Evergreen Leadership Blog

There are bucket-loads of reasons we are faced with more ambiguity than ever before. Here is a short list:

• Change is accelerating. What is new is ambiguous by its nature.
• How to work effectively across cultures has no clear answer.
• New knowledge. Information is doubling every few years in technical fields.
• Startups, shutdowns, mergers and new partnerships. And with it the accompanying strategic, cultural and leadership upheavals.

Add to that the more mundane causes of ambiguity, such as lack of clear direction from the top, changing priorities, and difficult and complex situations – and your natural tendency may be to do one of these things:

1. Wait for direction
2. Stall and hope clarity emerges
3. Complain a bit
4. Carry on as usual

I hate to break it to you – but all four approaches are doomed. Which leaves us in a bit of a conundrum: we need to DO something, but WHAT? The EAA process (my term – named after the vocal sounds I tend to make when challenged with ambiguity) may help you sort things out.