7 minutes
People don’t necessarily struggle with change itself. They struggle with the uncertainty, lack of control, and lack of clarity that often come with it.
Change is a constant part of life and work. And while the pace of change has accelerated significantly, the reality is that we have been adapting to change our entire lives. After all, many of us are walking around with a smartphone in our pocket, looking up answers on Google, using GPS to get where we’re going, streaming shows on demand, and working in ways we couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago. We’ve adapted to new jobs, new leaders, new technology, new expectations, new relationships, and unexpected circumstances.
Humans are remarkably adaptable.
Yet even with a lifetime of experience navigating change, it can still feel incredibly uncomfortable.
The Kübler-Ross Change Curve offers a helpful framework for understanding why. Originally developed from Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s work on grief and loss, the model illustrates some of the emotional responses people may experience during significant change, even in the workplace—from initial shock and frustration to eventual adjustment and acceptance. And these responses aren’t always linear. People process change differently and may move back and forth as they adjust to a new reality.
As leaders, we often perpetuate the narrative that people hate change. But I don’t believe that’s true. It’s typically not the change itself that people struggle with most. It’s what often comes with it: uncertainty, loss of control, discomfort, lack of clarity, and the fear of getting it wrong.
And this is where leadership becomes so important. Our job isn’t to convince people to love change or eliminate all the discomfort that comes with it. Our job is to help people build the confidence to navigate change, especially during times of uncertainty.
One of the challenges is that leaders are often several steps ahead of their employees in processing organizational change. They may have spent weeks or months discussing a restructuring, leadership transition, strategic shift, or new initiative before employees ever hear about it. By the time the announcement is made, leaders may already be focused on implementation, while employees are just beginning to process what the change means for them.
This is where leaders can mistake communicating the change for successfully leading the change. We focus on getting the information out: Did we send the email? Did we hold the meeting? Did we explain what’s changing? Those things are important, but communication is only part of the process. Sharing information doesn’t mean people have fully processed it, understood what it means for them, or feel confident about what to do next.
Leading through change requires us to understand the human side of the experience. People need time to process, ask questions, make sense of what’s happening, and adjust. And they may need to hear the same information more than once as they move through that process. During periods of uncertainty, people naturally have questions: What does this mean for me? What should I be focused on? Is there something else coming? Am I going to be okay? When those questions go unanswered, people tend to fill in the gaps themselves, and what they imagine is often worse than reality.
Successful change leadership isn’t just about getting the message out. It’s about helping people navigate what comes after the message.
Create Clarity When You Can’t Create Certainty
During change, you won’t always have all the answers. You may not know exactly what will happen, when decisions will be made, or what things will look like six months from now. But you can be clear about what you know today, what you don’t know yet, what matters most right now, and when people can expect to hear from you again. And while you’ll rarely be able to create certainty for your team, you can create clarity to help them stay focused and move forward.
Here are five questions to help guide those conversations:
1. What do we know?
Share what you know rather than waiting until you have the complete picture. Be clear about what has been decided, what employees can expect, and what information is accurate right now. Silence rarely reduces uncertainty. More often, it leaves space for people to make assumptions or fill in the gaps themselves.
2. What don’t we know yet?
Clarity doesn’t mean having every answer. It also means being honest about what is still unknown. It’s okay to say, “That hasn’t been decided yet,” or “I don’t have an answer to that right now.” People can handle uncertainty better when they trust that their leader is being transparent with them.
3. What isn’t changing?
When something significant is changing, our attention naturally goes to what feels different or uncertain. As a leader, help focus your team on what isn’t changing. Your mission, values, commitment to your customers or members, team purpose, or key priorities may all remain the same. Reminding people what is still steady gives them something to anchor to while they adjust to what’s changing.
4. What matters most right now?
During uncertainty, it can be difficult for people to know where to focus their energy. Give them direction by narrowing the priorities. You might say, “For the next 30 days, these are the two things we need to focus on.” People may not be able to control everything happening around them, but knowing where to focus helps restore a sense of direction and ownership.
5. When will you hear from me again?
Don’t wait until you have new information to communicate. Consistency itself creates stability. Sometimes the update is simply, “There are no new decisions since we last spoke. I’ll update you again next Friday.” Having a regular cadence of communication, even when there are no updates, creates a sense of calm and predictability. People know when they’ll hear from you, rather than wondering when—or if—more information is coming.
You Don’t Need All the Answers
Uncertainty can be uncomfortable for leaders, too. You may be dealing with your own questions and concerns while trying to support your team. Effective leadership doesn’t require you to have all the answers. It requires you to communicate clearly, stay present and accessible, and give your team the focus and direction they need to keep moving forward.
There will always be things you can’t control as a leader. Priorities shift, organizations restructure, technology evolves, economies change, and unexpected challenges emerge. Waiting for things to “get back to normal” keeps us focused on some future state when things will finally settle down. But that’s not the reality of leadership today. Change and uncertainty are part of the environment we lead in.
Our responsibility isn’t to convince people to love change or promise them that things will eventually calm down. It’s to help them feel more confident navigating what’s in front of them. That starts with how we lead every day. Share what you know, even when you don’t have the full picture. Be honest about what you don’t know yet. Remind people what isn’t changing. Narrow the focus when everything feels important. And communicate consistently, even when there isn’t anything new to report.
You may not be able to tell people exactly what’s coming next. But you can help them understand where things stand today, what they should focus on, and what they can expect from you along the way. Your role as a leader isn’t just to communicate information. It’s to help people make sense of what’s happening, stay focused on what matters, and confidently navigate what comes next.
Laurie Maddalena, MBA, CSP, CPCC, is a professional speaker, leadership consultant and founder of CUES Supplier member Envision Excellence LLC in the Washington, D.C., area. She is the bestselling author of the book, The Elevated Leader. Her mission is to rid the world of bad management practices and help organizations create cultures where people love to come to work. Maddalena facilitates management and executive training programs and team-building sessions and speaks at leadership events. Prior to starting her business, she was a human resources and organizational development executive at a credit union in Maryland. Contact her at 240.605.7940 or laurie@lauriemaddalena.com.
