Creating a resilient team is crucial for maintaining a positive company culture, especially during challenging times. This article presents practical strategies drawn from expert insights to help leaders foster a strong and adaptable work environment. From regular communication to emotional intelligence, these approaches aim to build trust, clarity, and connection within teams.
- Share Updates Regularly to Combat Uncertainty
- Anchor Team in Clarity and Connection
- Protect People During Crisis
- Foster Open Communication and Personal Connections
- Pair Transparency with Actionable Support
- Implement Regular Town Halls and Recognition
- Practice Emotional Intelligence Check-ins
- Cultivate Two-Way Communication for Team Alignment
- Introduce Pre-Stress Wellness Activities
- Build Trust Through Honest Leadership
- Create Psychological Safety via Transparent Communication
- Over-Communicate and Admit Uncertainty
- Prioritize Clear Communication and Non-Judgmental Spaces
- Be People-Focused During Organizational Changes
- Implement Daily Change Huddles
- Lead by Example in Work-Life Balance
- Maintain Calm Leadership During Uncertainty
- Address Emotional Contagion Head-On
Share Updates Regularly to Combat Uncertainty
The fastest way to kill culture during times of stress is for leaders to go quiet. When things get tough, people don’t just need reassurance; they need clarity. Silence breeds fear, and fear breeds rumors.
One strategy I’ve consistently used with clients is what I call “radical transparency in bite-sized chunks.” Instead of waiting until you have the perfect plan, you share what you do know, what you don’t know, and what happens next. Then you do it often.
I worked with a professional services firm going through a major restructure. Everyone was on edge, productivity was tanking, and managers were avoiding tough conversations. We flipped it around: leaders had to run weekly ten-minute check-ins with their teams, even if all they could say was, “We don’t have all the answers yet, but here’s the current picture.”
It helped in two big ways:
- It stopped gossip from taking over. When people hear nothing, they’ll invent stories. Regular updates cut the legs off the rumor mill.
- It showed that leadership respected their people enough to be straight with them. That honesty built trust, even in uncertainty.
The result? Morale stabilized, performance stopped sliding, and when the final decisions landed, staff were frustrated but not blindsided. They stayed engaged because they felt involved, not kept in the dark.
For me, the key is this: culture isn’t tested when everything’s rosy; it’s tested when the pressure’s on. If your culture is genuinely supportive, you prove it by communicating like humans, not like robots hiding behind corporate statements. That’s what helps people stay steady in the storm.
Natalie Lewis
Founder and Director, Dynamic HR Services Ltd.
Anchor Team in Clarity and Connection
In times of change or stress, one key strategy is anchoring the team in clarity and connection.
Clarity means ensuring everyone knows why the change is happening, what the priorities are, and how their work contributes to the bigger picture. Uncertainty breeds anxiety, but clarity gives people something solid to stand on. It’s not about having all the answers — transparency matters more than perfection. Sharing what is known, while acknowledging what’s still being figured out, helps the team feel respected and informed.
Connection is the second anchor. Change can feel isolating if people retreat into silos or worry about their own role. Creating intentional spaces — team check-ins, one-on-one conversations, and informal touchpoints — allows people to voice concerns, offer ideas, and know they’re heard. This keeps collaboration alive and reinforces the sense that the team is moving forward together, not alone.
If trust has already been a focus, then both strategies will feel familiar — they simply become doubly relevant in moments of upheaval.
A client of mine used this approach during a major organizational restructuring that created uncertainty and stress in her team. Rather than letting rumors and fear take over, she acted quickly: holding weekly clarity sessions to review updates and highlight successes, while encouraging team members to share where they needed support and where they could offer it to others. This not only reduced anxiety but also revealed hidden strengths and leadership potential within the group.
The result: instead of disengaging, the team became more cohesive. Productivity rose, and people felt more motivated because they knew their voices mattered. The culture of trust and openness built during that time carried over long after the change was complete.
Clarity and connection don’t eliminate all stress — but they turn the remaining tension into a shared challenge the team can rise above together.
Regina Huber
Transformational Leadership Coach, Speaker, Author, CEO, Transform Your Performance
Protect People During Crisis
In 21 years, we’ve faced our share of turbulent times—from the COVID-19 pandemic to wars in Israel and Ukraine, where many of our people live and work.
I want to share what happened in 2022, when the war in Ukraine began. One of our largest teams was based in Kyiv, and overnight we had to make critical decisions to protect them while keeping the business running.
The first step was activating our Business Continuity Plan. We quickly divided responsibilities between colleagues in safer zones and launched an evacuation effort from Kyiv to Warsaw. At the same time, we kept all clients fully informed: what measures we were taking, how long recovery would take, and when teams could safely return to work. The response was humbling — every client showed understanding and gave people the time they needed.
Our HR and operations teams worked around the clock — finding apartments, arranging transport for families, and offering help with everything from logistics to emotional support. Within a short period, we relocated everyone to safe places.
But the challenges didn’t stop there. Later, when blackouts became a daily reality, we equipped our office with Starlink, a generator for nonstop operations, and even turned part of the office into a bomb shelter with access to water and bathrooms. For many, it became not only a workplace but also a lifeline.
Looking back, I believe what carried us through wasn’t just planning — it was people. Because of our continuity plan, yes, operations ran smoothly. But more importantly, our experts stayed safe, our clients stayed informed, and our teams knew they weren’t alone.
That remains one of my proudest leadership lessons: in moments of crisis, your culture and values are tested. And if you get it right, you don’t just keep the business alive — you protect the people who make it possible.
Solomon Amar
CEO, ALLSTARSIT
Foster Open Communication and Personal Connections
“The only constant in life is change,” said Heraclitus. This idea is more relevant than ever, as both technology and evolving customer needs reshape our workplace every day. How we respond to these shifts defines whether they become opportunities for growth or sources of stress. Therefore, open, transparent, and continuous communication is our superpower.
Our regular all-hands meetings ensure that we share our learnings: management with the teams, and vice versa. This transparency reduces uncertainty and helps everyone feel aligned, even in times of change or market turbulence. This strategy does not cost us anything, but the gains are enormous: we get real-time insight into the morale of our staff and we can address issues before they escalate.
Beyond formal updates and policies, we’ve learned that culture is built in the small, everyday moments that show people how much they matter in realizing our shared vision.
We celebrate team birthdays with personalized greetings or even a small team celebration, showing people they matter as individuals.
We find opportunities to enhance our shared identity through company merchandise, such as branded hoodies or branded apparel and accessories, which spark conversations and make staff feel part of something bigger.
Our regular weekly team calls are more than just updates. People have time to share highlights from their personal lives, that weekend hike, new recipe, or hobby. These moments humanize the workplace and create bonds that go beyond job titles.
We’ve also embedded questions like: “How are you doing? Any feedback or ideas you’d like to share?” into our Human Capital check-ins. Sometimes this is just the opening someone needed to share a pressing concern, an idea, or simply to feel heard.
Together, these small gestures go a long way to deepen our company culture where people feel supported, connected, and valued, especially in times of rapid changes, heavy deadlines, or stress.
I am a firm believer that true care lives in consistent, thoughtful touches that make people feel at home, especially in uncertain times.
Daria Leshchenko
CEO and Managing Partner, SupportYourApp
Pair Transparency with Actionable Support
I implement what I call “radical transparency with structured support” during high-stress periods, which involves sharing complete information about challenges while simultaneously providing concrete resources for team members to process and adapt to changes.
During a particularly intense period when our organization underwent a major technology platform migration while dealing with budget constraints, I established weekly “reality check” meetings where I shared exactly what we knew, what we didn’t know, and what decisions were pending. Instead of sugarcoating challenges or providing false reassurance, I presented clear timelines, potential scenarios, and the specific factors that would influence outcomes.
The crucial element was pairing transparency with actionable support. Alongside honest updates about difficulties, I provided concrete resources: flexible scheduling options for team members managing increased workloads, training opportunities to help people adapt to new systems, and clear escalation paths for when problems exceeded individual capacity to solve.
What made this approach effective was acknowledging that uncertainty creates anxiety, but information vacuums create panic. When people understand the real situation, they can make informed decisions about their energy allocation and stress management. When they’re left guessing, they typically assume worst-case scenarios.
The strategy helped our team navigate the transition because it built trust through consistency. Team members knew they could rely on getting accurate information, which reduced the mental energy they spent worrying about hidden problems. This allowed them to focus their attention on solving the technical challenges we were facing rather than managing anxiety about unknown organizational issues.
The unexpected outcome was that team cohesion actually strengthened during this stressful period. When people feel informed and supported, they tend to collaborate more effectively rather than retreating into self-preservation mode. Clear communication created psychological safety that enabled better problem-solving under pressure.
Raj Baruah
Co Founder, VoiceAIWrapper
Implement Regular Town Halls and Recognition
Open and transparent communication at all levels.
We introduced regular Town Hall meetings, internal newsletters, and thematic chats (#Grow_Wiser, #HighlightHeroes, #Office_Life), where the team receives not only updates on business decisions but also recognition of colleagues’ achievements.
When the company went through periods of transformation, this practice helped to:
- Reduce employee anxiety, as they had a clear understanding of what was happening and why
- Strengthen trust in leadership — decisions didn’t feel “closed off” or “unexpected”
- Create space for dialogue: people could ask questions directly and receive honest answers
- Boost team spirit — we publicly recognized employees’ contributions, even during stressful changes
As a result, the team perceived change not as a threat, but as a shared challenge. This allowed us to maintain a high level of engagement and quickly restore productivity after difficult stages.
Oksana Klymova
Head of HR and Recruiting Department, WiserBrand
Practice Emotional Intelligence Check-ins
Cultivating the ability to pause and reflect is especially important for teams and individuals during times of stress and change. One practical, easy-to-remember tool is a sequence of three reflective questions called the Nebo Emotional Intelligence Check-in: “How am I doing? What do I need? What do I choose?” We can ask these questions of ourselves and practice with our teams. The first question, “How am I doing?” is a prompt to name where I am at that moment in a busy day: Impatient to advance a new initiative? Jet-lagged from travel? Energized by a team retreat? Though it takes practice, the key is to try not to judge what surfaces — just to notice.
The second question, “What do I need?” prompts deeper reflection, especially when I need to recenter. Perhaps what I need is to stand up, get some water, and take some deep breaths, even if it throws my schedule off by five minutes. Maybe I need to plan a vacation. Or reflect on all that is going well — instead of what isn’t. The third question, “What do I choose?” reminds me that I have agency. I can choose to prioritize. I can choose to reframe my thoughts. No matter the circumstances, I can always choose to focus on my own breath.
This self-reflection practice helps my colleagues and me adapt more quickly from setbacks. As the expression goes, “Leaders make the weather,” and this practice helps avert the overcast skies or lightning bolts I might bring into a room if I haven’t noticed and managed my own stress or intensity. When the energy of my team seems flat or charged, this check-in can call everyone to pause, notice, name, and recalibrate as well.
I have never regretted taking a few minutes to slow down and notice.
Nancy McGuire Choi
Chief Operating Officer, The Nebo Company
Cultivate Two-Way Communication for Team Alignment
When your company hits turbulence — and it will — there’s one strategy that cuts through the noise: authentic, two-way communication. Not the corporate speak that makes people’s eyes glaze over, but real conversation that includes everyone in the solution.
Here’s the thing most leaders get wrong: they think communication means talking at people. That’s not leadership; that’s broadcasting. True communication flows both ways. Your team has insights, concerns, and ideas that you need to hear. When people feel heard, they don’t just comply, they commit.
I learned this the hard way. You can have the clearest vision in the world, but if your team isn’t rowing in the same direction, you’re going nowhere fast. Picture a boat with twelve rowers; if even one person is off rhythm, everyone feels it. But when they’re aligned? That’s when you see real momentum.
The structure matters too. We use everything from one-on-ones to team meetings, Slack to Zoom calls. The medium isn’t what counts; it’s the mindset. Be positive but direct. Care about your people, but don’t sugarcoat reality. And always, always keep that door open for feedback.
When change hits, whether it’s a pivot, layoffs, or rapid growth, your team is watching how you handle it. Show them that their voices matter in shaping the path forward. That inclusion creates the buy-in you need to not just survive change, but thrive through it.
The boat analogy isn’t just pretty imagery. It’s how teams actually work. Everyone needs to know the destination, understand their role, and feel the energy of moving forward together. That only happens when communication flows freely in both directions.
Paul Fayad
Co-Founder, Positive Leader
Introduce Pre-Stress Wellness Activities
I work in an HR department for a large entity, and our small group of staff is responsible for guiding more than 40,000 people through open enrollment. This is our super stressful season with all hands on deck, long hours, endless phone calls, and seemingly 24/7 inquiries. By the time the 3-week open enrollment period is finished, we are all ready for a vacation.
This year, we decided to do things a little differently. For the very first time, a team member had the idea to introduce a pre-open enrollment stress buster event. We brought in a wellness practitioner to provide a session of music therapy for us. To keep the office operational, we divided our staff in half and provided both a morning and afternoon session, both identical. Our class began with a meditation opportunity, then went into classical music, and ended with a sing-along.
Each person was provided with their own sketchbook, oil crayons, and the permission to express their emotions, feelings, and stress through their own personalized artwork. We ended with the facilitator pulling out an acoustic guitar and leading us in the song, “Lean on Me,” by Bill Withers. What an incredible way to relieve stress, unify our team, and set the tone for a much more creative and positive open enrollment season! The implementation of an employee wellness program can make all the difference in a stressful environment.
Tina Severance-Fonte
Wellness Coordinator, Broward Schools & Private Consulting
Build Trust Through Honest Leadership
In times of stress or change, silence is poison. People want to know what is happening, even if the answer isn’t perfect. You don’t have to share every detail, but you do need to name the tension, acknowledge the pressure, and be clear about the path forward. Trust is built when leaders choose honesty over avoidance, even in small ways.
My approach has always been to invite people into both the problem and the solution. I pull my leaders closer and ask them to sit down and row with me. When people feel included, they offer support, they steady the team, and they see you as human. That shared ownership is what transforms hard moments into stronger culture.
Lena McDearmid
Founder, Wryver
Create Psychological Safety via Transparent Communication
During times of change or stress, I’ve found that creating psychological safety through transparent communication is essential. We implemented a “From Me to We” exercise where team members share their ideal communication preferences and work motivations with each other. This practice helped our IT department build stronger connections and understanding during organizational transitions. The improved team collaboration that resulted from this exercise allowed us to navigate challenges more effectively because everyone felt heard and valued.
Vivian Acquah CDE
Certified Inclusion Strategist, Amplify DEI
Over-Communicate and Admit Uncertainty
You know what has worked surprisingly well for us? Over-communication. It sounds basic, but hear me out.
During our warehouse migration last year — which was absolute chaos — I started conducting quick 10-minute daily stand-ups. These weren’t formal meetings, just brief sessions to share “here’s what’s happening, here’s what’s challenging today, here’s what we’re fixing.” The transparency was immensely beneficial. People stopped imagining their own worst-case scenarios.
But the real game-changer was admitting when I didn’t have answers. Saying, “I don’t know yet, but here’s how we’re figuring it out,” actually made the team trust me more, not less. They began sharing their own concerns more openly too.
The lesson? When everything is uncertain, be the one thing that IS certain — show up, be authentic, and communicate constantly. Even if you’re just saying, “Yes, this is difficult, but we’re in it together.”
Ajinkya Thete
CEO, CMO, NeonXpert Custom Signs
Prioritize Clear Communication and Non-Judgmental Spaces
Strategy: I focus on clear, consistent communication and creating non-judgmental spaces of expression. Any time our organization experiences change, some portion of our employees experience stress, even if it’s a good change. Because everyone has a different relationship with change, I make it a priority to share what we know, what we don’t know, and what decisions are being considered. At the same time, I create space for people to voice concerns, ask questions, and contribute ideas without fear of judgment.
Impact: By doing this, it not only keeps people informed but it also reduces uncertainty and builds trust. By validating people’s feelings and holding transparent conversations, the team stays engaged, aligned, and resilient, even when the path forward is unclear.
Anu Mandapati
CEO, Qultured
Be People-Focused During Organizational Changes
The most important strategy I use is being a people’s person first, no matter what stage of business we’re in or what stress levels I’m dealing with. When change hits, leaders often forget that their team is going through similar uncertainty and they need reassurance more than anything.
I make it a point to be honest with my team about difficult changes or pivots that are in the works. They’re part of the change, so I loop them in early, ask for their opinions, and genuinely respect their input. We keep open-door connections active in our organization so anyone can approach me directly.
But it’s not just about the serious conversations. We balance that with light-hearted moments through monthly meetups and making our morning scrums about energy, not just deliverables. When people feel heard and included, they navigate change alongside you instead of feeling like change is happening to them.
Astha Verma
CEO & Founder, WrittenlyHub
Implement Daily Change Huddles
I implement daily Change Huddles and maintain a No-Surprises rule during stressful change periods. Daily 15-minute meetings at the same time took place between facilities, clinical, and finance staff to handle licensing updates while renovating a new space. The board displayed three columns which tracked decision requirements, dependency status, and ownership responsibilities.
My first patient-related story focused the group on their purpose from the beginning. All risks discovered during the day required immediate reporting under the No-Surprises policy. The result was fewer last-minute scrambles, smoother conversations with regulators and contractors, and a calm tone that filtered to the floor. The team experienced support because employees could express themselves while maintaining ownership of tasks and feeling assured about hidden critical matters.
Brian Chasin
CFO & Co-Founder at Soba New Jersey, SOBA New Jersey
Lead by Example in Work-Life Balance
I’ve found that prioritizing work-life balance is crucial for maintaining a positive company culture during stressful periods. Our leadership team makes it a point to encourage regular breaks, proper use of vacation time, and disconnecting after work hours. But even more importantly, we lead by example in these practices. This strategy has helped our teams navigate challenging situations by reducing burnout and showing that we genuinely care about their well-being beyond just their productivity. When employees feel valued as whole people, they bring more resilience and creativity to the workplace during times of change. For leaders, this is just as important. Even a career that you enjoy can become stressful if you don’t take a break!
Duane Coker
Attorney & Founding Shareholder, Coker, Robb, and Cannon, Family Lawyers
Maintain Calm Leadership During Uncertainty
During the height of the pandemic, when everything was shut down and there was so much confusion around everyday life, I knew that maintaining calm leadership was needed to preserve our company culture in times of stress and uncertainty. When we were faced with potential layoffs, I chose to methodically assess our options and find creative solutions that would protect our team. This allowed us to maintain operations without any layoffs. It also strengthened trust within our organization as employees saw that we were committed to their well-being even during unprecedented challenges.
Lewis Landerholm
Attorney at Pacific Cascade Family Law, Pacific Cascade Legal
Address Emotional Contagion Head-On
The most powerful technique I’ve used to maintain a positive culture during times of change or stress is to tackle emotional contagion head-on, with explicit discussion of what’s happening to the “mood in the room,” whether that room is physical or virtual.
For example, collective anxiety or stress is not the kind of thing people are expected to “leave at the door.” Instead, we address it directly by opening the floor. Team leads have voluntary check-ins where members can say, “I’m feeling at least some amount of X,” if they want to.
We also back this up with policies that give people support (e.g., flexible scheduling) and tools for mindfulness. For example, during a multi-week product launch where there was a lot of uncertainty about who was doing what, we gave teams “floating focus days” and offered guided meditations. People could opt in, and it was comforting to have something that correlated with real stress.
In the long run, this openly discussed emotional contagion can morph back toward humor. It turned out to be a huge relief to get this stuff out in the open.
Four weeks after we introduced an open channel plus empathy-based policies, voluntary check-ins tripled, and in pulse surveys, people reported a 20% improvement in workplace satisfaction.
This is how founders can make empathy part of their operating model, especially during times of change and stress. They shouldn’t try to suppress collective emotion. What they can do instead is turn individual stress into collective conversation.
Andy Zenkevich
Founder & CEO, Epiic
