Insight       15 January 2025

Cut the Noise 

Create A New Normal

Complexity and uncertainty are exhausting our teams and challenging traditional leadership approaches. Let me share some practical insights on how leadership is evolving to make leading through change, complexity and uncertainty the new normal. 

Why this Matters

Consider the butterfly effect – where a butterfly flapping its wings can trigger a cascade of events leading to significant change in global weather patterns (Lorenz 1963). In organisations, small changes similarly ripple through systems, creating unexpected challenges and opportunities. This effect lies at the heart of managing complexity and uncertainty. 
Without the enabling mode, organisations experience a whiplash effect between creativity and control that exacerbates complexity and heightens uncertainty. Conversely, by adding a mature enabling mode, organisations can more seamlessly adapt and control. 
We're also shifting our conceptualisation of leadership from an individual to a collective pursuit, built on three pillars of shared direction (agreement on purpose and aims), coordinated knowledge and work (alignment), and willingness to operate for the benefit of the collective (commitment) (Boal & Schultz, 2007). 

Why this Matters

Consider the butterfly effect – where a butterfly flapping its wings can trigger a cascade of events leading to significant change in global weather patterns (Lorenz 1963). In organisations, small changes similarly ripple through systems, creating unexpected challenges and opportunities. This effect lies at the heart of managing complexity and uncertainty. 
Without the enabling mode, organisations experience a whiplash effect between creativity and control that exacerbates complexity and heightens uncertainty. Conversely, by adding a mature enabling mode, organisations can more seamlessly adapt and control. 
We're also shifting our conceptualisation of leadership from an individual to a collective pursuit, built on three pillars of shared direction (agreement on purpose and aims), coordinated knowledge and work (alignment), and willingness to operate for the benefit of the collective (commitment) (Boal & Schultz, 2007). 

Leadership Modes

Organisations typically operate in what researchers call "bounded instability" – a space where specific behaviours may be unpredictable but follow broader, foreseeable patterns. Understanding this has led to the emergence of three distinct leadership modes:
  • Administrative mode focused on efficiency and control through formal systems. 
  • Adaptive mode leveraging informal interactions to spark innovation.
  • Enabling mode providing the bridge between the administrative and adaptive modes (Drath et al., 2008). 

Leadership Modes

Organisations typically operate in what researchers call "bounded instability" – a space where specific behaviours may be unpredictable but follow broader, foreseeable patterns. Understanding this has led to the emergence of three distinct leadership modes:
  • Administrative mode focused on efficiency and control through formal systems. 
  • Adaptive mode leveraging informal interactions to spark innovation.
  • Enabling mode providing the bridge between the administrative and adaptive modes (Drath et al., 2008). 

Self-Organising Teams

This evolution has given rise to self-organising teams, where the leader's role is paradoxically to act as both stabiliser and disruptor – maintaining order while encouraging bottom-up innovation, nonlinear interactions and ‘swarm-like’ behaviour. They, therefore, foster "structured chaos" – enough stability to function efficiently and flexibility to adapt and innovate. They do this by becoming more of a storyteller and dialogue facilitator to inspire and bring confidence in trying new approaches whilst reinforcing the narrative that brings coherence and enduring meaning to the collective's work. 
Therefore, to stop the noise of complexity and uncertainty, we can augment our leadership modes to balance control and creativity, empower collective leadership, and build greater coherence through shared purpose and narratives.


Edward Lorenz (1963) Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow

Drath, W. H., McCauley, C. D., Palus, C. J., Van Velsor, E., O’Connor, P. M. G., & McGuire, J. B. (2008). Direction, alignment, commitment: Toward a more integrative ontology of leadership

Boal, K. B. B., & Schultz, P. L. (2007). Storytelling, time, and evolution: The role of strategic leadership in complex adaptive systems. 

Self-Organising Teams

This evolution has given rise to self-organising teams, where the leader's role is paradoxically to act as both stabiliser and disruptor – maintaining order while encouraging bottom-up innovation, nonlinear interactions and ‘swarm-like’ behaviour. They, therefore, foster "structured chaos" – enough stability to function efficiently and flexibility to adapt and innovate. They do this by becoming more of a storyteller and dialogue facilitator to inspire and bring confidence in trying new approaches whilst reinforcing the narrative that brings coherence and enduring meaning to the collective's work. 
Therefore, to stop the noise of complexity and uncertainty, we can augment our leadership modes to balance control and creativity, empower collective leadership, and build greater coherence through shared purpose and narratives.
Edward Lorenz (1963) Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow
Drath, W. H., McCauley, C. D., Palus, C. J., Van Velsor, E., O’Connor, P. M. G., & McGuire, J. B. (2008). Direction, alignment, commitment: Toward a more integrative ontology of leadership
Boal, K. B. B., & Schultz, P. L. (2007). Storytelling, time, and evolution: The role of strategic leadership in complex adaptive systems. 

Further Reading