We’re living at a time of uncertainty when both work life and personal life are buffeted by political, environmental, and social anxiety. Our employees, colleagues, board members feel it; our nonprofit clients, patients, students, and visitors feel it; so too do family and friends. The uncertainties many of us face around the nation’s direction and world events, around government policies and key funding sources that might impact our programs, around the economy and our fragile environment make this a challenging time and a changing landscape for the good that the nonprofit sector seeks to do. The ideological cleavages that have grown between individuals and between groups can exacerbate our feeling of uncertainty as they compromise important relationships on both the personal and professional level.
How to lead in a time of uncertainty? This series, by Plan A Advisors and Dr. Steve Axelrod, is for board chairs, chief executives, and everyone holding a position of responsibility in the nonprofit sector.
Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty: 2025 Is NOT 2017
Acknowledge that this time is different. When we last addressed uncertainty, it was the beginning of the first Trump administration when the President’s statements were extreme, but the Administration’s ability to execute was more constrained. This time, the President’s appointees and policies lack both empathy and restraint and pose a far more palpable threat to our organizations and those we serve.
Recognize the ubiquity of anxiety. Recognize what everyone is experiencing and understand that anxiety is stirred and felt on a personal, institutional, and communal level. Exercise a calming presence and communicate regularly to engender confidence that you are steering the ship in the right direction, despite the choppy waters.
Be open-minded, but firm about guardrails. Being open minded and generously inclusive is an important leadership quality… up to a point. In recent years, there has been an expectation that organizations will take positions and make statements about a host of issues important to employees. However, a nonprofit’s mission legally binds an organization in terms of the programs it runs and the resources it expends; wading beyond those boundaries can place a nonprofit at risk or distract it from its core mission. Think hard about what your organization can and cannot do. Communicate those guardrails to staff and constituents with empathy, but firmness.
Build self-awareness. Clarify your own values; crisis is an opportunity to “live” them through a time of stress and uncertainty. They are your North Star when you feel buffeted by different constituencies and different agendas.
Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty: Reinforce a Shared Sense of Purpose
In challenging times, it is important to keep current political events in perspective and not neglect the important relationships and personal sense of purpose that make up so much of the texture of our lives. As leaders, we need to navigate relationships with those whose viewpoints differ from our own and to reassert the importance of the organization’s mission. A time of uncertainty is a critical leadership moment; your actions now can reverberate for months to come, so seize the opportunity to reassure and to lead.
Recognize difference. Acknowledge tension and anxiety in the workplace, and differences of opinion amongst your staff, board members, and constituents. Times of stress are when people can feel that survival is at stake, further dividing us into armed camps.
Reassert mission. New threats to institutions and individuals are designed to leave us off balance. Repeatedly reaffirming your organization’s mission – its raison d’être – as well as an agreed-upon set of core values is a way to find common ground. Mission reminds everyone of a shared responsibility to constituents, be they clients, visitors, patients, students, or members and enables us to see a clear path through the intentionally engineered chaos.
Amplify action. Be clear about what you can do as an organization, and what individuals (board members, employees) can do to address uncertainty and serve your constituents. For example, the threat of decreased government funding is real, but the opportunity to increase philanthropic support is possible too.
Model appropriate behavior. Embrace the moral authority you embody as a leader by modeling the behavior you want to see in others. If you recognize a dearth of emotional maturity around you, provide it. Importantly, resist the temptation to take actions appropriate to you as a private citizen when it is inappropriate for the workplace.
Positive interaction. Action and interpersonal connectedness are the best antidotes to uncertainty and alienation. Get people working together positively on both the communal and individual level. Withdrawal, isolation, passivity, and indifference present great risks to our economic and emotional health.
Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty: Be a Great Communicator
A good leader guides an organization to financial stability and psychological stability as well. Communication is the most powerful tool for limiting adverse emotional reactions and keeping people engaged during a time of uncertainty. Board, staff, and constituents should hear from leaders regularly and reliably with empathy, straight talk, and when possible, reassurance. Rumors and gossip should be dismissed, when they can be, and addressed with specificity when they cannot.
Communicate up, down and out. Board, staff, and constituents need to hear from leaders that the organization’s core mission is as relevant as ever, and that management and the organization’s governing body are stewarding it toward effectiveness and sustainability despite the uncertainty that may loom.
Get personal. By restating and reaffirming your vision for your organization’s future, you underscore your own continued and personal commitment to the organization, even in challenging times. Reaffirm what is important to you by referencing the organization’s core values and the ways you interpret and apply them to mission and vision to help personalize your message.
Time your messages. Your audience will learn to tune in for a clear and honest accounting of current conditions and the actions you need to take. But pay attention to the timing of communications. Giving too much non-specific advance information about possible measures to come can exacerbate anxieties—nobody functions well with the Sword of Damocles hanging over them.
Articulate sacrifice. If organizational change is necessary because of changing conditions – economic, political – take the opportunity to articulate its effect on you and everyone around you, including those you serve. Your integrity is now, more than ever, a critical component of your leadership, so make sure that if you are asking others to sacrifice that you are also doing your share.
Advocate. Develop a platform for advocacy, pressing your organization’s case and engaging others to do the same without skirting the impropriety of lobbying. Join with colleagues and peer organizations to demonstrate the ubiquity of your positions.
Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty: Take Action
At stake during times of uncertainty are the financial and psychological welfare of an organization. Good leaders keep a close watch on the external landscape, recognizing the organization’s inherent connectedness to all that surrounds it, and working to mitigate the anxiety that comes when an external threat is high. By appealing to both challenge and hope, a good leader can create a sense of urgency in rallying an organization to manage potential risks. And a good leader will take advantage of shifts in the philanthropic landscape if they offer opportunity.
Monitor. Take stock of how elected officials, governments, funders, vendors, and those you serve are responding to uncertainty so you can interpret signs of changing behaviors and attitudes and note actual or proposed changes in policies and practices.
Budget. Build financial scenarios that account for possible changes in funding, particularly where government programs that provide grants or reimbursement for service delivery are at stake. Model the way you’ll respond to news of any dramatic change, including a spike in inflation or funding cuts which can impact your budget, or a dramatic, prolonged decline in the stock market, which can affect an endowment portfolio and foundation grant-making.
Fundraise. Recognize that philanthropy often shifts its focus in times of uncertainty and stress, from long-term program investment to advocacy or short-term support for endangered programs.
Conserve funds. Reduce costs now to build a more sizable cash reserve – if you can – to cover unanticipated gaps in funding or to take on a future fight that might ultimately rally your supporters. And consider changes in your investment policy that protects assets should markets sour.
Cultivate talent. Demonstrate a commitment to the growth and development of the organization’s talent in bad times as well as good. Affirm your ‘stars;’ they need to know their value and their role in the organization’s future. Hold up a mirror to poorer performers and challenge them to improve in critical areas. The best leaders earn the respect of staff even when delivering tough messages. If you give the proper time and attention to managing and recruiting talent, your organization will be better positioned when recovery begins.
“Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty” was first issued in 2017, and co-authored by Plan A Advisors and Dr. Steve Axelrod. Dr. Axelrod holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from New York University and has over four decades of counseling experience. He has been retained to work with leaders in a range of organizations, from nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies, and has lectured on the psychology of work at the executive level and the powerful influence of a leader’s psychological dynamics on organizational performance.
