Why should true leaders embrace the unknown?
This is the question we put to Dr Nick Udall, founder and CEO of the nowhere group.
In an insightful episode of our FutureReady podcast, Dr Udall and COSYN Partner Arne Kötting explored why unclarity, ambiguity, and the admission of ignorance are vital in corporate communications. Turns out - a little confusion might be exactly what companies need. Below we outline the key takeaways and share some guest insights from what remains one of our favourite episodes of the podcast.
Envision a bolder future
Gone are the days when you could establish a vision and define a five- or ten-year plan to get you there. We are in a time of unprecedented change, and while you might argue that the future was never really a known quantity, it has never seemed so unknown before. If you look at this uncertainty through the lens of fear, then trying to establish a clear vision seems incredibly difficult. But if you look at this in terms of there being everything to play for, then you open up the possibilities for creating more than one vision. That doesn’t mean having no direction. Every organization needs a so-called North Star to aim for. But instead of that one singular vision (which is actually more of a risk in our rapidly changing world), have different types of visions and possibilities you could go after, and step by step, you can refine those visions, shifting them, evolving them so that you keep your gaze lifted all the time. In short, by keeping things fluid, businesses can stay agile and adapt swiftly to changes, turning ambiguity into a strategic advantage.
“The point of a vision for me is to raise your gaze, to unify, to bring us together in our diversity towards a common direction and goal”
Unleash the creative potential
Leaders too often feel that they need to have all the answers and that it is their job to give concrete solutions and a set way forward. But is this always possible? Of course not, especially in a dynamic and constantly shifting environment. Leaders are not omnipotent forces and should not be striving to be. In times of uncertainty, more than ever, the role of the leader is to hold space, manage the discomfort and help to direct the creative tension that comes with operating at the edge or even outside the comfort zone. Leaders who can hold this space for their people to explore and get comfortable with ambiguity are often surprised and even delighted by what comes forth, delivering ideas that are way beyond what they could have imagined by themselves.
“The creative inherent tension that happens when you are out of your comfort zone is the energy you need to break free to unlock the new thinking.”
Nurturing a culture of trust
It’s all very well to have grand visions and to allow for uncertainty within the organization, but a key piece in this is the idea of psychological safety. If people are to be allowed and encouraged to explore uncertainty, then they need to have a level of safety and comfort. That means being alive to the reality that you are dealing with human beings with complex feelings and fears. There’s also the fact that many organisations are still operating at one speed (fast). But experts like Nick, and we agree, say that this fundamental performance paradigm is broken. It's not fit for purpose in today's complex, fast-moving world. Instead, performance should be based on a breakthrough recovery cycle rather than just pushing harder, offering a deeply, psychologically safe space by focusing on iteration, intentionally slowing down, and continuous feedback mechanisms to unlock the power of teams and communities at scale. When leaders model micro-skills like quality listening, presence, and candid feedback, they help cultivate an environment where ambiguity leads to creativity and breakthrough ideas.
“That softness, that humanity creates the energetic space for us to then connect and meet and do great work”
What is the Role of Comms in Leading in the Unknown?
Many organizations are still being driven by a message-based communication paradigm where they are bombarding the organization with messages. As we all know, this can create a kind of white noise effect where messages fail to penetrate. Many people will only really prick up their ears if communication comes from a CEO or figurehead, but given these people are generally seen as ‘sacred’ and therefore not arguable, it doesn’t really offer an effective way to open up a discourse and engage people. There’s also a temptation for comms teams to start owning the narrative and tell leaders what they can and can’t say. Which unfortunately only serves to disempower those leaders and corporatize communications (read: superficial and possibly inauthentic). Instead, comms teams should be focusing on how to lead human beings through big transformations, creating shared understandings and being honest about the fact it’s not always good news all the time. Failing to acknowledge bad news doesn't work. It does the opposite and flatlines everybody. In practice, moving from an input base to an outcome focus, utilizing data and information to create learning, knowledge, and flow, is where comms teams can shift their part in navigating their organizations through uncertainty.
Want to learn more about leading through the unknown? Tune into the episode on Spotify and get inspired!