledge it. Rather than panicking, effective leaders should immediately start working on a plan that will help them in surviving this uncertain situation. The leaders must understand that the only way they can tackle this situation is by creating a plan, devising strategies and implementing them. They should forecast their decision and try to predict the outcomes that might occur if they make any of those decisions.
Related: 8 Ways To Grow Your Business In Uncertain Times
2. Create a vision you wish to achieve
During uncertain times, creating goals and a vision is extremely important. Effective leaders are those who always have a clear vision through which they influence people to act upon it. During uncertain times and unexpected events, the leaders are vulnerable. They likely don't have any idea how to tackle this situation and achieve the goals they previously were working on, but effective leaders immediately start to understand the situation and start working on an action plan with a different vision that could be achieved during the uncertain times. The leaders should start working on a plan, they must identify the questions that they want the answers to, and they must evaluate the possibilities.
3. Create a group
After identifying the possibilities, the leaders must form a group of people within the organization who have creative ideas in their minds. The leader must select people who always think out of the box, and start sharing ideas. These discussions will help the leader in gathering ideas and making the right decision. During uncertain times, it is very difficult for the leader to make decisions on their own, but if they form a group of effective employees, the leader's task will get easier. And with a lot of ideas being exchanged, the leader will be able to make the right decision.
4. Act rapidly
An effective leader is one who acts rapidly to resolve the situation. In order to make decisions during uncertainty, the leader must act rapidly rather than waiting for more information. All waiting will do is it will minimize the number of options that you have. Effective leaders understand the importance of acting rapidly to save their organization and people from uncertain situations. In uncertain times, only those leaders and organizations that are quick to take action will survive and find ways to succeed.
One of the best examples of businesses making decisions during uncertainty is Zoom. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Zoom came into action, and it rose as one of the most used video-calling platforms in the world. Before the pandemic, they had at most 10 million daily users, but after the pandemic, that number went up to 300 million. It is because of the decisions they made that they found a solution to the problem that everyone was looking for. Even though there are many other apps such as Skype, Google Meet and more, Zoom is one of the most reliable and simple to use. They made the wise decision to market themselves as one of the most reliable and easy-to-use platforms. This also shows how effective leaders act rapidly to make their company grow.
Related: 4 Things Employees Want From Leaders During Uncertain Times
When faced with uncertain and unexpected events, leaders should acknowledge the uncertainty, create a vision, get a group together to discuss ideas, and act rapidly. With this four-step plan in place, leaders don't have to panic about what comes next.
This is part three of a three-part series.
