The environment you create is the job: Leading during uncertainty

There’s a certain kind of moment that tends to pop up in most leadership roles, and it’s rarely the one that’s actually been planned for.

That moment, of course, is when something shifts slightly (or significantly) off-course. A decision needs to be made without all the information or key stakeholders being available, or something that felt set in stone suddenly has question marks looming over it. The pressure doesn’t necessarily spike all at once, but it builds, and people naturally start to look to the leader for clarity and direction.

Self-aware leaders know that in those moments, what tends to matter most isn’t just what gets decided, communicated, or actioned; it’s how the leader holds themself and responds in moment-to-moment interactions while it’s happening.

We often talk about leadership and wellbeing as if they sit in different lanes. Leadership is usually framed around performance, outcomes, and ability to provide direction; while wellbeing is seen as something ideally supportive or supplementary. In practice, particularly when things feel uncertain or under pressure, the two are inextricably linked. For better or for worse.

Recent data from Gallup (2026) reflects something similar, with managers feeling just as stretched and disengaged as the people they lead for the first time in over a decade. And although it’s concerning, declining global manager engagement is by no means inevitable.

One of the ideas we come back to regularly in our work is that the biggest driver of sustainable wellbeing and performance is how leaders and managers shape the day-to-day system (and therefore experience) of work.

You tend to see this most clearly on display when things are going according to anything but the plan.

Earlier this year, during the Artemis II mission, the crew received a “cabin leak suspected” warning shortly after a critical manoeuvre. A moment that could have escalated quickly and drastically. Instead, the response was measured. The crew and ground team worked through the information, communicated clearly, and determined it was a false indication.

At another point, they deliberately built in a short pause to reset and manage the psychological load they were operating under.

Now, we’re not suggesting most leadership roles involve troubleshooting potential cabin leaks on the way to the Moon. But we are saying that the pattern holds.

And we’ve recently seen a humble-sized version of it ourselves, earthside at Lead-Well.

One of the senior leaders we’ve been working with in the banking sector was preparing to implement an entirely new digital system across their organisation, something that hadn’t been done in their industry for a number of years. It was a colossal shift, with a significant amount of unknowns in the lead-up.

In speaking to other team members, what struck them about their leader’s approach wasn’t how they directed the system implementation itself, but how intentionally they approached the period leading into it.

The leader invested time in building relationships early, prioritised honest and supportive conversations, and created clarity around what was happening and why – maintaining a level of calm and confidence that reverberated through the team when things went wrong or needed to be tested, adjusted, or reworked.

As pressure ramped up, it didn’t spill over into volatility across the team. The environment stayed steady, and people were able to stay focused on what needed to be done. Essentially, engagement remained high - both for the leader and the team they were responsible for.
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Across the work we do, these patterns tend to present consistently.

Leaders who navigate pressure and change well are usually aware of the impact their disposition has on those around them. And they’re clear on what matters to them, which helps when decisions aren’t straightforward.

This isn’t about being calm all the time or having everything perfectly under control. It’s more about being aware of the impact that their state has on others, and exercising self-compassion and healthy accountability when we’ve dropped the ball – as us mere mortals inevitably do, and will. 

That awareness tends to shape everything else, influencing how decisions are made, how communication is received, how much trust is built, and how people experience and engage with their day-to-day roles.

It’s also a huge part of why the work in this space has continued to grow.

Bringing in people like Ian Reeves and Kayleigh Young allows us to go deeper in supporting leaders through these moments, particularly around how they think, respond, and perform under pressure.

None of this is especially complex in theory, but it does require a level of awareness and intention in practice. In many cases, it’s about noticing what’s happening and making small adjustments, rather than trying to apply a completely new way of leading.

Leadership, particularly during periods of change or uncertainty, isn’t about having everything figured out in advance.

It’s about the quality of the environment that gets created while things are still a work in progress.
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