Navigating Uncertainty

What Psychodynamics Teaches Us About Truly Empowering Ourselves & Our Teams

Uncharted territory

You may well remember. It was December of 2019, and reports were coming out of China with increasing urgency of an unknown lethal virus—something called “SARS CoV-2” or COVID 19—that was on the verge of spreading globally.

By February 2020, the world was a different place. Airports were closing, safe distance measures were in place, and a deepening sense of anxiety permeated all of our lives. For those of us guiding the global supply chain, the repercussions of this new world were unprecedented and profound.

We were clearly in uncharted territory.

Leading without clear signposts

It was precisely at this time that I took on a leadership role to manage a global customer account that was among my organization’s highest priorities. It was clear that we could no longer operate the way we had. We were still struggling to meet customer demand while the capacity had been taken out of the market or become more expensive. My task was to manage the customer effectively, get support from various stakeholders, provide guidance to my team, and basically keep all the balls in the air. But these balls were continually changing— often daily—and sometimes a spanner was thrown into the mix.

I must admit that this was a time when clear feedback was not easy to come by. As a result, I sometimes felt alone, doubted myself, and even sensed signs of burnout. It was tough for me and my team.

Discovery: I’m not alone

But just as I was going through this, I began to speak to other leaders and realized I was not alone. We were all venturing into uncharted territory and had to contend with self-doubt and a lack of validation from our superiors, who were depending on us to fix issues that were new to them as well.

So that sparked the curiosity in me to find out more about how leaders can lead effectively when the waters are troubled, how they can navigate self-doubt and how they can effectively move their teams forward even when the path is  unclear.

Going deeper

Over the past two years in my INSEAD Master’s program, I dove into the study of change from a psychodynamic perspective, looking especially at the need for personal validation while leading teams during times of uncertainty. I asked myself: how can one feel good about oneself and one’s achievements, at an individual level, and how can organizations help to support this sense of validation for leaders and all their employees, especially during times of instability.

Why does this matter?

When you feel a strong positive validation about yourself, that is, a sense of security and confidence in your value, you and your teams perform better at work, and collectively you can exceed business goals and thrive in times of uncertainty.

How can we do this in our organization and with our teams? My research points to 3 key approaches, what I call the HIP approach:

  1. Holding Environment

  2. Investing in Nourishment

  3. Peer Relationship.

You may have read social psychologist Amy Cuddy’s theories on the “hip position” as part of a power pose that can project confidence, agency and generate a positive self-evaluation.

However, the HIP approach I’m proposing is less about projecting a sense of power or prompting yourself to feel powerful, and more about setting up a foundation for true problem-solving power, as well as a sense of security and resilience within people and an organization.

It is about honoring the humanity and creativity inherent in our teams and fostering the conditions that will allow those qualities to flourish.

In times of uncertainty when anxiety is heightened, these, I believe, are tools that could make a difference.

Let me explain further.

“H” for Holding Environment

From the psychodynamic perspective, the concept of a holding environment was developed to describe the caregiving between mothers and their children, allowing their children to grow up feeling secure, valued, and safe. It provides a solid base that allows one to explore, knowing there is a safe home ground to go to. As renown organizational psychologist William Kahn explains, “The holding environment is the mother’s arms, and all that enables those arms to be a safe place”.1

Leadership emerges when we are unsure of what we are doing, where we are going, or how we need to get to where we want to go. If we as leaders are to go beyond transactional to transformational leadership, we need to make an effort to become fully aware of the present moment, to be vulnerable in seeking challenge and contradiction, and to sit with our discomfort. To do this, it is important to have a holding environment, a safe space for honest conversations without the feeling of being compromised or rejected.

In an organisation setting, this is a space of security and trust. And there is a connection between creating such a safe holding environment for the team, and, in turn, protecting one’s sense of identity and self-esteem.

What does this mean in concrete terms?

Here are some tips:

• At a personal level, it means creating a place, a person, or an object that you can link to feelings of being happy, safety, and security. By assigning meaning to that place, person, or object, over time, it can become a holding environment for you.

• For organizations, consider creating spaces for open conversations, allowing people to be all that they are, bringing their various versions of their self, and holding that space in what is called “negative capability”—which according to English poet John Keats involves the ability to accept “uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason”. Holding spaces that embrace these qualities set the stage for increasing emotional support, sharing information for transparency, checking in or providing feedback to ensure your team members know where they stand, and generally being present and available as a human being for your other team members.

Reflection point: How can you create a holding environment for yourself and for your teams?

“I” for Investing in Nourishment

Nourishing is the act of doing what is necessary for growth, health, and good conditions. The leaders I spoke to found ways to nourish themselves, which became essential to retain their sense of self and to pivot their energy into an activity where they could have a better sense of achievement and validation. It is important that we have different sources of achievement in life and not just focus on achievements at work. These nourishment activities may take the form of therapy, exercising, meditating, and finding community and learning organisations to be part of. Out-of-work achievements include running marathons, joining sports competition, baking, and painting.

Nourishing oneself in this way serves as a positive psychological defence mechanism to cope with the stress and uncertainties we face on the work or personal front. They move us away from the anxiety-provoking activity or make us feel more neutral about the situation and any potentially negative outcomes.

What does this mean in concrete terms?

Here are some thoughts:

• At a personal level, invest in nourishment. Find ways to create meaning for yourself outside of work and it will help you feel better about yourself, even at work.

• At the organizational level, support the investment in nourishment and create space for teams and individuals to nourish themselves. Wellness activities can include art activities, yoga, running or doing a forest walk together.

Reflection point: What other ways can you think of to nourish yourself or your team?

“P” for Nurturing Peer Relationships

Peer connections basically occur across teams, engaging leaders and team members beyond the typical boundaries. These relationships support working together to solve problems and drive business outcomes. According to an extensive survey by Jerome Franklin at Michigan University, the single best predictor of strong and successful group processes and business outcomes is peer relationships.2 For organizations to be successful in managing the different business climates, leaders need to focus on supporting the peer relationship process. Such relationships are critical to sensing the ground and sharing visibility on information and important events. Sensing the ground and visibility has become both critical and more challenging in our current environment.

What does this mean in concrete terms?

Here are some ideas:

•  Consider different ways to reward team performance instead of individual high performers.

•  Consider cross-team KPIs to break away silos.

•  Consider sending leaders in the same team into the same leadership development program.

Reflection point: What other ways can you think of to strengthen peer relationships?

By working together to create a holding environment, invest in nourishment, and nurture peer connections, we have the opportunity to create an integrated foundation based on HIP that can function like a fulcrum for organisations, allowing all of us and our teams to stand strong in the face of our new business environment.

These ideas grow out of my research, as well as my thoughts and hopes for all of us. I welcome your reflections and questions.

1. Kahn, William A. “Holding Environments at Work.” The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 37, no. 3 (2001): 260-279. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886301373001.

2. Franklin, Jerome L. “Relations Among Four Social-Psychological Aspects of Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly 20, no. 3 (1975): 422–33. https://doi.org/10.2307/2392001.