Making Sense of Ambiguity
Overwhelm. It is an industry-agnostic commonality that will drive people to burnout, resignation, or frustration with their jobs. It is particularly rampant in this season of massive change.
For many people, the overwhelm is due to ambiguity. Ambiguity can be detrimental to both your mental health and the health of an organization. Further, it can impede your ability to be the change you want to see. Unfortunately, ambiguity is all around us!
It is particularly challenging when there is ambiguity in the workplace.
Beginning with self is the first step. Manage your own energy and mindset through meditation, a healthy diet, daily movement and good sleep. These items the building blocks that set you up for success.
Following are a few strategies to help you reduce ambiguity in your work assignments.
Don’t try to boil the ocean. Draft a summary of what you are going to do (and what you are not going to do) and share widely. Set boundaries and be firm.
Stick to a decision! However, have in mind the circumstances, underwhich you might consider a shift in that decision. This will help simplify life for the people that work with you.
Acknowledge what is important. This is critical from the perspective of your personal values, as well as your organizational priorities. Time, energy and money are resources that are scarce. You may not be able to do it all, but values-based trade off decisions will ensure that you are doing the best with what you have.
Say what you mean, and mean what you say. Communication is a two-way process that involves both a sender and a receiver. To be successful, the sender needs to package the information being sent in a format that is relevant to the receiver. So understanding your audience Using precise language is not easy.
Despite the challenges, there are ways to make sense of ambiguity. You can find ways to reduce its impact on your life and work. How do you best make sense of ambiguity? For many people, it’s about creating structure in their lives and in their work. This could mean documenting your scope and approach and referring to it often, or scheduling regular check-ins with your boss or team members to make sure there is clarity on your scope or next steps. It might also mean taking some time each day for yourself – even if it’s just 10 minutes – to clear your head and recall what is important for you and your team. Finally, clear communications helps to make sure everyone you are working with is on a similar page as you. What works for you will be different than what works for someone else, so experiment until you find what helps you manage ambiguity in a way that allows you to be productive and thrive.
