Amy Edmondson and Tijs Besieux describe five cognitive shifts that can help teams navigate uncertainty. Their argument is not to make a threatening situation sound pleasant. It is to separate observable facts from the interpretations that narrow a team’s choices.
A frame is a management tool
The same announcement can prompt curiosity in one employee and fear in another. Leaders should first surface the assumptions driving those reactions. A useful reframe expands the set of actions the team can take; it is not spin, and it does not erase the costs of change.
How to make the shift stick
The authors suggest a sequence: name the current interpretation, test a more useful one with a varied group of stakeholders, then reinforce it in team meetings, one-to-ones and project reviews. That is more credible than announcing a slogan in an all-hands meeting. The CEO’s role is to create room for learning while keeping the decision criteria and risks visible.
Key takeaways
- Explore whether an apparent threat can reveal a new opportunity without pretending the threat is unreal.
- Treat intelligent, limited failures as information for the next iteration.
- Question default restrictions and presumed constraints that have never been tested.
- Describe present performance as changeable rather than as a fixed trait of a person or team.
What this means for CEOs
In uncertainty, a CEO can improve the quality of action by asking what is fact, what is assumption and what small test would change the team’s view. The goal is disciplined adaptation, not forced optimism.