8 tips to keep teams motivated when uncertainty causes setbacks.

When uncertainty hits, it's very common for teams to lose focus and motivation fast. As you push through delays, business hurdles, and the pressure to deliver innovative results, it's easy for motivation to wane. I’ve seen it happen time and time again and it happens even with changes that don't seem that complex. But what if uncertainty didn’t have to drain all your energy, but instead could ignite creativity and deeper engagement? The real challenge for all of us lies not in controlling the chaos, but in using it as fuel to keep our teams inspired and aligned with your mission. 

Here’s 8 tips that I’ve proven have worked for me to turn ambiguity into an asset for driving team motivation: 

1. Storytelling with Purpose

• Link Daily Activities to the Bigger Picture: Use actual examples and stories or anticipated outcomes to remind your team how their work contributes to the bigger picture, whether that's an organization's mission or innovative results.
• Highlight Wins: Celebrate the small wins or celebrate achieving incremental progress (e.g., a big part of a milestone, a new collaboration or partnership). This helps to maintain momentum and creates a sense of moving forward even when long-term results are uncertain.

2. Transparency with a Positive Spin

• Weekly/Monthly Updates: I can't stress this enough... provide clear updates on status, company milestones, and any challenges you're facing. Don't stay silent just because there is nothing net new to communicate. Frame setbacks as learning experiences or opportunities for improvement.
• Informal Leadership Q&A Sessions: Host informal sessions where leadership addresses uncertainties directly, offering honest answers and reassurance while connecting the work back to the big picture and mission.

3. Visual and Interactive Communications

• Visual Dashboards: Create visual progress trackers for the entire team to see, such as dashboards that show the status of important steps. Make sure to emphasize that this is not a dashboard to penalize people for not being further ahead but instead it gives employees a tangible sense of advancement.
• Interactive Feedback Platforms: Use tools like anonymous feedback platforms or idea-sharing boards to keep team members engaged and to help leadership gauge the team's concerns and ideas.

4. Spotlight Individuals and Teams

• Employee/Team Spotlights: Regularly recognize individual and team contributions. Highlighting specific achievements (even non-project related) boosts morale and makes employees feel valued.
• Cross-Team Collaboration Stories: Share stories of successful collaborations between departments or teams to foster a sense of shared purpose across the company and unity.

5. Gamification of Progress

• Incentive-Based Challenges: Introduce friendly competitions or challenges that align with business goals (e.g., how to improve internal processes, or how to handle setbacks creatively). Recognize top contributors.
• Progress Badges/Recognition: Reward individuals or teams with badges or small prizes along the way for achieving short-term goals.

6. Vision-Driven Messaging

• Campaigns to Reinforce Values: Launch internal campaigns centered on the organization's values and mission, using visuals, videos, or leadership-led town halls to remind employees of the positive impact of their work. When things are uncertain it's easy to feel disassociated with the work you are doing and the impact that is being made - help teams connect the dots. 

7. Encouraging Work-Life Balance and Mental Well-being

• Mental Health and Resilience Workshops: Offer workshops on stress management, resilience, and well-being to keep employees motivated during long, uncertain phases. Wellness is not a one and done, it's something that should be regularly reinforced in small ways. 
• Mindful Breaks and Creative Outlets: Encourage structured "mindful breaks" or creative activities that allow employees to disconnect from the high-pressure environment for short periods, boosting overall morale and productivity.

8. Cross-Functional Innovation Challenges

• Inter-Departmental Challenges: Hold cross-functional brainstorming or hackathon-style sessions to solve specific company challenges. This promotes engagement, innovation, and cross-team relationships, which are critical in uncertain times.

Many of the above strategies I've seen work extremely well. For example, a few years ago, my team and I were in the middle of a massive company restructure. It felt like literally every day brought new doubt and questions we weren’t ready to answer. Talk about feeling like you’re in the midst of chaos…it was brutal. I began to have our team hold daily check-ins to connect us more —not to push more responsibilities, but to simply listen to the frustrations and feedback and share whatever updates we could, no matter how minor.

It was in those meetings that we began to see a slow shift towards people speaking up more and calling out the smallest of wins and soon, the morale of the team and the ability to focus on the here and now returned. People started feeling better about how to operate in the environment with the changes. We weren’t just waiting for things to settle down - the team felt like they were moving forward together despite the uncertainty.

 
How do you keep your team focused when uncertainty hits? Do you use any of the above strategies? Would love to hear what strategies you use in the comments!