2025 has been a year of uncertainty and disruption for associations, as they’ve watched their members and industries get pushed and pulled by the political winds. Are tariffs in the offing, or not? Are members going to have their research or programs funded, or not? Leaders can legitimately wonder when and if they ought to respond to every bit of turbulence, especially when the honest answer to stakeholders’ questions sometimes is “Beats me.”

But some recent research suggests that a little transparency goes a long way, even if what you’re communicating is uncertainty. At MIT Sloan Management Review, four U.K.-based business scholars share what they’ve learned from managers leading through “periods of intense disruption” around the world. Unsurprisingly, they note that disruptive periods take a toll on productivity, with 80 percent of employees saying they “struggled to stay focused,” with productivity falling up to 20 percent.

However, they add, clear communication from leaders can help ease the stress. When leaders were proactive about that—”providing timely updates, acknowledging uncertainty, and creating space for employees to voice concerns”—about a fourth of organizations saw improvement in their teams. As the authors put it: “Clarity didn’t just calm nerves—it restored momentum.”

It’s OK if that communication conveys uncertainty, the authors write—what matters most during disruption is that leaders signal awareness of the anxiety that people are feeling and share the steps they’re taking. “The most effective leaders communicated less frequently but with greater intentionality,” they write. “They shared only essential information and acknowledged uncertainty, using a tone that conveyed empathy rather than panic.”

A recent article on communicating during disruptive times in IndustryWeek clarifies what that kind of communication looks like. Leaders should try to escape the “adversity narrative,” and present it as an opportunity to step up. “Reframing a situation can transform a threat into a challenge,” the article says.

That’s a bit different than saying everything will be well. As the Sloan authors note, leaders “must deliver messages with empathy, resisting both alarmist tones and empty reassurances.” Authenticity remains essential; association leaders likely remember the early months of 2020, when many organizations rushed to make statements following George Floyd’s murder that had lots of vague positive language but little detail about direct impact on their own organization and its plans to respond. Teams, members, and stakeholders suss out vagueness and inauthenticity quickly, and draw little comfort from it.

The good news is that clarity and support helps blaze a path to what organizations most need to do at this moment, which is develop new ideas. Just as association boards developed increased flexibility and learned to stand up remote-work and inclusion programs quickly in 2020, this moment can do much the same, if leaders motivate their teams to do so. 

As the authors note, “to lead through turbulence is not simply to protect what exists; it means using disruption as a platform for exploring what could be better. By explicitly linking crisis response to innovation, leaders shift organizational identity from one of fragility to one of adaptive strength.”