Focus is not a pep talk
When teams are uncertain, leaders often tell people to stay focused. That sounds reasonable, but focus does not return because a leader asks for it. Focus returns when leaders remove some of the mental fog around the work.
Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report found that global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, with an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity worldwide. That is not just a morale story. It is an execution story. When people are emotionally overloaded and unclear about priorities, performance suffers.
Why uncertainty steals focus
Uncertainty pulls attention away from the work and toward self protection. People start listening for rumors, reading between the lines, wondering who knows what, and trying to interpret every meeting invite. That is not laziness. That is the brain trying to find safety.
At the same time, Deloitte’s adaptability research shows that organizations know adaptation is critical, but many do not believe they manage change well. Teams feel that gap. They are asked to adapt quickly while the path keeps changing.
The leader’s job is to narrow the shoreline
In my Unshakable Team work, I often think of clarity as the shoreline. When the water gets rough, people need to know where they are rowing. During uncertainty, leaders should make the next shoreline visible, even if the full journey is still unfolding.
- What matters most this week?
- What decisions are already made?
- What decisions are still open?
- What work should stop or pause?
- What does success look like for the next 30 days?
- Where should people bring questions or concerns?
Five ways to restore focus
- Set a short list of priorities. Three clear priorities beat ten vague ones.
- Create a weekly communication rhythm. Silence creates rumor.
- Give managers the same language. Teams lose focus when leaders interpret the change differently.
- Name what is not changing. Stability is easier to feel when someone points to it.
- Protect recovery and capacity. Focus drops when people are overloaded and emotionally exhausted.
Heather’s Field Note
| In my firms own research, ambiguity and lack of communication made people feel burnout about 55% of the time. I can recall living in a merged environment where we were expected to sell customers on a tech stack when we weren’t even clear on the benefits it would create for the customer. On top of that, new people were hired, but everyone was unclear which role they actually played in the success of the merger and client adoption. Team members were stepping on one another’s toes and missing client meetings. It was a mess. We were running all over the place responding, out of fear and confusion, to what we thought we needed to do. Clarity was no where. |
The leadership takeaway
Teams can perform during uncertainty, but they cannot perform well inside constant fog. Leaders keep teams focused by creating enough clarity, cadence, and care for people to know what to do next.
How Heather helps
Heather R. Younger helps leaders build Unshakable Teams through reorgs, restructuring, layoffs, mergers, and uncertainty by restoring trust, clarity, connection, and focus. Her work can support organizations through keynotes, leadership team offsites, listening sessions, executive roundtables, moderated panels, culture consulting, and Unshakable Team workshops.
If your leaders are trying to steady teams through change, Heather can help you create the clarity, trust, and connection people need to keep moving. Start a conversation about bringing Heather to your organization.
