Overcoming Uncertainty

FC Now reader Daniel Robinson recommends a recent article by Andy Stanley in the Summer 2003 edition of Leadership Journal, a periodical produced for church leaders.

In the article, Stanley highlights the importance of clarity in uncertain times -- and how leaders need to make confident decisions despite dissent. He offers the following four tips:

• Express your uncertainty with confidence.
• Seek wise counsel.
• Measure your success by the scoreboard, not the playbook.
• Be willing to act decisively.

In the July 2003 issue of Fast Company, Ryan Underwood considered safer ways to take risks. And in the April 2002 issue, Keith Hammonds outlined a new approach to risk, indicating that caution and conservatism occasionally have their virtues. Hammonds offers three characteristics of organizations that thrive in tumultuous times:

• Disciplined opportunism
• Continuous learning -- and unlearning
• Adaptive experimentation

The key here is adaptation. Even in the most uncertain of times, don't fall prey to paralysis by analysis.