How Leaders Can Support Their Team Through FUD – Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt

FUD.  Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.  There’s a lot of this going around these days.  In fact, I would hedge a bet that right now, there is about 7.8Billion people on the planet that are suffering from ongoing and seemingly never ending FUD (unless of course, someone has been alone on a deserted island without any access to technology).

In the last two and a half years, we have been subjected to wave after wave of COVID in various forms, locked down, moved to a virtual work environment, dealt with the fear mongering around vaccines, seen supply chain cripple some businesses, inflation, interest rates are now rising, finding and retaining talent has never been harder, oil prices and now the war in the Ukraine.  Makes a person want to curl up in the fetal position!

As a leader though, we need to recognize that you are not responsible for results – you are responsible for the people that are responsible for results.  And your people may be stuck in ‘FUD’; almost to the point of paralysis – unable to see or move forward.  Unfortunately, as a leader, there is not a lot of time for us to dwell on our own FUD as we need to serve our team.  There will be time later for each of us to see council on a professional’s couch.

To free people from FUD, here is my recipe (note, I am not a Psychologist so I will just stick to what I know works as a leader):

1. Clarity of the Foundational Basics. Give your team the stability that is (hopefully) already in place by revisiting your organization Values, Purpose (The reason why your business is in business, and profit is an outcome not a reason why), where you are going (Vision) and how you are going to get there (Strategy and Action).
2. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. You cannot over communicate number one above.  Team members need to be constantly reassured that there is a plan.  They need to know that they are working on something that is bigger than themselves.
3. Catch your people Doing Things Right.  Celebrate the little victories.  Make a big deal out it!
4. Be the Change you want to see. Yes, I know Gandhi said that, however it applies here too.  As the leader, you must be the one that brings hope, life and energy into the office.  Your team is already suffering from FUD.  They do not want to be the Winnie-the-Pooh character ‘Eeyore’ coming into the office and saying; “If I close my eyes will all of this disappear?”

Finally, all of this too will pass.  In the meantime though, if you and your team are going to rise up through all of the FUD, it is up to you.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, International Keynote Speaker, and TEC Top Speaker of the Year for 2018. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, connect with Robert on LinkedIn.

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