There’s a lot of noise right now.
Economic doom. Profit warnings. Supply chain dramas. Tariffs. Risk. Recession.
The headlines are loud, persistent and heavy. And they’re landing on leadership teams already stretched to capacity. The weight of it is real.
And what I’m noticing is this: not all leaders know how to hold that weight. Or more to the point, not all leaders are being intentional with how they translate that weight into the stories they’re telling their people.
What do you want your people to think, feel and do as a result of the message you’re sharing?
Chances are, most people are already tuned into the tension. What they’re looking for from you is clarity, and increasingly, hope.
Melinda Cilento, Chief Executive of CEDA, wrote recently about the opportunity to “reset an unhelpful negative narrative about business in this country” and it struck a chord. Because in the vacuum left by intentional, empowering leadership narratives, the default will always be anxiety, ambiguity and fear.
And the data backs this up.
In a recent Gallup global workplace survey, “hope” topped the list of what employees most want from their leaders displacing “trust” from previous years. That shift is telling. It speaks to what’s missing in so many team environments right now.
So, a moment of reflection for you:
- What is the narrative you are currently sharing with your team?
- What are your words building – anxiety or alignment?
- Are you feeding uncertainty, or shaping possibility?
- Are your people walking away from your messaging with a sense of purpose and focus, or just more noise?
This isn’t about pretending everything’s rosy. It’s not about spin or some saccharine version of leadership. But it is about being deliberate.
The most effective leaders I come across are meaning-makers. They provide perspective. They translate complexity into clarity. They help people see where they are and where they’re going, and they offer a hand in navigating the gap between the two.
Sounds pretty lofty written here on the page but it’s completely doable if you’re intentional about your messaging.
Your challenge for this week (should you choose to accept it!):
- Review the last few messages you’ve shared with your team – whether verbal or written.
- Ask yourself: What impact might these words be having?
- And then ask: What impact do I want them to have? What do I want them to Think Feel and Do as a result of my communication?
If you’re sharing the weight, then share the path forward too. If hope is what people need, then it makes sense to shape a narrative that supports it.
A gift for you
My 25 lessons from 25 years! I’ve sat beside extraordinary leaders as they’ve restructured, scaled, merged, evolved, and recalibrated their businesses over the years so when my business clicked over 25 years in July last year, I jotted down 25 insights, reflections, observations…whatever you want to call them. I’ve decided to share them each day or so on LinkedIn with a view to prompting leaders to reflect and possibly make some necessary shifts in their approach to leadership.
If you’d like the full list (along with some prompts for reflection), you can download it here.