7 Ways To Help Teams Thrive in Times of Uncertainty

Uncertainty appears to be more than just a temporary phase now.   It’s becoming the ‘new normal’ of how we have to work as individuals, and in teams.

Summary

Natural behaviours will emerge under pressure, whether we like it or not – uncertainty reveals how people instinctively operate, showing both their strengths and their potential limitations.

Smaller teams will always work better – focused sub-teams are easier to manage, collaborate within, and understand clearly.

Communication and flexibility become even more critical – teams that are capable of adapting how they communicate and redistribute responsibilities will inevitably navigate change more effectively.

Trust and psychological safety become enablers for performance under pressure – teams will thrive when the members feel safer to share their ideas, voice concerns, and rely on one another.

Leverage the team’s internal resources to save time and effort – effective teams recognise and make optimal use of the organic skills, experience, and diverse perspectives already within the group to tackle challenges.

How do we help teams thrive in times of ongoing uncertainty?

Organisations and teams will continue to face rapid change, and the old ways of developing and managing teams are now being seriously tested.

In these turbulent conditions, the human behaviours and dynamics that make teams genuinely effective, or not, become clearer.

This isn’t about fancy new frameworks; it’s about insights into how real people operate when circumstances are unpredictable and complex.

1. In times of uncertainty, we generally fall back on the things

we know

When pressure and complexity mounts, we tend to revert to the behaviours that come most naturally to us, what we know sub-consciously that works for us.

Team Role strengths show quite clearly what we prioritise,  what we are likely to miss and how we see the world.   It allows us to reflect on whether our behaviours are supporting our colleagues as would the Teamworker, are we keeping an analytical eye on all options like a Monitor Evaluator, or do we gravitate to connecting people and ideas as a Resource Investigator.

Pressure and complexity will also highlight our individual and collective limitations.  Biases, anxiety, frustration, or difficulty coping when things don’t go to plan, which may increasingly be the case in the current organisational landscape it seems.

Better understanding these important human behavioural tendencies will helps teams work with, rather than against, their natural behavioural strengths.

2. Small is beautiful and size matters – small teams means manageable teams

Smaller teams tend to function better, even if on paper there is a larger ‘team’ or ‘group’.  In reality such larger groupings usually break down operationally into smaller sub-teams.

We know that it is important to ‘reduce noise’ and maximise involvement by keeping teams small if we wish them to be effective and resilient.

In a world demanding more flexibility from teams, small, focused sub-teams often emerge naturally anyway, helping people to collaborate more effectively and faster.

3. Changes to communication

Uncertainty affects how we communicate within teams, and in paired working relationships.

Remote teams and those teams engaging in hybrid work demand greater clarity, frequency, and appropriate channels to offset the disadvantages of physical disconnects.

Teams that have an understanding of how to adjust their communication patterns to fit new realities, and the shared language to actually do it, have an advantage.

4. We need to be more flexible within teams

Flexibility is more essential that it has ever been.

Teams that can adapt skilfully, shift their priorities, or redistribute responsibilities cleverly when circumstances change are more resilient.  Opportunities, and threats, can be identified and responded to with greater quality and relative speed.

This doesn’t just mean ‘old-school’ procedural flexibility, it must also include adjusting how people in our team contribute according to their natural Team Role strengths.

5. Trust and psychological safety are now proven enablers for team performance

Trust has always formed the foundation of effective teamwork, but in uncertain times, it must go hand in hand with genuine psychological safety.

Team members need to feel safe to speak up without hesitation, share their concerns, and offer their ideas without fear of out of hand censure or negative consequences.

When these conditions are truly present, natural collaboration flourishes, and teams can respond to challenges creatively and confidently with less sub-conscious and conscious hurdles.

6. Making the most of the team’s existing resources

Effective teams know how to best use the skills, experience, and perspectives that are already organic within their own team.

Uncertainty and complexity will expose some gaps, but it will also highlight the unique contributions of each member if the leadership and the team are perceptive of them and articulate them.

By openly recognising and making use the team’s existing internal behavioural strengths and resources, teams become more capable of handling unexpected challenges and delivering results themselves.

7. Seeing through the buzzwords to the ‘real team’

Uncertainty doesn’t always destroy teams, but it does expose them.

It reveals their strengths, and highlights their weaknesses, whether they like it or not.  It shows which groups and teams are functioning effectively and those that are struggling or even failing.

By understanding our actual behavioural strengths, keeping teams manageable, communicating well, staying flexible, fostering trust and psychological safety, and making full use of the team’s resources, organisations can cultivate teams that are not just surviving, but thriving in today’s unpredictable world.

The Belbin Model and its evidence-based reports help leaders and teams to be on top of the coming era of ongoing uncertainty.