Small Leadership Moves That Matter

"1. Create predictability anchors, not just flexibility. When the world feels chaotic, people scan their environments for stability and safety cues. Identify one or two things that will not change this week-meeting cadence, response-time expectations, or decision processes-and name them explicitly. Predictability doesn't mean being rigid; it means offering a reliable foundation so teams can focus on problem-solving and collaboration. This steadiness becomes a form of trust, helping people stay engaged, resilient, and able to perform at their best."

"2. Lower the cognitive load. Stress from disturbing events can drain a person's cognitive bandwidth, even if output expectations remain the same. You can narrow priorities to one or two outcomes for your team for this week. You can cancel a meeting, extend a deadline, or temporarily pause a non-essential project to give people some emotional and cognitive bandwidth. When leader"

Many employees arrive at work grieving, angry, fearful, exhausted, and uncertain after traumatic external events. Leaders must acknowledge those feelings without overstepping and provide steadiness without pretending everything is fine. Tiny Noticeable Things (TNTs)—small, intentional leadership choices—reduce uncertainty, restore control, and signal that people are not alone. Effective TNTs include creating predictability anchors such as consistent meeting cadences or response-time expectations, and lowering cognitive load by narrowing priorities, cancelling meetings, extending deadlines, or pausing nonessential projects. Predictability builds trust, supports engagement and resilience, and helps teams focus on problem-solving and collaboration despite scarce answers.

Read at Psychology Today