Uncertainty, disruption, and complexity are no longer exceptions to the rhythm of work. They have become the backdrop. In volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments, teams are under constant pressure to deliver results while navigating shifting priorities, high expectations, and emotional turbulence. The question for leaders is no longer how to avoid these conditions, but how to help their teams live and work well within them.

What determines whether a team flourishes or falters is not simply the brilliance of its strategy or the depth of its technical expertise. It is the team’s capacity for self-regulation: the ability to notice its own emotional state, to pause before reacting, and to recover perspective when pressure rises. Teams that can steady themselves in turbulence are the ones that sustain performance, creativity, and trust over time.

Here, leadership plays a pivotal role. Leaders cannot remove volatility, nor can they guarantee certainty. What they can do is create conditions where steadiness is possible and resilience becomes a shared habit. Leadership in this sense is less about heroic problem-solving and more about stewardship. It is about shaping an environment where balance, reflection, and renewal are as natural as deadlines and targets.

The practices that follow are not abstract ideals but practical disciplines that can be embedded in daily work. They range from how we open conversations, to how we frame setbacks, to how we rest and celebrate together. Each one is a small hinge that can shift the emotional weight of a team. Taken together, they create a culture in which people are better able to adapt, connect, and thrive even when the ground is shifting beneath them.

What follows are ten practical strategies for leaders who want to strengthen their team’s capacity for resilience. They are not prescriptions but invitations: ways to experiment, to model, and to learn alongside your team. Each practice offers both protection against the wear and tear of constant change and a pathway toward deeper trust and shared confidence.

10 Strategies for leading through uncertainty

1 – Invite the naming of emotions

When pressure is constant, emotions do not vanish; they simply find other ways out. Someone says they are “fine,” yet their emails turn sharp. Another insists they are “just busy,” but their silence in meetings speaks louder. Left unspoken, these undercurrents ripple through the team and shape behaviour more than strategy ever could.

A more constructive path is to name what is present. Naming does not intensify emotion; it eases its hold. When people can distinguish between frustration and disappointment, or between apprehension and excitement, they gain clarity. They also extend empathy, understanding that a colleague’s shortness may be rooted in fear rather than indifference.

Leaders are not expected to diagnose or fix feelings. The invitation is simpler: to normalise honest naming. This might mean beginning a meeting with a check-in round, using tools like an emotion wheel, or pausing in a one-to-one to ask, “What emotions are present for you right now?” Such questions make visible what otherwise remains hidden.

Consider a project kick-off. The team is restless, energy feels flat. Rather than dive straight into deadlines, you ask, “Before we start, what’s the mood in the room?” Someone admits to being anxious about scope, another says they are excited but uncertain, a third confesses they feel drained from the week. The tone shifts. People feel lighter, more connected, and better able to engage with the task.

Over time, these practices weave resilience into the fabric of the group. By naming emotions together, the team becomes skilled at acknowledging what is real rather than pretending otherwise. This strengthens trust and steadiness, the very qualities that allow people to navigate turbulence with more grace.

Reflection questions:

  • How often do I ask about emotions before asking about tasks?

  • What permission do I give my team to bring their full selves into the room?

  • In my own leadership, do I model naming what I feel, or do I hide behind “I’m fine”?

2 – Normalise pauses and breaks

In today’s pace of work, intensity often feels like a badge of honour. The calendar is full, the inbox is relentless, and deadlines march forward without hesitation. Yet when teams run without pause, they remain in a state of constant stress. The mind narrows, creativity shrinks, and small irritations quickly escalate into conflict. What looks like efficiency on the surface can quietly erode the quality of thought and connection.

Pauses and breaks are not luxuries. They are essential resets. A pause gives the nervous system a chance to settle. A break allows perspective to return. Just as athletes rest between bursts of training, teams need moments of recovery if they are to sustain energy across the long run.

Leaders carry the responsibility of modelling this rhythm. A pause can be as simple as two minutes of breathing in a long meeting, or a short walk between sessions instead of another round at the desk. It can be choosing silence after a heated exchange rather than rushing to a resolution. These small acts of restraint communicate something profound: reflection is part of productivity, not in opposition to it.

Consider the difference. In one meeting, the leader pushes relentlessly through an agenda. The group leaves drained and disengaged. In another, the leader says, “Let’s stop for a moment and breathe. We need space before we continue.” That single intervention can transform the tone of the room. People return with clearer thinking and deeper patience. The quality of the conversation shifts.

The practice of pausing is also protective. It reduces the risk of emotional hijacking, where reactions rather than considered responses drive behaviour. When leaders acknowledge the need for recovery, they signal that intensity and renewal are partners. The team learns that sustainable performance is not about pushing harder but about balancing effort with rest.

In a culture where speed is often equated with value, normalising pauses can feel countercultural. Yet the most resilient teams are not the fastest; they are the ones who know how to recover together.

Reflection questions:

  • Do I treat silence as wasted time or as part of our collective work?

  • What message do I send my team about rest and recovery through my own habits?

  • How might our creativity grow if we deliberately built in space to pause?

3 – Model calm under pressure

In moments of stress, teams instinctively look to their leaders for cues. If the leader reacts with panic, defensiveness, or irritation, those emotions quickly cascade across the group. A tense look, a raised voice, or a hurried decision can magnify anxiety more than any external challenge. By contrast, when a leader responds with steadiness, they provide a stabilising anchor. The team feels permission to breathe and engage with clarity.

Calm is not the absence of emotion. It is the ability to acknowledge feelings without being consumed by them. A leader can say, “This is a difficult moment. I feel the weight of it. And we will work through it step by step.” Such presence legitimises vulnerability and at the same time communicates resilience. It reassures the group that pressure does not have to become chaos.

Consider a team facing a failed launch. Tempers rise, blame circles the room. One leader might join the fray, defending their decisions or pushing harder for quick fixes. Another leader might pause, lower their voice, and name what is happening: “We are all frustrated. Let’s take a moment, then come back to what we can learn and how we move forward.”The difference in outcome is striking. One path fractures trust, the other builds it.

Modelling calm is not a performance trick. People can spot forced serenity. It is an act of self-regulation: noticing your own heartbeat, grounding yourself before you speak, choosing presence over reactivity. When practiced consistently, this becomes contagious. Teams learn to meet challenges with composure, not because the leader commands it, but because they have seen it lived out.

Over time, the culture shifts. Steadiness becomes the norm. Pressure no longer drives the group into survival mode but invites them to access deeper creativity and resilience.

Reflection questions:

  • In a stressful moment, what signals do I send through my tone, posture, and choice of words?

  • Do I confuse calm with suppression, or am I able to be both honest and balanced?

  • How might I cultivate habits that help me centre myself before responding to the team?

4 – Use questions to refocus

When emotions run high, attention naturally narrows to the immediate threat. A deadline slips, a client pushes back, a system fails. In those moments, teams can lose sight of their larger purpose and drift into reactivity. Urgency takes over, and long-term goals or shared values fade from view.

The role of the leader is not to supply answers but to re-open perspective. One of the most powerful tools for this is the well-placed question. Instead of declaring solutions, the leader asks, “What outcome do we most want to achieve here?”or “What do we actually have control over right now?” Such questions interrupt the spiral of panic and invite the group back to clarity.

Questions do more than redirect thought; they redirect energy. They shift the team from automatic reaction into intentional reflection. Even a few seconds of pause to consider a deeper question can lower the emotional temperature and lead to more grounded decisions.

Consider a heated meeting where people are locked in blame. Rather than argue, a leader might ask, “If we succeed, what will be different in six months?” Suddenly, the frame widens. Instead of defending positions, the group is reminded of what they are building toward. The atmosphere softens. People listen more generously because they are oriented towards possibility, not threat.

This is not about clever facilitation tricks. It is about cultivating curiosity as a practice. Leaders who consistently use questions to refocus show their teams that inquiry is stronger than defensiveness. Over time, teams internalise this habit. When challenges arise, they begin to ask themselves reframing questions instead of collapsing into anxiety.

The simple discipline of asking before telling trains a team in resilience. It embeds the belief that purpose is always available, even in the middle of pressure.

Reflection questions:

  • When tension rises, do I reach first for answers or for questions?

  • What questions might help my team shift from reactivity to curiosity?

  • How do I model the patience to pause and inquire, even when I feel under pressure to act quickly?

5 – Highlight strengths and small wins

In turbulent times, most teams notice what is broken more quickly than what is working. Risks, delays, and mistakes stand out, while achievements fade into the background. This is the natural pull of negativity bias. Left unchecked, it creates a constant sense of deficit and drains energy from the group.

Leaders can shift the narrative by deliberately drawing attention to strengths and small wins. This does not mean ignoring problems or offering shallow praise. It means balancing the picture by naming what is going well and recognising the capacity already present in the team.

A simple practice is to close meetings with a round of reflections on “what went well today.” Another is to circulate notes that highlight moments of effective collaboration. Even brief acknowledgements—“I noticed how you helped keep the discussion grounded” or “That was a creative way to reframe the issue”—rebuild confidence and remind people of their competence.

Imagine a team emerging from a difficult week of setbacks. The natural tone would be exhaustion and frustration. A leader who pauses to say, “Yes, this week was tough. And I want to recognise the persistence and creativity I saw in how you handled those client changes,” offers a different lens. The group shifts from we are barely surviving to we are capable of adapting. This reframing does not erase the struggle but anchors it in resilience.

Over time, consistent attention to strengths changes the emotional climate. The team begins to see itself as resourceful rather than fragile. Motivation grows, not from pressure, but from the recognition that progress is possible, even in small steps. This strengthened perspective helps people face future challenges with steadiness.

Reflection questions:

  • Do I give more airtime to what is missing than to what is working?

  • How often do I pause to name and celebrate the contributions I see around me?

  • What practices could I build into our routines that ensure progress is noticed, however incremental?

6 – Create safe spaces for open talk

Unspoken stress does not dissolve; it accumulates. When teams lack healthy outlets for expression, emotions gather in silence until they leak out as conflict, withdrawal, or disengagement. What could have been addressed early and lightly then erupts in ways that damage trust.

Leaders can interrupt this pattern by creating spaces where emotions can be voiced without fear of judgement. These spaces may be structured, like a retrospective that includes time for emotional check-ins, or they may be informal, such as a moment in a regular meeting where people are invited to share how they are doing beyond their task list. The format matters less than the quality of listening that surrounds it.

Psychological safety is the foundation. The leader’s role is not to fix or rush to solutions but to listen with genuine attention. When a colleague says, “I’m anxious about how much we’re taking on,” the point is not to defend the workload or argue the data. It is to acknowledge the feeling: “Thank you for naming that. Let’s sit with it for a moment.” Such responses make it clear that emotions are not liabilities but valid parts of the team’s life together.

Consider a team under pressure to deliver a major project. Tension is high, tempers short. Instead of ignoring the strain, the leader calls a short session with one guiding question: “What emotions are present for you right now?” At first, responses are cautious. But as people hear others share—frustration, fatigue, even excitement about the challenge—they begin to relax. The room feels lighter. What had been a weight carried alone is now shared.

Over time, these practices establish a culture where open expression is normalised. People no longer feel compelled to bottle up emotions until they boil over. Instead, stress is processed as it arises. Trust deepens, because everyone knows they can bring their full selves without penalty. And trust itself becomes a form of regulation, a steadying force in the midst of uncertainty.

Reflection questions:

  • How often do I make space for emotions to be expressed, not just updates to be delivered?

  • What signals do I give my team when someone shares discomfort, do I rush to solve, or do I truly listen?

  • What might shift if open talk became part of our regular rhythm rather than a rare exception?

7 – Encourage physical wellbeing

Emotional steadiness is inseparable from physical health. A tired body struggles to regulate mood. Poor nutrition amplifies irritability. Long stretches of sitting drain energy and dampen clarity. In high-pressure settings, these simple realities are often overlooked, yet they profoundly shape how teams respond to stress.

Leaders may assume that wellbeing is a private matter, but their influence is greater than they imagine. Small signals can shift culture. A walking meeting instead of another hour around a table, a reminder to pause for water, or protecting time for a proper lunch communicates that caring for the body is part of the work, not an interruption to it.

Equally important is what leaders model themselves. If you routinely skip meals, send late-night emails, or boast about running on little sleep, your team will see exhaustion as the price of belonging. If, instead, you leave on time, switch off in the evening, or mention going for a run, you give permission for others to do the same. These cues matter. They normalise balance rather than burnout.

Consider a leader who notices energy dipping during a long virtual workshop. Rather than push through, they say, “Let’s all stand and stretch together for two minutes before we continue.” The group returns refreshed, and the quality of conversation improves. The action is minor, but the message is clear: physical wellbeing is valued.

Over time, these practices accumulate. A stretch here, a walk there, healthier snacks in the meeting room, clear boundaries around switching off. None is revolutionary in itself, but together they build a healthier baseline. The team develops more resilience because their physical state supports rather than undermines their emotional balance.

To prioritise the body is not indulgent. It is leadership. It recognises that resilience is not sustained by grit alone but by daily choices that keep both mind and body capable of renewal.

Reflection questions:

  • What unspoken message do my habits send about rest, nutrition, and recovery?

  • How often do I encourage practices that restore energy, rather than drain it?

  • If wellbeing is a leadership responsibility, what more could I do to embed it in our team’s rhythm?

8 – Reframe setbacks

In volatile environments, setbacks are not anomalies; they are part of the terrain. Projects will miss targets, clients will walk away, systems will fail. The question is never whether setbacks will occur, but how the team chooses to interpret them.

When setbacks are treated only as failures, they feed helplessness. The narrative becomes one of deficiency: we are not good enough, we cannot keep up. Over time, this erodes confidence and creates a culture of fear. But when leaders reframe setbacks as opportunities for learning, they invite the team into a different story. The disappointment is acknowledged, but it is placed within a larger frame of growth and adaptation.

Reframing does not mean minimising difficulty. It means honouring the frustration while also asking new questions. After a failed launch, a leader might ask, “What did we learn about our process?” or “What strengths showed up even under pressure?” These questions do not erase the pain of the outcome, but they help channel energy away from blame and toward renewal.

Consider two teams facing the same setback. One hears only, “We failed. We cannot afford another mistake.” The other hears, “Yes, this outcome is disappointing, but here is what we now know and how we will use it next time.” The first team contracts into caution, reluctant to try again. The second grows more resilient, because they see setbacks as part of progress rather than evidence of inadequacy.

Over time, this practice forms a habit of resilience. Teams come to expect that every challenge contains insight, that frustration can be transformed into motivation. They recover more quickly because they have learned to trust that even disappointment carries value.

The leader’s role is to set this tone. By consistently reframing setbacks, you help your team inhabit a culture where learning, not perfection, is the measure of success.

Reflection questions:

  • When a setback occurs, do I instinctively frame it as failure or as learning?

  • How do I balance acknowledging disappointment with pointing toward growth?

  • What questions could I ask that help my team move from blame to curiosity?

9 – Set clear boundaries

Resilience is not only about endurance. It is about knowing when to stop. Without boundaries, work stretches into every corner of life: evenings claimed by email, weekends blurred with preparation, holidays interrupted by “just one call.” Over time, this constant intrusion erodes emotional balance and leaves people running on empty.

Leaders hold the responsibility of making boundaries visible and respected. This might mean discouraging after-hours messages, reminding people to take their leave in full, or modelling the act of logging off without apology. Each signal matters. It tells the team that recovery is not a luxury but a condition of sustainable performance.

Boundaries are not only about time; they are also emotional. In a culture that values empathy, there is a risk of over-identifying with others’ struggles. Leaders can show that it is possible to care deeply without collapsing under the weight of every challenge. This balance of compassion with detachment protects against burnout and allows support to remain steady over the long term.

Consider a leader who responds to a late-night email with, “I’ll look at this tomorrow—please switch off for the evening.”Or one who, after a difficult client meeting, says, “We gave our best today. Let’s not carry the frustration home with us.”These moments affirm that both rest and perspective are essential parts of the work.

When boundaries are clear, teams learn that intensity and recovery are partners. They discover that self-regulation requires both presence and distance: to show up fully in the moment, and then to let go when the moment is done.

Reflection questions:

  • What boundaries do I model through my own habits of work and rest?

  • How do I support my team in caring deeply without becoming overwhelmed?

  • What practices could we adopt that make recovery a shared norm rather than an individual struggle?

10 – Celebrate Together

In the midst of pressure, it is easy for teams to move quickly from one challenge to the next without pausing to notice what has been achieved. Progress becomes invisible, and the emotional weight of effort lingers without release. Over time, this quiet neglect drains morale.

Celebration interrupts that cycle. It is not frivolous; it is a regulator of collective emotion. Shared recognition restores balance by reminding people that their work has meaning beyond the next deadline. It strengthens bonds within the group, shifts the emotional tone, and creates memories that sustain people when the next wave of uncertainty arrives.

Celebration can be formal or informal. It may take the shape of recognising achievements in a town hall, or as simple as ending a project with a ritual of gratitude. It may be a leader circulating a note of thanks that names specific contributions, or a shared moment of laughter at the end of a difficult week. What matters is not grandeur but consistency.

Consider a team that has just closed a demanding contract. Without celebration, the effort disappears into exhaustion. With celebration—even a half-hour gathering to share what they are proud of—the experience is reframed. The group remembers not only the strain but also the strength, the collaboration, and the humour that carried them through. That memory builds resilience for what lies ahead.

Celebration also reorients attention from outcomes to relationships. By pausing to acknowledge each other, teams are reminded that progress is as much about connection as it is about delivery. This recognition of the human dimension is what transforms celebration from a moment of pleasure into a practice of resilience.

Over time, a culture of regular celebration embeds optimism. It tells the story that setbacks are temporary, progress is visible, and together we are capable of more than we imagined.

Reflection questions:

  • How often do I make space for celebration, both large and small?

  • Do our celebrations focus only on outcomes, or also on the relationships and effort that made them possible?

  • What simple rituals could we adopt to ensure that achievements are consistently acknowledged?

Conclusion

Uncertainty is not a passing phase. It is the landscape we now inhabit. In such a world, leadership is not defined by the ability to remove turbulence but by the courage to meet it alongside others. Emotional steadiness becomes a form of service. It anchors people when the ground shifts and creates conditions where creativity and trust can still flourish.

The ten practices outlined here remind us that resilience is not an individual trait, nor is it built in a single moment of crisis. It is cultivated daily in the ways teams pause, name what they feel, set boundaries, and recognise what is working. These practices shift the story from we must endure to we can adapt and grow together.

Self-regulation is the hinge between performance and wellbeing. Leaders who invest in it signal that results and relationships are not competing priorities but inseparable. They create a culture where people bring their full humanity to work without fear that it will undermine their effectiveness. In fact, it becomes the foundation of effectiveness.

The challenge for leaders is to embody these practices themselves. Teams take their cue not from what leaders instruct, but from what leaders demonstrate. Calm, curiosity, balance, and celebration are not abstract ideals; they are choices lived in the moment. When modelled consistently, they spread. The ripple effect is an organisation that learns to navigate uncertainty with confidence and hope.

The real gift of these practices is not simply surviving disruption. It is discovering that resilience, once embedded in the life of a team, allows people to thrive in the very conditions that once threatened to overwhelm them.

Self-Reflection Questions

  1. How do I currently model emotional regulation, and what messages do my behaviours send to my team?

  2. Where in my leadership do I leave no space for pause, recovery, or renewal?

  3. How often do I invite my team to reframe setbacks into opportunities for learning and growth?

  4. What rituals of recognition and celebration could we adopt that make resilience a shared habit rather than an individual struggle?

  5. In what ways might I more consistently align my leadership with both performance and care for the people I serve?

Do you have any tips or advice on leading through uncertainty and raising team resilience?

What has worked for you?

Do you have any recommended resources to explore?

Thanks for reading!