Leading Through Uncertainty: How New Managers Can Build Confidence Without All the Answers

You’ve just been promoted to manager. Congratulations!  

Oh, and also: welcome to the most exhilarating, terrifying, humbling experience of your professional life.

Here are just a few of the surprises waiting for you in the first few weeks.

• You’re expected to have answers you don’t possess.
• You need to project confidence you don’t feel.
• You have to navigate uncertainty while keeping your team steady.  

You’re told to “be a leader,” but what does that actually mean when you’re staring at a problem you’ve never encountered, leading people who may know more than you do, and trying desperately not to look like you’re making it up as you go along?

Let’s start with some good news: You’re not supposed to have it all figured out.

In fact, the leaders who pretend they do are often the ones who struggle most. In Learnit’s September New Leaders Lab session, Mickey Fitch-Collins, PhD spoke with Learning and Development expert Kelsey Kelly from Point B about these challenges and how to approach them.

If you’re in your first 100 days as a manager, this conversation might just change everything.

Clarity Over Certainty

In times of uncertainty, new managers often feel pressure to provide definitive answers. Your team is looking to you for direction, and admitting you don’t have all the details feels like weakness.  

But here’s the truth that experienced leaders understand: your team doesn’t need you to be a fortune teller. They need you to be a flashlight.

Mickey Fitch-Collins introduced a powerful framework that transforms how new managers communicate during ambiguous times. It’s called the Clarity Formula, and it consists of three simple statements:

1. Here’s what we know
2. Here’s what we’re figuring out
3. Here’s what we’re focused on right now

This formula acknowledges reality without pretending to have certainty. It gives your team something solid to hold onto.  

Consider the difference between these two approaches:

The Certainty Trap: “Everything is going to work out fine. The reorganization will be seamless, and everyone’s roles will be secure.”

The Clarity Approach:  

• Here’s what we know: the reorganization is happening next quarter.  
• Here’s what we're figuring out: how each department will be structured and what new opportunities might emerge.  
• Here’s what we’re focused on right now: ensuring every team member has the information they need and a clear point of contact for questions.

The first approach might feel reassuring in the moment, but it sets you up for a massive trust breach if reality unfolds differently. The second approach creates what Mickey Fitch-Collins calls “micro-moments of clarity”—small, reliable touchpoints that help people feel grounded even when the bigger picture remains fuzzy.

Implementing Micro-Clarity in Your Leadership Practice

The beauty of the clarity formula is its versatility. You can use it in team meetings, one-on-ones, email updates, or even quick Slack messages. It becomes a repeatable pattern that your team learns to recognize and trust.

Kelly emphasized that this approach requires discipline: “In times of uncertainty, clarity becomes the absolute superpower.” Clarity means being transparent about what you know, what you don’t, and where you’re directing your energy.

For new managers navigating their first organizational change, budget cut, or strategic pivot, this framework provides a lifeline. Instead of scrambling to appear omniscient, you can focus on what actually matters: keeping your team informed, engaged, and moving forward.

The practice also models something crucial for your team culture: It’s okay not to know everything. When you demonstrate comfort with ambiguity while providing clear direction, you give your team permission to do the same. This creates psychological safety, the foundation of high-performing teams.

One practical tip: start your next team meeting with these three statements. Write them down beforehand. Be specific.  Your team will appreciate the honesty, and you’ll find that clarity is far more powerful than false certainty ever could be.

Leading Without the “Right” Answers

Admitting you don’t know something can actually be a strength. But only if you pair it with accountability.

Kelly’s approach is refreshingly straightforward: “It’s being honest. It’s saying, ‘Hey, I don’t know, but I’ll find out.’ And then stay accountable.”  

The key is in that second part. Anyone can say, “I don't know.” Leaders follow through.

This means building systems that support your ability to deliver on promises. If you commit to getting an answer by your next one-on-one, block time in your calendar to research it. Take notes during meetings so you remember what you promised. Send follow-up emails to document commitments.  

These small tasks are what create the infrastructure of trust.

The Power of Strategic Curiosity

New managers often fall into what Kelly calls the “I should already know this” trap. You’ve been promoted because of your expertise, so shouldn’t you have all the answers?  

Leadership isn’t about being the smartest person in the room. It’s about asking questions that unlock your team’s collective intelligence. Kelly suggests starting every meeting with one of these questions:

• What’s something we’re not talking about enough?
• What’s harder now than it looks?
• What am I missing?

Then listen.  

Your job isn’t to immediately solve every problem raised. Your job is to create space for honest dialogue and then figure out, together, what to do next.

This approach serves multiple purposes. It surfaces issues before they become crises. It demonstrates that you value your team’s insights. And it models the kind of learning culture where asking questions is celebrated, not stigmatized.

When You Must Make Decisions Quickly

Of course, there are times when you can’t wait to gather perfect information. Kelly acknowledges this reality: “We’re at a point in corporate that we need to start making decisions more quickly. But we have more data and information than ever.”

The solution is to develop your capacity for discernment. This is the ability to separate useful information from noise, to recognize when you have enough data to move forward, and to own your decisions even when you’re not 100% certain.

This is where Kelly’s emphasis on AI-adjacent skills becomes relevant. New leaders need to get comfortable working with abundant data, using technology to accelerate analysis, while maintaining the human judgment that machines can’t replicate.

Balancing Confidence and Humility

If leadership were a tightrope, confidence and humility would be the balancing pole. Lean too far in either direction, and you fall.

Many new managers struggle with this balance because they misunderstand what confidence actually is. It’s not a personality trait you’re born with or without. It’s not about always having the right answer or never showing doubt. As Mickey Fitch-Collins explained, “Confidence is something that grows when you do the hard stuff. Not when you ace it.”

Think of confidence as a muscle. It develops through practice, through taking on challenges that scare you, through leading difficult conversations, or giving tough feedback. Each time you do something brave, you build that confidence muscle, even if you stumble first.

The Role of Humility

But confidence without humility becomes arrogance. And in leadership, arrogance is toxic.

Kelly’s advice for new managers centers on two practices: “Stay humble and fail quickly.” When you make a mistake, own it. When you succeed, share the credit. This models the kind of accountability you want from your team.

The “fail quickly” part is equally important. Many new managers fall victim to the sunk cost fallacy, continuing down a path that isn’t working because they've already invested time and energy.  

Kelly’s perspective: “Don’t be afraid to let go of what isn’t working and pivot quickly.”

This requires ego management. You got that new manager title, and part of you wants to prove you deserve it by never being wrong. But the leaders who thrive are the ones who can say, “This approach isn’t working. Let’s try something else.”

Giving Yourself (and Your Team) Grace

Kelly reminded new managers: “Make sure that you’re giving yourself grace for the mistakes you’ll make, but give your team grace for the mistakes that they’ll make as well.”

This grace doesn't mean lowering standards or avoiding accountability. It means recognizing that mistakes are inevitable when you’re learning and growing. It means creating an environment where people can take calculated risks without fear of punishment.

It also means treating feedback as what Kelly calls “a gift.” Not every piece of feedback requires action, and you need discernment to evaluate whether criticism is valid. But approaching feedback with openness rather than defensiveness creates opportunities for growth that defensive leaders miss.

Building Your Leadership Foundation

The first 100 days as a manager are critical, but they’re just the beginning. The practices you establish now will shape your entire leadership journey.

• The habit of providing clarity over certainty.
• The willingness to lead without all the answers.
• The balance of confidence and humility.

Kelly’s final advice centers on what she calls the non-negotiables: “Building trust with their team. Everything else starts there.” Don’t skip the small interactions. Ask how someone’s day is going. Remember their dog’s name. Congratulate them on personal milestones. These are the foundations of the relationships that make everything else possible.

As you navigate your early days as a leader, remember that you’re not alone in feeling uncertain. Every manager before you has faced the same challenges, asked the same questions, worried about the same things. The difference between those who thrive and those who merely survive often comes down to simple practices: clarity over certainty, honesty over pretense, humility alongside confidence.

You don’t need to have all the answers. You just need to be willing to figure them out, together with your team, one moment of clarity at a time.

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