Imagine hearing about a restructure at nine in the morning and being asked to explain it to your team by ten. You weren’t in the room when it was decided, you don’t know who it affects, and you’re half wondering what it means for your own job. Then someone on your team asks the obvious question, and you don’t have an answer.
That’s where a lot of managers and leaders are right now. A new strategy gets announced, AI gets dropped into existing workflows, or a decision gets made a few levels above them, and they’re expected to explain it, answer questions and keep everyone focused, often while they’re still working out what it means for them.
Most of us were promoted for being the person with the answers. We were the one people went to when something needed sorting, and that reliability is exactly why we got the job. So it’s no surprise that when the answers run out, a lot of leaders panic a bit. Some fill the gaps with assumptions, some avoid the conversation until they know more, and some share every worry they’ve got, hoping that being completely open will build trust. None of those gives the team what it needs though, which is clarity, even when certainty isn’t possible.
We talk a lot about vulnerability in leadership and admitting when you don’t know something. I agree with most of it, but how you say “I don’t know” matters. Research by Erik Løhre and colleagues in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology found that leaders came across as more competent when they described uncertainty as part of the situation rather than as their own personal uncertainty. The same people also said they wanted leaders to be open about it. So people want the honesty, they just judge you on how it comes out.
There’s a big difference between “I’ve no idea what’s going to happen and I’m worried too” and “There are still decisions being made about the structure. Here’s what we know today, here’s what hasn’t been decided yet, and I’ll update you by Friday, even if the update is that nothing’s changed.” Both are honest, but the second one gives people something to hold on to. That isn’t about pretending you’re fine with everything - you’re human, and some of this is hard. It’s about thinking about what your team will do with what you tell them when they’re already anxious.
The pressure to have the answer makes something else worse too. I’ve written before about the Hero Leader Loop, where a leader keeps stepping in to solve problems, with the best intentions, until the team waits for them on everything. When you feel you should know the answer, asking your team what they think can feel like admitting you can’t do the job. The daft thing is that they often know things you don’t, and bringing them in is usually how you get to a better decision.
Say your team has been told AI will change how their work gets done over the next six months. You might not know which responsibilities will change, which tools are coming or whether every role will look the same at the end of it. What you can do is tell them which decisions have been made, which are still being worked through, what they should focus on now, how their concerns will be heard, and what you have the authority to decide versus what sits elsewhere. It won’t take every worry away, but it’s a lot more to work with than guesswork or silence.
To be fair to managers, this isn’t all on them. Gallup found that managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement, which is a lot of influence, but influence isn’t the same as control. Managers can’t control the timing of decisions, what they’re allowed to share, or whether they’ve got the resources to deliver what’s being asked. I’ve seen leaders asked to communicate a change they had no part in designing, support their team through it and still hit the same targets, sometimes after hearing about it only a few hours before their team did. Then we expect confidence, empathy, sound judgment and a clear plan on top. If organizations want managers to give their teams clarity, they need to give it to managers first, by involving them earlier, explaining the reasoning behind decisions, and being clear about who gets to decide what.
I don’t believe people expect their leaders to know everything. They expect them to be honest about what they know, take responsibility for what they can influence, and not leave the team to work it all out on their own. Leading when you don’t have all the answers isn’t a failure of leadership. Right now, it’s most of the job.
If this sounds like where your team is right now, I’d like to hear how you’re handling it. Leave a comment and let me know.