Supporting Your People at Work During Major Societal Events: 4 Common Pitfalls of Leading During Change
The World Feels Like It’s in Crisis—What Does That Mean for Leadership?
In the wake of recent governmental actions, millions of employees are grappling with more than their daily workload. They’re carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders–fear, uncertainty, grief, and anger.
Disruption isn’t episodic anymore; it’s the new, chronic “normal.”
This constant state of flux demands a new kind of leadership, one that recognizes the profound impact these events have on our people.
The question for leaders isn’t if these events impact the workplace or our people. We know it does. It’s a bigger question of how we respond.
For leaders, this raises a fundamental question: How do we support our people during major events?
The Failure of Traditional Leadership in Times of Crisis
Let’s be honest: the leadership models that got us here are part of the problem, and we’re seeing that play out on the global stage.
For decades, leadership has prioritized control, productivity, and exponential growth over adaptability, impact, and resilience. When disruption happens, such leaders fall back on outdated strategies: tightening control, artificially reducing complexity, and prioritizing optics over real action.
This isn’t just ineffective—it actively erodes trust. Today’s leaders must unlearn these failing approaches and rethink leadership for a world that demands adaptability, transparency, shared power, and collaboration.
Here are the top behaviors leaders must avoid during times of uncertainty:
Avoid The Myth of Neutrality:
Silence in the face of crisis is not neutrality—it is complicity.
It’s signaling detachment and indifference. Employees don’t expect their company to solve the world’s problems, but they do expect acknowledgment of reality.
Leaders who refuse to acknowledge a major societal event send a clear message: We don’t care enough about [you / the planet / ‘those’ people] to address this. When employees are struggling to process what’s happening in the world, ignoring reality fractures trust and fuels disengagement.
A 2024 business.com survey found that 75% of American workers want their employers to take clear stances on prominent social issues. When organizations remain silent, employees interpret that silence as a lack of care—which translates into disengagement, a decrease in trust, and attrition.
Ignoring what’s happening outside the workplace fractures trust inside the workplace.
2. Avoid The Illusion of Values without Action.
Every organization claims to “put people first,” but crises expose true organizational values.
The public has seen enough corporate waffling over social issues in the last few decades to know that a company’s true values aren’t in its statements—they’re in its actions.
The gap between stated values and actual behavior is never more obvious than in times of upheaval. Leaders release carefully worded statements, emails acknowledge “these difficult times,” and internal memos urge employees to “bring their whole selves to work.” But without tangible action, these gestures do more harm than good.
Employees (and customers!) don’t judge a company by what it says—it’s judged by what it does when things get hard. Do policies shift to support employees’ real needs, or are they expected to push forward at full speed? Do leaders create space for difficult conversations, or do they quietly discourage them to avoid discomfort? Do teams feel empowered to adjust how they work, or is productivity prioritized over well-being?
The most dangerous assumption a leader can make is that a polished message will be enough. Words without action don’t build trust—they actively destroy it. The organizations that emerge stronger from crisis are those that align their values with real decisions: reallocating budgets, updating policies, and equipping managers to provide meaningful support.
If leadership is only about maintaining the illusion of care, employees will see through it. And when they do, they leave.
3. Avoid The False Binary of Responses
Under stress, leaders tend to default to extremes, and assume they have two options:
• Push forward with “business-as-usual” as if nothing is happening.
Company A continues with a major product launch the day after a national tragedy, sharing with enthusiasm the product’s great new features while ignoring the state of the world and their company’s workforce. Their motto is “push through” and it’s pushing people away.
Company B sends a memo requiring employees to show up in person and on time after a climate disaster ravages their community, telling them to “stay focused on the mission.” Treating personal struggles as workplace distractions lets staff know its mission over at the expense of me around here.
• Pause everything until the crisis passes.
Company C delays a long-planned DEI initiative because of political tensions. They’re waiting for a “better time” rather than responding to the moment with actions and initiatives that would bolster their team and provide resources to others who are struggling and feeling alone. Their team asks, “better for who?”
Company D has a board with a “wait and see” approach. They wait and see what happens with the election, and then wait and see what happens with funding, and then wait and see what their stakeholders have to say about it. The board bends to the whims while the team is starting to doubt and leave.
Neither works.
Both are illusions of control, built on the assumption that stability will return if they just manage the situation correctly.
But uncertainty isn’t a passing storm—it’s the climate we live in now. Organizations that wait for external clarity or force productivity at all costs aren’t protecting their business. They’re avoiding dealing with reality. Employees don’t need leaders who minimize what’s happening or freeze in indecision. They need leaders that function within reality as it stands–as unstable as it is today, here and now–rather than denying reality and/or hoping it’ll change. Adaptability and flexibility aren’t emergency responses but core design principles.
The leaders who are most impactful today and tomorrow won’t be the ones waiting for things to settle. They’ll be the ones creating systems that can move with the chaos, not against it.
4. Avoid Tightening Control. It’s a Fear Response, Not a Strategy
In times of uncertainty, many leaders react by doubling down on control—micromanaging, restricting autonomy, and attempting to force stability where none exists.
Control isn’t a strategy; it’s a fear response.
Control is a reflection of leaders’ discomfort, not a response to the needs of their people. Many people will do anything to prevent feeling powerless, and engage in micromanagement, rigid thinking, self-protection, and us-vs-them thinking as a trauma response. For others still, survival instincts kick in, and they emotionally detach and start distrusting everyone.
For those who haven’t experienced past hardship or trauma, it may simply be a reflection of outdated beliefs about leadership, its function, and its role. These leaders often adhere to a command-and-control, hierarchical, top-down model that prioritizes order, predictability, and productivity. In their view, maintaining a tight grip on operations and decision-making is the best way to minimize risks and ensure consistent levels of production.
This approach stifles creativity, initiative, and resilience, leaving organizations ill-equipped to respond to changing conditions. Leadership during a crisis requires empathy, clarity without false certainty, and should focus on building capacity–the ability to adapt, self-regulate, and co-create solutions in complex VUCA environments.
The World Has Changed. Leadership Has to Change With It.
Business-as-usual leadership won’t cut it anymore. In a world shaped by constant disruption, leaders must build trust, resilience, and adaptability—not just when it’s easy, but when it’s hard.
These four pitfalls are common, but they aren’t inevitable.
If you see yourself (or your organization) here, you’re not alone. And you’re not stuck.
Read the full series here for practical tools to lead through major societal events.
Or get in touch if you’re ready to build a leadership culture that holds steady and leads with integrity—no matter what’s happening out there.
