Five Skills You Need to Uplevel in Uncertainty

The organizations and professionals we work with have superpowers. They know how to get results in less time, for less money, and with greater impact. They have tools in their toolbox that all leaders in this age of uncertainty must have, not just to survive, but thrive.

This forced shift, while creating ripples of untold fear, death and devastation, have shaken the social impact sector out of its change paralysis. This is a new age that requires new skills.

You have the power to work differently and create ripples of hope, innovation, and impact.

There are five essential and simple skills you can use to serve your mission and meet your goals most efficiently and effectively.

The Five P.A.U.S.E Skills to Tackle Uncertainty

P - Package Your Challenge

In times like these where you are facing many challenges simultaneously, you need to prioritize which challenges and which people need the most attention. Once you have a starting place you need to:

• Align around your challenge: Right now you need everyone on the same page and employees need transparency, communication, and leadership more than ever. They need to know what the new and shifting priorities are and what the plan is to move forward. Our default is to jump into action to assuage the discomfort of uncertainty, but it is best (and all research points to better outcomes) to be vulnerable and call out the work that is known (“execution”) and that is unknown (“search”). Addressing the different types of work by how clear and uncertain they are allows you to not only have more authentic conversations about “risk” and “failure”, but to deploy different skills and different staff to carry them forward.
• Form cross-functional teams to address the unknown: The fastest way to address challenges is by forming small cross-functional teams (five staff max) that are diverse in role, hierarchy, and department. You don’t have time to convene task forces and hold long meetings that are short on purpose; you need to break across silos and form a small, scrappy team to dive in.
• Identify all stakeholders involved: You have a lot of stakeholders and they all have different needs and feel pain in different ways. Now is not the time to drift to one-size-fits-all strategies and solutions due to panic and convenience. Now is the time to prioritize who is feeling the most pain, and understand that pain from the diverse lens of your clients, constituents, staff, board members, leaders, donors, and volunteers.

A - Assess Uncertainty

It is fair to say that right now "everything is uncertain". Yes it truly is AND you can be specific about the uncertainty. What do you need to understand most? What about the challenge is most fuzzy? What about your stakeholder is the least clear?

It is okay to be without all of the answers, and by discussing and documenting what you need to learn most, you can be most efficient when you engage with your stakeholders.

U - Understand Stakeholders

More than ever you need to work closely with your stakeholders to co-create solutions. Your stakeholders' pain today is likely not the same as it was six weeks ago. You don’t have time to design programs behind the scenes and wait for some perceived “perfect” grand reveal. Right now, you need to understand stakeholders’ greatest needs, pains, and how they are currently solving their problems. You need to connect with your stakeholders via phone, video chats, or even in person (with masks and social distancing) to conduct interviews to better understand what is happening today and what they most fear in the coming months.

Do not fall into the survey trap which does not allow for deep connection and understanding, and do not be deterred by your own assumptions that people are unavailable or unwilling to connect at this time.

We have heard story after story of even overwhelmed healthcare providers and nonprofit leaders taking time to answer questions because they are motivated to co-create, to be heard, and play a vital role in driving a path forward.

S - Solution Testing

Now could not be a better time for you to brainstorm differently and test new potential solutions.

• Brainstorm boldly, inclusively, and abundantly: Now is the time to leave stagnancy and status quo behind. Pull forward those dream back burner or "I don't think we can do that" solutions and be inclusive of who gets to participate in your brainstorming. Ideation is not a unique ability that only leaders can perform - get everyone from your executive team to frontline staff to imagine all the ways that you can address your stakeholders’ greatest needs.
• Identify and test your assumptions: Once you have an abundance of potential solutions, don’t fall into the execution trap and jump to action. This creates waste that is fueled by sneaky assumptions that will wreak havoc down the road. Call out what must be true for your solutions to actually solve your stakeholders’ problem. How must your stakeholder engage to derive benefit? What are the explicit behaviors you must see them do for your solution to work? Even in times of desperation, people will not engage in solutions that don’t solve their problems. The good news is that you can design and conduct quick experiments to engage your stakeholders in a prototype of your potential solution in just hours.

E - Evidence-Informed Decision-Making

You don’t have time to invest precious resources in building a solution that you “think” might/should/could work. You need quick and clear data of what will create the most efficient and effective impact. Once you test the embedded assumptions of your solutions, you can use data and evidence, not opinions, to drive your decision-making.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

In this rapidly changing environment these are the skills that will save you time, money, and get you to more impactful solutions. You have the power to harness the uncertainty to engage your employees and your stakeholders to accomplish more than you thought possible.

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More Opportunities for You to Learn

If you want to learn more about how you can apply these five essential skills, there are four ways we can help, three of which are totally FREE.

1. Get ongoing doses of inspiration and insights to apply to your work: Join our email newsletter list HERE to receive inspiring and thought-provoking articles about what is happening across the sector (for better or for worse), stories of amazing changemakers, and the latest info about how you can use this time of uncertainty as an opportunity. Check out our latest posts HERE.
2. Sign up for a free strategy session: We have been reserving a portion of our time each week to hold office hours to provide conversations to support social impact professionals across the country. Please click HERE to sign up for one of our weekly spots. We look forward to connecting!
3. Join a webinar for practical tips and tools: We are hosting regular webinars to provide practical strategies and tools to changemakers around the biggest areas of uncertainty they are facing right now. Please check out our upcoming and past webinars HERE and share with your network.
4. Get virtual support: Whether you are an individual or part of a team, we have a remote program that will guide you step-by-step through each skill and that is explicitly focused on your challenges and stakeholders. Uncertainty Antidote: Virtual Course, is for individuals and teams and we are about to kick off some new cohorts and our costs are 50% reduced. Our next cohort kicks off in a few weeks and since we know times are rough, we are offering a 50% discount. Click HERE to learn more.

You play such a vital role in the sector and we would like to do anything we can to honor and uplift you, your work, and the sector. We look forward to connecting!