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    Leading Through Change and Uncertainty

    Telling people something is changing when you do not have all the answers yourself. Two jobs at once: being clear about what is happening, and being honest about what is not yet known — including by you. Most people do the first well and treat the second as something to get through, and it is the other way round.

    A team member won't accept the change. He'll argue the merits rather than say what he's actually losing.

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    14Skill
    Signals
    Research Prevalence
    No. 12

    12.7%

    of the 11,359 leadership cases in our research

    Report 01, draft

    Why it's hard

    When change lands, people need two things: the facts, and an honest sense of what it will actually be like. Most leaders give the logistics and skip the rest.

    It's tempting to sell it instead, with more certainty than you have. Or your own doubts leak through. Either way, rumour fills the gap.

    Leading through change means saying what you know, what you don't, and what it will mean for people's real work.

    What we look for

    Here is an example of some of the Skill Signals that we teach you how to implement and then test for as you progress with this skill

    Skill Signal Groups
    • Saying what is known
    • Handling the reaction
    • Where you cannot answer
    • What holds
    Some sample Skill Signals

    1. You stated the change in your first turn

    2. You acknowledged the stated impact on them

    3. You said you could not answer rather than deflecting

    A sample of 14 Skill Signals. The assessment also looks for behaviours we don’t list.

    Try it without anyone watching

    One four-minute conversation from Leading Through Change and Uncertainty. See your initial feedback straight away, then save your results with a free account.

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    How your practice stays private

    Questions about this moment.

    Individual contributor: Low; First-line manager: High; Mid-level leader: Core; Executive: Core. Low relevance means the moment is not offered at that level.

    It appears in 12.7% of 11,359 real leadership cases in draft Research Report 01.

    The assessment uses 14 observational markers across 4 groups. This page shows only a small sample, because held-out assessment depends on some behaviours remaining unseen.