Leading in the fog: Communicating priorities in uncertain times
As a “global management guru and expert in managing times of change” (Bloomberg), I have advised and worked alongside Fortune 500 CEOs, billionaire entrepreneurs and large family business conglomerates across multiple continents. One pattern appears again and again during difficult periods of uncertainty: The organizations that execute best are not necessarily the smartest. They are the clearest.
In times of stability, businesses can survive with mediocre communication. Teams can rely on routine, habits and momentum. But in periods of volatility—economic turbulence, technological disruption, geopolitical instability, inflation, supply chain shocks or organizational transformation—clarity becomes a strategic weapon.
In uncertain times, leadership is not only about making the right decisions. It is about giving the organization the confidence to act on them.
When the fog becomes thick, people look to leadership for direction. If the message is vague, the organization drifts. But when leaders communicate priorities with clarity, frequency, simplicity and discipline, they create one of the greatest competitive advantages in business: an organization that can execute decisively, even when the world around it is uncertain.
Why priorities matter more in times of change
Execution is based on simplicity. The more uncertainty increases externally, the more simplicity must increase internally.
In uncertain times, people naturally experience heightened anxiety and cognitive overload. When employees hear conflicting signals, see shifting goals or receive inconsistent instructions from leadership, focus disappears. Human beings crave certainty. And when certainty does not exist externally, leaders must create internal clarity.
One of the most common mistakes I see among CEOs and business owners is assuming the organization automatically understands what matters most. It rarely does. A leadership team may believe they are aligned because they discussed priorities in a boardroom for three hours. Meanwhile, middle management leaves the meeting interpreting five different versions of what was actually decided.
I once worked with a highly profitable Asian family business conglomerate that was facing slowing growth and increasing internal friction. The owner believed the company had a clear strategic direction. But after extensive interviews across departments, it became obvious that different executives were pursuing completely different agendas.
One division focused on aggressive expansion. Another focused on cost-cutting. Another focused on preserving legacy operations. Another focused on innovation projects. The result was organizational drag, duplicated effort, political tension and decision-making paralysis.
The issue was not intelligence. The issue was communication clarity. Once leadership simplified the strategic message into three crystal-clear priorities—and repeated them relentlessly across the organization—execution speed improved dramatically within months.
Clear over clever: Crafting a message they actually hear
Clarity breeds speed. One of the great dangers in leadership communication is complexity. Many executives try to sound sophisticated instead of understandable. But in moments of uncertainty, simplicity wins.
The best communicators in business are often remarkably direct. They communicate priorities in plain language that everyone—from the boardroom to the front line—can immediately understand.
If employees cannot repeat the priorities clearly, they do not understand them. I often tell CEOs and owners: If your strategy requires a PowerPoint presentation with 40 slides to explain it, your organization will struggle to execute it. I call that “death by powerpoint”!
Clear communication means: Reducing strategic clutter, eliminating contradictory messages, avoiding corporate jargon, prioritizing memorable language, repeating key themes consistently.
Steve Jobs was a master at this. So is Jeff Bezos. Great leaders simplify complexity without oversimplifying reality. One practical technique we often use with clients is what I call the “Three Priority Rule,” “Top 3s” or “Three to Thrive”: If leaders cannot summarize the organization’s top priorities in three concise points, clarity is usually insufficient.
Another major leadership mistake is undercommunication. Many leaders communicate priorities once and assume the message has landed permanently. It has not.
One global business leader I advised during a major restructuring made a simple but powerful change. Every Monday morning, he recorded a short five-minute video updating the entire organization on three things: What matters most right now, what challenges the company is facing, what progress is being made.
Aligning teams with confidence-building feedback loops
Communication is not complete when a leader speaks. Communication is complete when the organization understands. This is where feedback loops become essential. Too many companies operate with one-way communication. Leadership talks. Employees listen. But nobody verifies whether alignment actually exists.
The best organizations create continuous feedback mechanisms that reinforce confidence and alignment. This includes:
- Departmental check-ins
- KPI dashboards
- Progress reviews
- Open discussions
- Employee feedback channels
- Cross-functional alignment meetings
But there is another hidden benefit: Feedback loops build psychological confidence. When employees know leadership is listening, uncertainty decreases. When teams understand how success is measured, execution improves. When people receive regular feedback, they gain confidence in decision-making.
I have seen organizations transform simply because leadership established a culture of consistent feedback and strategic reinforcement. In uncertain environments, people do not expect perfection. But they do expect direction.
Your five to thrive
1. Reduce the message to the vital few. In uncertain times, more priorities create less execution. Choose the few priorities that truly matter and communicate them relentlessly.
2. Repeat until it becomes organizational language. If you are tired of saying it, your people may only just be beginning to hear it. Repetition is not a weakness in leadership communication; it is a requirement.
3. Communicate with rhythm. Do not leave people guessing. Establish a consistent cadence of updates, huddles, progress reviews and leadership messages, especially during times of change.
4. Test understanding, not just attendance. Do not ask, “Did everyone hear me?” Ask, “Can they explain it, apply it and act on it?” Real communication is measured by execution, not by how many people sat in the meeting.
5. Align words, incentives and behavior. Priorities become real only when they influence decisions, resource allocation, accountability, promotions and rewards. Employees believe the system more than the speech.
Tom Oliver, a “global management guru” (Bloomberg), is the chair of The Tom Oliver Group, the trusted advisor and counselor to many of the world’s most influential family businesses, medium-sized enterprises, market leaders and global conglomerates. For more information and inquiries: TomOliverGroup.com or email Tom.Oliver@inquirer.com.ph.
