From the course: Being a Good Mentor
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Mentoring in times of uncertainty and ambiguity
From the course: Being a Good Mentor
Mentoring in times of uncertainty and ambiguity
We're operating in a VUCA world, meaning that the operating environment is now more volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous. So if strategies that once worked no longer work, or actions don't produce the consequences you expect, welcome to the reality that many leaders face. In this context, mentoring is less about providing predictable answers and more about helping someone become more capable amid uncertainty. Mentoring in uncertainty means helping mentees design and consider different future states. Visioning is not just a leadership exercise. It creates agency, and agency creates hope. When people feel that they can shape outcomes, even without certainty, they become calmer, more effective, and more resilient. As Napoleon once said, a leader is a dealer in hope. Great mentors help mentees cultivate that sense of agency by guiding them to frame problems as hypotheses, explore scenarios, and test assumptions. A key technique here is just-in-time questioning. When someone asks…
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