Uncertainty: Today and Tomorrow
Of the many buzzwords to emerge from the pandemic, we can all agree that the phrase “in these uncertain times” is the most prevalent, most instantly clichéd, and also the most fitting.
The truth is that we’ve never known what tomorrow will bring.
There’s always been uncertainty — it was a normal part of life in the “pre-pandemic times.” Perhaps we pushed it aside and out of our minds, or perhaps we were just too busy to notice.
What’s different now is that at a collective level we’ve all felt it, viscerally. For over six months, uncertainty has lurked behind every email, every news update, and every conversation. We know what it’s like to be suddenly constrained in our homes, to question safety in spaces that previously felt secure. Globally, we’re barraged by uncertainty on multiple fronts -- from concerns about our health and safety, to financial and mental health, to our work and livelihood, and our children’s future.
For me, this is one of the elements that’s most fascinating about how the world has changed during the pandemic: how in one fell swoop, it has amplified our collective awareness of uncertainty and shaken the way that we look towards the future. It’s challenged our model of thinking about here (this moment) and around planning for then (that future moment).
Gone are the days where we feel a level of certainty about the shape of the world in the next quarter or next year.
The struggle to effectively manage through uncertainty is a challenge that we’ve seen in the business world before. Top performing companies have been able to serve their customers’ needs today and at the same time, step back and understand deeply what is needed for an uncertain future—for their industry, their organization and their customers.
And for some organizations and individuals, thriving in the face of uncertainty has always been part of the job. If you operate in a role that calls for constant adapting and navigating, you are likely comfortable with the rush of the unknown, the twists and turns that call for improvisation and calm under pressure. Think of first responders, not knowing what they will find when they arrive on a scene.
Pre-pandemic where might you and your organization fall on the spectrum of operating with uncertainty? And now? Likely the pandemic has served to amplify your strengths and expose your limitations.
This feeling of constant shifting and not knowing what to expect calls for us to find new ways to operate.
The development of the organization’s ability to look forward while remaining focused on the present is a critical one, and now we are being called to pivot on an increasingly frequent basis. On an individual level, ambitious leaders also must be able to meet their immediate goals while simultaneously building for a future where unknowns are prevalent.
Today, more than ever, you need to create solid ground—for your organization, your customers and yourself. The activities you and your team do today are what determines how you will respond to tomorrow. Further, in seeking to understand what activities you can do today to contribute to your future goals, it is essential to look deeply at the way you spend and approach your time.
One of my early time design clients said to me years ago, “My calendar is the embodiment of my strategy for success.” The power of those words has stayed with me.
If the way we are spending our time on a weekly basis doesn’t align to our long-term aspirations, how can we expect to achieve those ambitions?
In thinking about your time, you may want to consider these three questions to help you more effectively move forward in the face of uncertainty.
That Future State: What do your ambitions look like in soft focus?
Paint the picture for yourself and your team, sketching out where you aspire to go and what that looks like. Define a soft focus so that you are not rigidly fixed on the exact outcome, but rather the spirit of that vision. In a rapidly changing world, rigidity at is at best going to slow you down, at worst it will have you miss an opportunity. Get clear on what you are hoping that vision will provide you with. Years ago my coaching trainers (Dorothy Green and Maggie Distasi) suggested using a soft-focus to me and it’s stood the test of time.
Your Constraints: What constraints are you operating within, and are they real (unavoidable) or carried over through inertia?
The pandemic has allowed many of us to let go of the containers we used to operate in — commutes, 9-5’s, the office environment — but we may still be acting within those limits. Are you constraining yourself? Use this opening to your advantage and think creatively about how you organize your weeks and days. Some might develop core hours, increasing flexibility for their team. Others might format their weeks differently, where three weeks out of four are scheduled similarly and one week is designed for a different pace and kind of work. Take a moment to pause and see if the structure you are working within truly serves you best.
Clarity: How are you allocating your time, and do the short-term efforts align to the long-term?
Often, we favour one time horizon over another, without being intentional about it. Teams get focused on the day-to-day; or one spends the day on low-yield tasks that somehow seem more urgent than the tasks that would truly move things forward. The catch is, how we spend our time creates a compounding effect over time. The activities and efforts we practice on a regular basis add up and contribute to the long-term outcomes we see. In a recent interview with Guy Raz about his experience during the pandemic, John Zimmer of Lyft said “..there are short-term decisions we need to make in order to preserve the long-term mission we have as a company.” This kind of thinking about alignment between short and long-term thinking is what provides us with a sense of progress and greater purpose.
So when you find yourself toggling between the here and then, take a moment to pause and consider how you are approaching your time, not only for today but for your tomorrow.
