Lead with Clarity and Calm When Your World Is Shaky
How Real Leaders Build Trust, Focus, And Peace When Everything Feels Off Balance
Lead with Clarity and Calm When Your World Is Shaky
"Steady in the Storm." A reader used that phrase when he asked me about working with his team, and the question stayed with me.
When everything around you feels like it might tip—a deadline slips, a senior team becomes uncharacteristically quiet, your monthly sales tank, or the national news takes another turn for the worse, people look around and start scanning the room.
They're not looking for the loudest voice, the person with the title, or even the one with answers.
They're looking for a person who feels steady. They need a person who feels steady.
They need a person who doesn't pretend everything's fine but doesn't feed the panic, either.
The person whose presence says: We'll find our way through this.
That's what a reader told me after filling out my ValuesCrafting survey.
He asked, "How do I lead my team when the world around me feels shaky?"
Not how to fix the storm. Not how to pretend everything's fine. How to lead—calmly and in alignment with your values—even when you don't feel steady yourself.
I've been that leader. I've also worked alongside and coached them. And I've also worked in environments where no one showed up with steadiness, and the cost of that absence was real.
Steadiness doesn't mean having all the answers. It means being the person others can count on to:
Communicate honestly
Stay grounded in what matters
Make space for others to do their best work
Here are six ways I've seen steady leaders show up when it counts, with real examples to show how it looks in action.
1. Leaders provide solid, truthful information even when the communication is "We don't know yet."
I have always respected the leadership of a general manager named Doug. He knew his company was troubled and that many people would likely lose their jobs.
He didn't make the mistake of trying to reassure people when he believed the reassurance was not justified. Some people were going to be out of work. He didn't know who, how many, or when.
So, he told the employees everything he knew, just the facts, with no false encouragement or fake promises.
People deeply respected him for his courage, truthfulness, and steadfastness. No one felt fooled or misled when the actual layoffs occurred.
The employees had every opportunity to make the right choices for their lives. And that's what matters in your relationship with a manager.
When the layoffs occurred, Doug followed up with the remaining employees to ensure they were doing alright. He offered discussion time, meetings, and several ways for the remaining employees to mourn their departing colleagues.
He remained present for the employees who remained.
2. Leaders base their decisions on their core values, even when difficult.
In 2007, my husband Bill and I made a tough decision. We had planned to build a building to house our company, TechSmith, which would have cost just shy of $20 million.
But we felt an impending financial turmoil coming on. Economic indicators were looking bad.
My husband dreaded telling the employees who had become 100% invested in this dream of a new building where everyone could work together in one space.
He also knew that the builders, architects, the MSU Foundation, and others equally invested in this dream would be disappointed.
But his decision was rooted in his values.
Sure, we could have continued to build as expected. But in the process, we might have had to let employees go in a downturn.
He decided that employing our people, many of whom had young families, was a far greater value than pleasing the invested stakeholders.
3. Leaders model calmness without pretending that nothing is wrong.
In the first story, Doug, the manager, modeled calmness, endurance, and resilience as he went about his business as usual. He never lost sight of their business of making parts. He never stopped engaging employees in their daily tasks.
He led the employees to keep working on what they could control, to the best of their ability, with the quality and care they exercised in serving their customers. No one panicked or lost control.
Despite rumors of downturns and layoffs, they never cut corners or slacked off. Doug didn't hide what was happening, but he also didn't feed panic.
4. Leaders remain visible and engaged.
Doug was out on the plant floor every day, greeting employees in the breakrooms and being generally available to respond to questions and concerns. He knew the employees appreciated his proximity during a turbulent time.
In contrast, I once visited a small Detroit-area company, where walking through the employee offices and cubicles was like visiting a ghost town.
We saw no plants, no family pictures, no sweaters on hooks, no memorabilia at all, and no signs of life. The employees were working—but guarded, tense, already gone in spirit.
The whole setup screamed of fear and dismay.
By the time we reached the CEO's office, located at the far end of the building, I was certain of the situation. I asked him, "How soon do you plan to close this operation?"
He was startled by my question, but he told us, after closing his door and in strict confidence, that he planned to close the operation in a couple of weeks. He said he hadn't told the employees yet, hoping he could avoid upset and a lack of productivity.
He seriously believed the employees didn't know, that he had guarded his secret.
I told him they did know. They were already job searching and taking their personal items home.
When leaders disappear, employees fill in the gaps, and those gaps fill with fear and action.
5. Leaders reinforce the priorities, even when they change.
In a software development company, the team had spent months creating a product that appeared to have significant market potential.
But when it came time to launch, they couldn't find a way to market it broadly. Despite strong user responses in small influential circles, no viable marketing plan emerged, and company leaders eventually shelved the product.
The team leader had the unenviable job of refocusing a heartbroken team. That took one-on-one conversations, support from their leadership in small meetings, and company-wide learning.
The leader gave people space to grieve the lost product before redirecting their efforts to a new development project.
Other teams noted a learning lesson: even the best product won't succeed without a viable marketing path.
The team debriefed, learned what had gone wrong, and moved forward, re-energized around a new product and renewed focus.
6. Leaders protect people's focus.
Team leaders often serve as buffers to keep competing demands from derailing their team's work.
In one organization, managers across different silos each tried to optimize a team’s output for their area. But their competing requests created gridlock.
A strong team leader stepped in. Instead of letting that chaos spill into the team, they filtered requests, clarified priorities, and asked all concerns to route through them, not the team.
This action shielded their people from confusion, panic, and stress.
They kept the focus on meaningful work tied to mission, vision, and values. In doing so, they helped their team survive the turbulence and perform at their best.
One Final Thought
When the ground shifts, steadiness isn’t about certainty.
It’s about being the person others can count on to stay grounded in what matters.
ValuesCrafting Origins: If you’d like to know more about my journey from teaching high school advanced English and special education to management consultant, company owner, and writer, you can read my story here.