4 Ways to Create Calm When Your Workplace Feels Unpredictable and Chaotic

Watch my AM Northwest segment on this topic at the end of the article for a quick summary.

Uncertainty is everywhere, and workplaces today, whether impacted directly or indirectly, are feeling anxious. With economic volatility, government shutdowns, and shifting priorities, stress is rising, leading to a decline in trust, morale, and performance. This is common in a V.U.C.A. (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) or B.A.N.I. (brittle, anxious, nonlinear, and incomprehensible) environment. Research from Deloitte's 2025 Global Human Capital Trends report reveals a widening gap between human needs and business outcomes, with workplace tensions at an all-time high.

Many leaders respond by trying to push through the chaos with sheer determination, but that approach often backfires, increasing burnout and eroding the very performance they're trying to protect. The antidote isn't working harder; it's leading smarter. Here are four strategies that steady your team and reduce anxiety, even when the path forward isn't clear.

1. Over-Communicate (Even if You Don't Have All the Answers)

Silence feels like bad news. When people don't hear from leadership, they assume the worst. A study from the Harvard Business Review found that during times of organizational change, employees who received frequent communication, even when the news was uncertain, reported 30% higher trust in leadership compared to those left in the dark.

In high-pressure environments, the absence of information creates fertile ground for rumors and distrust to grow. Your job isn't to have all the answers; it's to keep people informed about what you do know.

Give brief, regular updates, even if it's "we don't know yet, but here's what we're watching." Use a simple formula: What we know / What we're tracking / What you can do right now. This approach provides clarity without requiring perfection, which is essential when circumstances are constantly evolving.

Watch out for long, confusing emails that create more anxiety than they resolve. Keep updates short, clear, and repeat the message across different channels like team meetings, Slack, and email so everyone stays informed, regardless of how they consume information.

2. Stop Waiting for Things to "Get Back to Normal"

Treating chaos as temporary keeps everyone in panic mode. When leaders frame uncertainty as a brief storm to weather, teams remain stuck in survival thinking rather than moving into adaptive problem-solving.

Here's the reality? We're living in what researchers call a permacrisis, or a prolonged period of instability and insecurity. Organizational psychologists now recognize that waiting for stability before making changes actually increases stress and decreases performance.

Name it out loud: "Uncertainty is sticking around, so we're adapting how we work." Instead of waiting it out, redesign your systems for shorter project cycles and faster feedback loops. Instead of thinking outside the box, start creating a new, better box, one designed for the realities you're actually facing, not the ones you wish existed.

This shift from reaction mode to intentional adaptation helps teams recalibrate under pressure and move from feeling helpless to feeling resourceful.

Watch out for empty pep talks that ring hollow. Pair every "we've got this" message with one real, visible change people can experience, whether that's streamlined approvals, adjusted deadlines, or simplified processes.

3. Focus on What You Can Actually Control

Anxiety makes us obsess over things we can't change, which drains energy and erodes confidence. It's human nature to focus on what's going wrong and what's not working. According to research from the American Psychological Association, people experiencing chronic workplace stress spend up to 40% of their mental energy ruminating on factors outside their control, which is energy that could be redirected toward productive action.

Redirecting your attention to areas within your team's influence rebuilds momentum and restores a sense of agency, which is critical for maintaining performance under pressure.

Make two lists with your team: What's outside our control and what's in our control. Then go all-in on the second list, focusing on things like customer service quality, response times, internal communication, and team collaboration. These are the levers you can actually pull to create better outcomes.

Review your "controllables" list every week to maintain clarity and consistency, especially when external circumstances remain volatile. This practice keeps teams grounded in what matters and prevents the paralysis that comes from fixating on the uncontrollable.

Watch out for lists that just sit there looking decorative. Assign specific names and deadlines so people feel real momentum and can track tangible progress week over week.

4. Go for Quick Wins (Not Long-Term Plans)

Big goals feel impossible when everything keeps shifting. Research on motivation shows that progress, even small progress, is the single most powerful driver of positive emotions and engagement at work. Small wins rebuild confidence faster and provide the psychological fuel teams need to keep moving forward through uncertainty.

Break work into two-week sprints. Pick one concrete, measurable goal per sprint and celebrate when it's done publicly and enthusiastically, even if priorities and outcomes shift a week later. Use a simple tracker everyone can see: Goal / Owner / Deadline / Done. This creates visible progress and helps combat the exhausting feeling that nothing ever actually gets completed.

Celebrating small wins isn't frivolous; it's strategic. Each completion triggers a dopamine response that increases motivation and helps teams believe that forward movement is possible, even in chaotic conditions.

Watch out for creating more meetings in the name of "agility." Keep check-ins light, like 10-minute stand-ups, not hour-long planning sessions. Protect your team's time to actually execute rather than just talking endlessly about executing.

The Bottom Line

You can't control the chaos, but you can control how your team responds to it. Communicate often and honestly, stop waiting for normal to return, focus relentlessly on what you can change, and rack up small wins that rebuild confidence. These strategies help you lead with steadiness over perfection, and in uncertain times, that steadiness is what keeps performance on track when everything else feels shaky.

Watch the segment on AM Northwest:

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This article was written by Dr. Carol Parker Walsh, JD, PhD, an award-winning executive coach, organizational strategist, and founder of Carol Parker Walsh Consulting Group, a leadership development firm that helps organizations cultivate People-Forward Leaders™ and high-performing teams.

A CNBC Leadership Expert and contributor to Forbes, Newsweek, and Entrepreneur, Dr. Parker Walsh has been featured on LinkedIn Learning, ABC, CBS, Fast Company, and Fortune. She's a Fellow with the Harvard Institute of Coaching, and her thought leadership has reached more than 100,000 professionals worldwide.

A nationally recognized keynote speaker, TEDx presenter, and four-time Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Award recipient, she empowers leaders and organizations to thrive amid disruption by building trust, alignment, and adaptive cultures that drive performance and retention.