HBR On Leadership

Episode Summary: "Leading a Team When the Strategy Keeps Changing"

Date: October 8, 2025
Host: Amanda Kersey, Senior Editor/Producer, Harvard Business Review
Featured Expert: Muriel Wilkins, Executive Coach and host of Coaching Real Leaders
Case Study Guest: "Michael" (anonymized), leader of an internal consulting team at a large global organization

Episode Overview

This episode addresses a pervasive challenge: how can leaders keep their teams motivated and purposeful when the organizational strategy — and leadership above them — keeps shifting? Through a live coaching session between executive coach Muriel Wilkins and “Michael,” the leader of a small internal consulting group, listeners gain actionable advice on establishing direction, celebrating incremental wins, and leading through uncertainty. The discussion explores both motivation and discipline as key tools, considers the difficulties of “managing up” amid ambiguity, and gives special attention to the importance of “walking the talk” — applying the same principles to oneself that one shares with others.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Challenge: Leading Through Ambiguity and Change

(00:47 – 10:00)

• Michael describes the turbulence his team is experiencing due to frequent turnover at the C-suite and board level.
  • “Just this year we have four changes already…within 24 months, changing boss twice, whole structure above that changing.” (03:00, Michael)
• The team's purpose and direction feel unstable; mid-level managers appreciate their work, but the C-suite barely knows they exist.
• Uncertainty impacts morale and increases the risk of low motivation and inefficiency.

2. Motivation in a Shifting Environment

(10:00 – 20:00)

• Michael wants to maintain high-quality delivery (“the prize”) and hopes to expand his team’s influence — becoming a go-to Center of Excellence recognized even at the top of the company.
  • “The bigger prize is how can we expand that...so that everybody sees us as that center...this would be the central [group].” (06:51, Michael)
• He observes that constant firefighting for middle management consumes bandwidth that could be used for promoting their value to senior leaders.

3. Walking the Talk: Using Coaching Tools on Oneself

(13:08 – 15:44)

• Muriel challenges Michael to apply his internal coaching tools to his own situation.
  • “What if it was one of your internal clients coming to you with this issue as their coach?” (13:11, Muriel)
• Michael recognizes his need to model boundary-setting and time-blocking (e.g., “carving out 15 to 20% of time per week” for strategic/networking work).

4. Motivation vs. Discipline

(20:18 – 36:00)

• Discussion shifts to differentiating motivation (emotion, drive, reward) from discipline (reliably sustaining behaviors regardless of emotion).
  • “There are those who wait for motivation to hit, and if it doesn't hit, then they don't do anything. And there are those who...if it doesn't hit, discipline kicks in.” (28:43, Muriel)
• Michael shares team rituals (weekly challenges, learning sessions) as examples of discipline.
• The need to celebrate small wins is emphasized as a way to maintain motivation through the “long game.”

5. Creating Anchors and Clarity in the Absence of Top-Down Direction

(37:30 – 46:00)

• Muriel highlights that even with vague or absent direction from above, Michael can set “mile markers” for his team to maintain engagement and a sense of progress.
  • “You still need to establish some mile markers for yourself and your team to keep things moving.” (50:25, Amanda recapping Muriel)
• Michael identifies three key focus areas for the team through collaborative exercises, but hesitates to assert direction, preferring consensus.
• Muriel argues for balancing facilitative leadership with decisiveness, framing the vision, and tying together the “red thread” that provides narrative coherence.
  • “Part of the responsibility of a leader is to...get on the balcony and pull everything together, frame the collective, create the thread.” (45:03, Muriel)

6. Managing Up: Operating Amidst Vague Direction

(37:30 – 41:28)

• Michael struggles with ambiguous and shifting expectations from above.
• They discuss three options: keep asking for clarity, proceed based on best judgment until told otherwise, or (as a last-resort option) consider exit.
  • “Left without making an explicit decision on which option you’re following, it feels like you’re operating with no direction.” (39:52, Muriel)
• The importance of choosing — and communicating — a direction even if it may later change.

7. Key Takeaways and Coach’s Final Advice

(46:42 – 49:17)

• Michael recaps:
  • The need to reframe motivation, integrate discipline, celebrate small wins, and communicate clear direction.
  • Importance of being explicit about choices and priorities with the team.
  • “Walk the talk” emerges as a guiding mantra for Michael as both leader and coach.
    • “I think the mantra that I would leave you with is to walk the talk.” (48:42, Muriel)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On strategy and motivation:
  • “How do I keep myself motivated and keep my team motivated because of these constant changes in the environment?” (02:22, Michael)
• On organizational ambiguity:
  • “If you all can’t walk the talk around being able to respond to change and apply all the tools that you coach and you want to coach the entire organization on, then, like, why should anybody else do it?” (17:37, Muriel)
• On leadership discipline:
  • “You have more to tap into in terms of sustaining yourself and your team than just motivation. You also have the tool of energizing their discipline.” (31:21, Muriel)
• On setting direction amidst uncertainty:
  • “The difference is that you accept that that stake in the ground might not stay there for very long, but at least it's a stake in the ground for now.” (41:28, Muriel)
• On balancing roles:
  • “What you’re balancing is continuing to be the facilitative consultative leader that you are…and also exercise the directional framing, context setting capabilities that also are required of a leader.” (45:57, Muriel)
• Michael’s main realization:
  • “I have to be more clear with my option, be clear with my options, but also in the direction that I’m setting with which option I’m taking. Even though we have a ton of ideas, these are the three focused areas and this is the decision we make.” (47:55, Michael)
• On leadership authenticity:
  • “Walk the talk.” (48:42, Muriel)

Timestamps of Key Segments

• Team Motivation & Change: 00:47 – 10:00
• Defining the Prize & Expanding Influence: 06:40 – 10:00
• Coaching Oneself as a Leader: 13:08 – 15:44
• Motivation vs. Discipline: 20:18 – 36:00
• Creating Anchors in Uncertainty: 37:30 – 46:00
• Managing Up & Setting Direction: 37:30 – 41:28
• Takeaways & Mantra: 46:42 – 49:17

Summary Flow & Practical Applications

The episode provides insight for leaders struggling with strategic ambiguity and shifting organizational priorities. Key suggestions include:

• Celebrate and focus on small, incremental wins.
• Use discipline to carry the team on days when motivation is low.
• Set and communicate clear, even if temporary, direction to mitigate top-down vagueness.
• Balance consultative leadership (facilitation) with assertive leadership (direction and framing).
• Apply the same coaching frameworks to yourself that you use with others (“walk the talk”).
• Regularly revisit priorities, ensure alignment, and create forums for open discussion and adjustment.

This episode’s advice is practical: leadership is not about waiting for clarity from above or for perfect motivation below, but about establishing purpose, encouraging team agency, and modeling both adaptability and steadiness through change.

Further Resources

• For more coaching sessions and leadership advice, visit hbr.org or tune in to “Coaching Real Leaders” with Muriel Wilkins.