Uncertainty—it’s an inevitable part of life and an ever-present reality for humanitarian and development leaders.

But how we respond to it is what defines us as NGO leaders.

In this episode we dive into how you can transform uncertainty from a source of stress and anxiety into a catalyst for growth and resilience.

More specifically you're going to learn:

• The surprising link between your perspective on uncertainty and your leadership effectiveness.
• One simple mindset shift that transforms anxiety into empowerment.
• How to uncover hidden opportunities in the most unpredictable challenges.

Whether you’re facing funding cuts or grappling with global unpredictability, this episode will help you lead with clarity, confidence, and courage.

Mentioned in this episode - NGO Soul and Strategy Podcast

If you are a middle to senior NGO leader who wants a greater perspective on organizational change, Tosca Bruno van Vijfeijken's podcast is for you!

Through this bi-weekly podcast, you'll learn:

•  The organizational design, development and effectiveness angles of change
• Insights from a variety of global NGO leaders
• Conversations will delve into leadership, strategy, team culture, and the evolving challenges and opportunities facing our sector.

Check out the podcast NGO Soul and Strategy here!

WHAT IS YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE? QUIZ

Want to know how to lead better? It starts by understanding your leadership style. To find out yours, take my free quiz “What Is Your Leadership Style” - you’ll immediately find out your default style, how it may be impacting your team and a few practical ways to become an even better leader.  Just click on the link fill out your quiz and click submit.

This podcast empowers international development and humanitarian leaders to achieve high performance teams, fostering diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing, overcoming burnout and overwhelm, while maximizing impact and productivity.

Learn how a modern leader copes with uncertainty in order to avoid

stress and anxiety on today's episode.

Welcome to The Modern Humanitarian and Development Leader podcast, the

podcast, helping humanitarian and development supervisors make a greater

impact by taking control of your time, leading more inclusively and

empowering your team all the while avoiding stress, burnout, and overwhelm.

I'm your host, leadership coach and former aid worker, Torrey Peace.

Are you ready?

Let's get started.

Hello, my aspiring modern humanitarian and development leader.

I hope you're having a wonderful week.

And there is a lot going on right now in the aid world,

humanitarian and development world.

This is January 2025.

About a week after Trump's inauguration.

And this along with many other things going on right now, have

brought up a lot of uncertainty in what's going on globally with aid.

And that's why I think it's important that we talk about how can we cope with

uncertainty in a way that it actually helps us instead of bringing us down.

Uncertainty is a reality of everyday life, but sometimes

it's more obvious than others.

So in this episode, you're going to discover what it is that

causes uncertainty and how it creates anxiety and overwhelm.

What negative emotions tell us about our current situation and

three practical tips that a modern leader uses to overcome uncertainty.

And just before we get into that too, I just want to also tell you if you did

not go back and listen to the last two episodes that I did with Tosca Bruno

van Vijfeijken she is the host of the "NGO Soul and Strategy" podcast, which

I also recommend that you check out, I will put a link in the show notes.

Tosca has three decades of experience helping leaders and civil society

manage change, invest in cutting edge leadership development

and strengthened effectiveness.

And our last two episodes together we're talking about how do we, as

leaders manage change, she had some really interesting insights that

I would not have thought about.

And how does a modern leader handle change and what kind of skills does a modern

leader need in order to cope with change?

So go and check out her podcast as well which really focuses on thought

leaders throughout our industry and on the culture, DNA and mindset

of the nonprofit and NGO sector.

She has some really great guests from all over the world have some

really interesting perspectives.

So yeah.

Go and check out "NGO Soul and Strategy" podcast when you get the chance.

All right.

So let's get into how does a modern leader cope with uncertainty?

So first, I think is just worth taking a look at what causes uncertainty.

And uncertainty is really, I would put it as an opinion or a perspective about

a situation and yet uncertainty or not knowing is also in a sense, our reality.

A constant reality of the present moment that we do not ever really

know what what's happening now will lead to in the future.

And that things are always uncertain.

And it's just that sometimes, like in this time now, it might be

more obvious than at other times.

But what will cause our anxiety or our fear is not uncertainty itself.

It's the way we look at the uncertainty and our relationship to it.

And this is why one person can go through a challenging time,

like a layoff, for example.

And not feel much stress at all while another person may feel tremendous

amounts of stress and anxiety.

And it all has to do with, or a lot of it has to do with your perspective.

Somebody could be in the exact same situation.

And based on their perspective could have a very different feeling or reaction

than someone out in the same situation.

So there's nothing wrong with negative emotions, negative

being, let's say anxiety and fear.

But they can also be indicators that we may be stuck looking at the negatives

in a situation that we are focusing on what's wrong and the uncertainty of the

situation, which is not always helpful.

And of course there are things that we cannot control or we do not know.

That is life.

That is a reality of everyday life.

But negative emotions can be a great indicator that maybe

we want to take a step back.

Like if you're feeling a lot of anxiety or fear or worry, you might want to

pause and apply some of the things that I'm going to share with you today.

Which I think if you apply these three tips or any one of them,

You will feel less anxiety and fear around the uncertainty of every day.

Of what we are experiencing.

So.

Number one, tip number one.

Once again, uncertainty is really just not knowing.

It's not knowing what's going to happen, which a lot of times makes us

feel out of control and gives us fear.

And so the first tip is really just accepting what is true right now,

what we know right now to be true, and also realizing that we don't

know where we are in the story.

And I think I've shared a few times on this podcast the parable about

the Chinese farmer who had gone through all these different hardships.

Or things that people would consider hardships, but then they became beneficial

to him and then they became hardships.

And so like, you know, losing his horse and everyone thought, oh, that's horrible.

But then the horse came back with more horses.

So then they thought, oh, that's great.

The story is basically to demonstrate that oftentimes what we think

is good or bad in the moment.

Is not that or that we really just don't know in the long run,

how things are going to work out.

And I like, I remember another example of this that's more personal to me is I

had a family member who was going through a really difficult situation at work.

A lot of uncertainty in their job and that they would even,

you know, maintain their job.

Which actually led them to look for something else, which they would not have

done otherwise that eventually they were able to get this other job and it became

an even better opportunity for them.

A higher salad salary, more opportunity to grow.

And I think they're actually happier and better off now than they were

when all this turmoil was happening.

This uncertainty of not knowing they would have this job or whatever, but it actually

led them to take action and do something that maybe they would not have otherwise

that ended up being a beneficial thing.

So I think it's just good to remember that right now we don't

know what the changes that are happening are going to lead us to.

Maybe it will make you as a leader evolve in a way that

you would not have otherwise.

So just reminding yourself that we just don't know where we are in

the story, I think is very helpful.

Tip number one.

Number two is to focus on what's within our control.

So not everything is within our control.

That is also a reality daily.

But what happens a lot of times is when we feel like

something is being imposed on us.

For example, a lot of changes by a donor or a government around aid funding or

opportunities, then we can feel like a victim, we can feel that we are powerless.

And so one of the keys to getting back that power or to overcome the uncertainty

of not being in control is focusing on what do I have control over here?

So for me this year, what I'm going to really focus on is doing the best I

can do in terms of delivering courses that produce modern humanitarian and

development leaders, who can cope with these situations, who can be even more

productive, more impactful in their work.

That's one thing I want to focus on, but another thing that I really want to focus

on is becoming the best version of myself.

I have control over improving my health.

Improving my strength.

And those are things that I also want to focus on on a more personal note over the

next year that I do have control over.

So using this as an opportunity of looking at what is within your control?

How can you focus on.

In this situation, what you do have control over, maybe it is helping

strengthen your team members.

Maybe that's something that is within your control that you want to focus on.

So there are many, many things that are within our control, even

though we feel like a lot is not.

But focusing on what is within your control and deciding what you're going to

do about it can be a really powerful way to step out of uncertainty and more into

control and empowerment for yourself, which I think is really key here.

And the number three, look for the opportunity in these situations

and every situation where there's a lot of uncertainty.

When we look into opportunity, for example, looking at how

can this situation be happening for you instead of to you?

So rather than being a victim of the situation, how can you use

it to make yourself stronger?

So for example, Maybe if there is a cut in funding or resources that you experience.

Maybe you have to be even more efficient.

Maybe it will encourage you to use Chat GPT more to become more

efficient, and that might open up other opportunities for you in the future.

Maybe it's an opportunity for you to get even better empowering those around you

and helping them and coaching them to become their best version of themselves.

How will experiencing this or this experience make you an even better leader?

And maybe even a more compassionate one?

Finally, I think that it's just a good reminder that gratitude or being

grateful for what we have right now.

That there are still a lot of things that have not changed.

There's still a lot of things we do not know, but while we have them, while

things are the way they are really being grateful for all the things that we have.

A lot of times situations like hard situations, difficult situations, make

us more grateful and focus on what's really, truly important in our lives.

Like our health, our family, our friends, our colleagues, and the relationships

we have to each other and community.

So once again, just a really quick overview of the three tips to cope better

with the uncertainty so that you will not experience as much anxiety and fear

are number one just remember that anxiety or uncertainty is just not knowing.

And just remember that we do not know where we are in the story.

Number two focusing on what's within our control can be really impactful in

terms of making us feel more empowered to take action and not just be stuck or,

in the spiral of negativity and number three, also looking for the opportunity

in all of this and looking at how this will make you stronger as a leader.

And what do you want to get out of going through or experiencing this situation?

All right.

So that's it for today.

And I'm thinking of all of you giving you a big virtual hug.

And just reminding you to use everything that's happening right

now to fuel you, to become even better leader, even better person.

Until next time, keep evolving.

Bye for now.

Are you the type of leader that tells others what to do?

Or do you let them figure it out for themselves?

Understanding your leadership style is the first step to deciding what's

working for you and what's not.

To find out your leadership style, take my free quiz "what is your leadership style?"

You'll immediately find out your default style, how it may be impacting

your team, and a few practical ways to become an even better leader.

Just click on the link in the show notes, www.aidforaidworkers.com/quiz

fill out your quiz and click submit.

So what are you waiting for?

Go to www.aidforaidworkers.com/quiz and discover your leadership style now.

Your team will thank you for it!