Navigating Workplace Uncertainty: How the 3 C Framework Transforms Chaos into Confidence

Have you ever found yourself in a new project, facing a major merger, or leading a team through a period of intense pressure? The feeling of being pulled in this way and that seems to be a common complaint. 

This sensation of being pulled by a strong, unrelenting force is much like being caught in a riptide. If you haven’t spent much time by the ocean, you may not be familiar with these currents or how to spot them. Riptides are strong, sometimes invisible, and often deadly currents that pull even the strongest swimmer away from the shore. 

Organizational change and ambiguity can feel just like a riptide. Neither cares much about what we think of them, or whether we see it coming. 

A swimmer’s natural instinct when caught in a riptide is to fight it, to swim directly back to shore. But this is a critical mistake. If you try to outswim a riptide, you’ll quickly become exhausted and risk drowning. Our instincts are wrong.

Similarly, when leaders and teams are faced with the force of change, they feel swept away by constant demands, manager conflict, or staff turnover. Relying on old habits or trying to outswim the currents of change leads to burnout and stifled innovation. 

In change, our instincts are often dangerously wrong. Just like the riptide, we search for solutions that have worked in the past and react to find the most direct path back to safety. The solution isn’t to fight the current, but to fight our initial panic, take a deep breath, and consider a new strategy. 

There is good news, and a skill that can be developed to navigate these changes with more optimism and confidence. This leadership skill, Tolerance of Ambiguity (TOA), helps us to prepare for anything that comes our way, whether a riptide, jellyfish or even a shark. 

If you have always felt that ambiguity is, well, ambiguous, let’s clear up some terms:

Ambiguity is something in the world, like an image that can be seen in a number of ways, an optical illusion (is it close or far?) or a social interaction that is confusing, like a normally grumpy and surly colleague who suddenly wants to chat about their day. Like that dress that was green, or was it gold? Like a confusing sign or vague directive.

Uncertainty is our response to ambiguity, resulting in the discomfort and stress we feel when faced with something unfamiliar, complex, or incomprehensible. We hate uncertainty, and we seek to resolve it at all costs. 

Tolerance of Ambiguity (TOA) is a skill that helps us remain calm and choose a more effective strategy. There are 9 dimensions, so you might be better with some kinds of ambiguity than others. I’m relatively strong in Comfort with the Unfamiliar and Desire for Challenging Work. But I have an opportunity to work on Managing the Uncertainty, which is putting processes in place to develop a flexible plan and leading others through uncertainty. 

People with a lower tolerance of ambiguity are more prone to burnout and stress, are generally unhappier and have less resilience. Change is excruciating, and adaptation is impossible.

Leaders try to ignore or eliminate ambiguity, but it’s like stopping a sieve from leaking in our constantly changing workplaces. One key area for leaders to focus on is reducing role ambiguity. Many workers don’t even really know what their jobs are, or how they fit in with the goals of the organization. Leaders should focus here, instead of the micro ambiguities that are unavoidable.

To help build awareness and improve our responses to ambiguity, I’ve created the 3 C Framework. It’s how you can confidently navigate the riptides of uncertainty and ambiguity, transforming fear and frustration into opportunities for innovation and success. 

CATCH ON: Awareness is Key 

The first step in navigating any riptide is to recognize you’re caught in it. 

To Catch On means becoming aware of the presence and impact of ambiguity, and crucially, your own internal responses to it. In the riptide, it’s when you realize that you are far from shore, the water is cold, and you can’t touch the bottom. You’re in danger.

Ambiguity is inevitable, but it can be deeply unsettling. Our brains are wired to perceive it as a threat, instinctively pushing us to resolve it at all costs. 

This often leads to clinging to status quo solutions like a floating door in the Atlantic, even when we know what worked yesterday might not work next quarter, next month, or even tomorrow. 

This happens because: 

• We’re often unaware of ambiguity’s profound effect on our thinking 
• In environments of constant flux, we become so accustomed to feeling uncertain that we no longer register it. 

When leaders and teams operate under unrecognized uncertainty, they become more close-minded, less collaborative, and more resistant to new ideas. Innovation stagnates, and people burn out. 

These are direct hits to your KPIs and organizational health. If your teams aren’t “Catching On” to subtle ambiguities in projects, communications, or team dynamics, they’re likely defaulting to less effective, rigid responses. 

Where does that leave you? Dealing with the fallout without recognizing the root cause. 

The Benefits of Self-Awareness 

Cultivating self-awareness, or tuning into the subtle signs of our minds and bodies, enables us to observe our reactions and prevent reactive decisions that exacerbate challenges, such as micromanagement by managers or burnout. 

When you encounter an unclear directive, a shifting priority, or an unfamiliar task, what does it feel like in your body? 

A tightness in your chest? A surge of adrenaline? An urge to fidget? The desire to shut down new ideas in favour of something that’s worked in the past? 

What can we do about it?

• Practice Mindfulness: Simple mindfulness exercises can help us attune to our internal state while facing uncertainty. 
• The 30-Second Pause: When faced with an ambiguous email or sudden change, take 30 seconds to notice your internal state before reacting. Take a physiological sigh, where you breathe in, then take another sip of air, and breathe out in a long, slow exhale.
• Team Check-Ins: Implement team check-ins where team members share their current feelings about projects or changes. 
• Bring Awareness: Share insights about the conscious impact of ambiguity on decision-making and wellbeing. 
• Train Managers: Equip leaders to recognize these subtle signs that are sabotaging their success. Consider taking the IAM Ambiguity Assessment to identify opportunities for improvement in change and ambiguity.

CONSIDER DATA: Pausing the Panic 

So you’ve caught on. This is when you’re pushed to swim back to shore; your reactions are pushing you ineffectively to the most direct path to safety. Now what? 

The Consider Data phase is about pressing the pause button and resisting our instinct to react impulsively. Instead, we engage high-level thinking to gather information and diverse perspectives. We have instincts that have evolved over millions of years, but also a big frontal cortex. This is the time to use that brain!

In a riptide, you take a moment to think. You treat water, calm yourself, and take a moment to assess your options. Sit in the discomfort of ambiguity and realize you won’t die or lose your job if an immediate decision isn’t made on that infrastructure project, reorganization, or new policy rollout. 

It takes strength to resist our instinct to react quickly. But we can use our massive, evolved brain to say, “It’s okay. I’m going to take a moment here to consider.” 

Leaders often opt for safe, familiar solutions, even when they recognize the need for innovation. While quick decisions are often celebrated, research from McKinsey’s Organizational Health Index highlights that data-driven decisions are critical for organizational health. Uncertainty carries a hefty emotional and organizational toll, and the power of data is the antidote.

Daniel Kahneman’s work on “Thinking Fast and Slow” helps us understand this through his model of two systems of thinking: 

• System 1: Our fast, intuitive, emotional, gut-level response. 
• System 2: Out slower, more deliberate, analytical thought.

We all like to imagine we’re making decisions with System 2. But when we are under pressure and faced with something unfamiliar, System 1 tends to take over. We then cleverly use System 2, not to make the best decision, but to rationalize the decision our gut has already made.

System 1 draws from our past experiences and learned patterns. But in workplaces where we don’t know what will happen in the future, our guts are “flying blind.” If we rely on the reaction of “that’s now how we do things around here,” we risk shutting down breakthroughs that don’t conform to our current models. 

Trust your gut, but verify.

Considering Data allows us to become aware of our own professional biases. 

While valuable, our gut feelings can be influenced by confirmation bias, leading us to overemphasize evidence that supports our existing beliefs and underemphasize contradictory information. 

And with a truly creative and innovative idea? How is your gut supposed to know if it will work since there is no data or history to draw from?

The disconnect between leaders and teams can be due to the misalignment between the definitions of creativity by leaders and employees.

• Ask a leader? They typically describe something feasible, cost-effective, and relatively easy to implement
• But ask their teams? They often describe something a bit more risky, perhaps more expensive upfront, or something that hasn’t been done before. 

If we want genuinely innovative solutions, we must acknowledge that our default instinct may be to reject game-changing ideas. Sitting in the discomfort and intentionally seeking new perspectives before jumping to conclusions prevents the spark of innovation from fizzling out and stops us from applying old solutions to new problems. 

If you’ve ever had or been a manager who says they want “creative ideas” and rejected every creative idea that’s come your way? You’re not alone.

As a locum vet (a veterinarian who steps into new teams on a whim), I’ve led teams with no onboarding. In these high-stakes, ambiguous situations, I’ve learned that recognizing these internal signs is crucial.

Like when a client came in convinced their dog just had a bee sting, my gut felt that something wasn’t quite right. Although the diagnosis was plausible (it had happened before), I wanted more data. 

Without this awareness, my instinct might have been to simply give the pet owner what they asked for. It would have been less hassle, for sure. But the dog would have died. In the end, that dog had eaten rat poison and would not have survived the weekend. There are other times when the case went the other way, and I did not search for data, with negative outcomes. These lessons will stay with me forever.

Now, we aren’t dealing with life or death in the office (I hope!), but learning to recognize these subtle cues of uncertainty, both in ourselves and our teams and consider data before jumping to conclusions can help us avoid status quo solutions and foster strategic thinking. 

Practical Strategies for Considering Data:

• Trust Your Gut, But Verify: Your gut is just a data point. Consciously pause to seek other evidence and diverse perspectives to challenge your initial instincts. 
• Noticing Bias: If you have an immediate reaction to something, whether you love it and think it’s the best thing ever *or* instantly hate it and believe it will never work, that’s a big clue that you’re experiencing bias. 
• Model Data-Driven Decisions: When facing an urge to opt for a familiar solution, articulate your process: “My first instinct is X, but let’s make sure we are truly considering all angles. What other data or perspectives should we look at before proceeding?” 
• Bring Diverse Voices to the Table: When tackling complex challenges, make it a non-negotiable to include people with different viewpoints, roles, and backgrounds. You’d be amazed how often a piece of critical information comes from a department you hadn’t initially thought to consult. 

CREATE SOLUTIONS: Where The Magic Happens ✨

So, now you’ve Caught On and Considered Data. How do we actually move forward? This is when you’ve considered your options and tread water for some time to evaluate your surroundings. This is when you hitch a ride on a dolphin! The third (and most exciting) “C” is where the magic truly happens: Create Solutions.

By creating solutions, we transition from analysis to action, from assessment to actively solving problems. 

True innovation is creativity + implementation. 

At Nestle Purina, my team had a high-stakes $25K sponsorship renewal. Instead of a typical PowerPoint, we created an interactive “Choose Your Own Adventure” experience. 

My coworker was apprehensive. It was new and untested: “What if they don’t like it?” 

We considered the potential pitfalls and reviewed our plan. Worst case? We would learn what the client didn’t respond to. Best case? We blow them away. 

We decided that even if things didn’t go as smoothly as a well-rehearsed and snooze-worthy PowerPoint, we would learn for next time. This reframing empowered us to try something bold. 

“If it doesn’t work, we will learn” isn’t only a mindset just for massive organizational investments, but it can unlock innovation in everyday team settings. 

What Blocks Creativity at Work

The Create Solutions step often stalls because people are afraid to be creative. During my keynote presentation, when I ask attendees what holds them back from being creative, answers often reveal a fear of failure, judgment, or reprisals. 

This lack of psychological safety is a creativity killer. When cultures punish mistakes, innovation stagnates. 

Valuable employees who have innovative ideas don’t speak out if it feels like too much trouble or too risky, meaning potential breakthroughs are lost before they even have a chance to be heard. 

This directly impacts talent retention, as creative and engaged employees are half as likely to be looking for a new job. 

Research reveals a significant gap: 83% of companies claim to prioritize innovation, but only 3% feel prepared to deliver. One key reason? Only 18% of employees feel they can take the necessary risks at work to be creative.

Also, leaders say they want unique ideas, but they secretly hate them (as measured by research!) New concepts lack metrics or clear KPIs to estimate success. So, how do we foster an environment where creating solutions is commonplace, and teams aren’t afraid to voice their ideas or admit mistakes? 

Practical Strategies for Creating Solutions: 

• Practice Psychological Safety: Ensure your teams feel safe to propose new ideas and experiment, as long as learning is captured, shared, and valued. Make “What did we learn from this?” a standard, blameless question after every initiative, regardless of its success. 
• Adopt a Fail Forward Faster Mindset: This isn’t reckless abandon, it’s about intentionally trying new things and gathering new data sets to move forward. Some companies even celebrate failures, knowing that if you aren’t failing, you aren’t trying.
• Practice Gallup’s 3 Conditions for Creativity 
  • Expectation to be creative 
  • Time to be creative
  • Freedom to take risks 
• Equip Yourself with Problem-Solving Tools: Structured brainstorming and other creative frameworks can help teams approach ambiguous challenges with a toolkit. 

Riding the Waves of Change with Confidence 

Navigating our workplaces today can feel like an uncharted ocean, with relentless organizational change and the introduction of new technologies. 

The good news? You don’t have to be swept out to sea. The 3 C Framework empowers you to navigate change with confidence: 

• Catch On: Build your self-awareness to recognize the subtle signals that uncertainty is pushing you toward status quo solutions
• Consider Data: Take a mindful pause, resist the urge for immediate solutions, and deliberately gather data and evidence to build clarity. 
• Create Solutions: Innovate and experiment with new approaches, turning uncertainty into a catalyst for breakthrough solutions. 

The next time you feel the tug of uncertainty, whether it’s a new project or unclear instructions, pause. You don’t have to have all the answers; you just have to be willing to move forward and pivot when necessary. 

What’s Next? Are you the Lifeguard or Swim Instructor? 

The old way of leading teams through organizational change is being a lifeguard: Sure, the lifeguard is a hero, but constantly on alert, jumping in to rescue people from the riptide when they’re already in trouble. This cycle of reactive problem-solving is exhausting and directly contributes to burnout. 

If you want teams that take ownership of solutions? It’s time to become a swim instructor. Proactively build the Tolerance of Ambiguity muscles in your teams, and foster confidence to navigate the currents themselves. 

Ask yourself: Is your corporate culture designed to CONTROL uncertainty or to LEVERAGE it? 

The 3 C toolkit gives you a compass to navigate when the terrain is uncertain and complex. Organizations that thrive will use a compass to navigate change, instead of a map that is constantly being redrawn as the world changes. 

It’s not about being perfect, but saying, “I don’t know how strong the current is today, but I know we’ll navigate it together.” 

Ready to equip your team with confidence?

As a keynote speaker, leadership trainer, and workshop facilitator, I provide engaging talks for large audiences and professional development and staff training and workshops designed to build resilient, innovative teams. 

I am accredited as an IAM Ambiguity Assessment facilitator. If you want to build an aware team or leadership that knows their blind spots, so that they can lead others through change, contact me to find out more about this test and a workshop and coaching to debrief and plan ahead.

Your organization can learn to future-proof your business, foster innovation, and build an agile and adaptive culture. 

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