Getting your team locked in starts with connecting every person to a goal they actually care about, not just telling them to work harder. Lia walks through how to set a rallying goal, show each team member why their role matters, and use a simple weekly wins practice to sustain momentum through year-end. This episode is especially useful for owners and leaders who feel their team coasting after summer.
This episode is part of the Communication, Vision & Buy-in series. Browse all episodes →
Mic drop moments
“…when you don’t have the answers, it’s not a moment to step away or step back or to go silent. This actually creates even more questions.”
“…acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers, but you’re still engaging in the conversation. And this is what’s so key…”
“We don’t wanna make promises that we can’t keep because we get ourselves in trouble.”
“…when you apply this framework, you can answer the question. You’ve given an answer. The answer is, I don’t know. Here’s what I’m doing, here’s how I’m modeling it, and here is how I will support.”
Episode highlights
Why not having the answer does not mean you have nothing to say
One of the biggest Sunday Scaries for managers, founders, and owners right now is the dread of walking in Monday morning and fielding questions they genuinely cannot answer. Return-to-office policies, layoffs, shifting priorities. The answers are murky, and that silence can feel easier than engaging. But Lia is clear: stepping back or going quiet actually makes things worse. It creates assumptions, amplifies uncertainty, and leaves your team feeling alone.
The three-part framework for answering the unanswerable
Lia lays out a three-step structure you can use every single time:
1. Acknowledge that you do not know. Say it directly. “I don’t know what the future holds.” This is not a weakness. It keeps you in the conversation and signals to your team that they are not alone. 2. Model what you are doing. Share your own approach. On return to office: “Here’s what I’m doing. I’m coming in three days, twice a month, and the other weeks I’m coming in one day.” On layoffs: “I’m taking a class, building skills, doing networking.” You are not pretending to have answers. You are showing a way to move forward. 3. Demonstrate how you will support your team. This is where certainty gets rebuilt. You may not control the outcome, but you can name the specific ways you will show up for your people.
Why this works even if you are the decision-maker
This framework applies whether you are a manager with limited control or a founder who actually makes the calls. Founders sometimes assume they need to project total confidence. Lia pushes back on that. It is completely okay to say, “Here is where we are today. Here is what we know. I do not know what happens next.” What matters is that you are engaging, not disappearing.
Putting it together: real examples
On return-to-office questions, the combined response sounds like: “All I have is what the policy says. Here is what I am doing personally. And I will keep communicating with you as things develop.” On layoff fears, it sounds like: “There is real uncertainty in the economy. I do not know what is going to happen. What I do know is that you have a superpower in communication and relationship-building, and I am going to help you lean into those things so you feel confident no matter what comes next.”
That last piece matters more than it might seem. Showing your team members that you see their skills and career as bigger than this one job creates resilience, lifts engagement, and builds real motivation, precisely because someone believes in them.
The answer you always have
When you put the three steps together, “I don’t know, here’s what I’m doing, here’s how I will support you,” you actually have an answer every single time. The Sunday Scaries around questions you cannot answer go quiet because you realize you can always respond. You have not dodged the question. You have met your team where they are.
Related episodes in this cluster
- Ep 234: How to get your team to actually adopt any new process or tool. When a new tool or process stalls, the problem is almost never the tool. It is the framing. Lead with what each person specifically gets out of it, and adoption follows. This episode is most useful for owners and team leads who have introduced something new only to watch their team keep doing it the old way.
- Ep 211: How to communicate vision so your team actually buys in. Teams disengage from vision not because the strategy is wrong, but because the message is only delivered once, from one person, without connecting to daily work. Lia breaks down the cascade problem, the repetition principle, and how to equip every level of your leadership chain to carry the message. This episode is essential for founders, executives, and team leads heading into a new planning cycle.
- Ep 204: What your team is really asking for when requests feel frustrating or confusing. When a team member’s request feels entitled or annoying, there is almost always a deeper need underneath, usually around recognition, clarity, or belonging. Lia’s move is a two-minute pause to ask what the person actually means before deciding how to respond. This episode is most useful for founders and operators navigating the contradictions of growing a team.
- Ep 196: How to get your team locked in and finish the year strong. Getting your team locked in starts with connecting every person to a goal they actually care about, not just telling them to work harder. Lia walks through how to set a rallying goal, show each team member why their role matters, and use a simple weekly wins practice to sustain momentum through year-end. This episode is especially useful for owners and leaders who feel their team coasting after summer.
Want to go deeper?
The New Manager Playbook. Lia’s bestselling guide to leading a team for the first time.
Full transcript (click to expand)
When we put together, I don’t know, but here’s what I’m doing and last, here’s how I will support you. Now again, we’ve created so much certainty where there otherwise wouldn’t be, and this helps quiet those questions that we really feel like we can’t answer because we see we can give an answer. Welcome to the Managing Made Simple podcast. Where I bring a decade of experience working in some of the most influential companies in tech to help you navigate the ins and outs of being a people manager from conflicts to feedback to delegating and more, we will leave no stone unturned when it comes to what makes us love managing, kind of hate it and everything in between.
Doesn’t matter if you’re a new manager looking for some tips. Or a seasoned manager looking up their game. Everyone is welcome to hang out with Managing Made Simple. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go. Welcome back to the show. It’s Sunday and I’m back with a Sunday Scaries episode. My goal is to demystify your Sunday Scaries. Hopefully at least have it start maybe Monday morning instead of Sunday afternoon, or as I said, for. At like three in the morning on a Saturday when I start thinking about all the things I have to do on Monday.
Yeah, we wanna have a little bit less of that. So today’s Sunday Scary. I wanna demystify is feeling that dread about going to work on Monday because of all the questions that our team members are gonna ask us that we don’t really feel equipped to answer. Maybe we don’t have the answers. It’s too ambiguous. Things are still being fully formed. We’re not quite ready to talk about it. And right now, in a moment of so much uncertainty, economic uncertainty, uncertainty about return to office, about flexibility, about layoffs, about priorities.
With all of these questions, our team members are coming to us all the time asking us things that we really can’t answer. So this can cause a lot of dread. It can cause a lot of stress because we don’t always really know how to handle. And the tip I wanna share today is when you don’t have the answers, it’s not a moment to step away or step back or to go silent. This actually creates even more questions.
It creates assumptions, and it creates more sense of uncertainty and and instability on your team. So instead of stepping back, instead of stepping away when you don’t have the answer, try this three part framework. And that is to acknowledge that you don’t know, model what you are doing, and demonstrate the support that you’ll have for your team as you figure it. Let’s take an example of folks asking about return to office policies. You know, a lot of companies are saying three days in the office, two days at home.
And I think a lot of what we’re seeing is people coming in maybe once a week, maybe really once a month. And there’s been a lot of questions around, do I really have to come all three days? Are people gonna start doing checking badge data or am I gonna get docked if I don’t come in? There’s a lot of. And as a manager, we don’t have the answer to that because a lot of companies are still figuring it out.
Deploying this framework, we would say, I don’t know. All I have right now is what the policy has said, which is three days in the office or whatever our team leadership has said. Maybe it’s suggested to be three days, but we’re really wanting folks to comment in on a Wednesday. First, you wanna acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers, but you’re still engaging in the conversation. And this is what’s so key by saying, Hey, I actually don’t know what the future holds.
But you’re still in that conversation. You show that you are participating, that your team members are not alone, and it quiet some of those assumptions. Then if we just went silent and said, Hey, read the email that’s been sent. I’m not engaging with you in this conversation. Same thing goes if folks ask about layoffs. Hey, all these teams in companies and industries are laying off, are we next? How are we gonna find out? Saying, I don’t know.
You know, there’s so much uncertainty in the economy right now. We’re all seeing the trend. It is a really scary time. I don’t know what’s gonna happen when it comes to things that we can’t really predict. We don’t wanna make promises that we can’t keep because we get ourselves in trouble. If someone coming and saying, you said there wouldn’t be layoffs, you said they wouldn’t enforce return to office, whatever. It’s okay to say, I don’t know.
And this still applies even if you’re a founder or business owner or entrepreneur, where you are making the decisions. It’s okay to. Here is where we are today. Here’s what we know about the company, and I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Biggest point here is whether you’re a founder or a CEO and you are that decision maker or you’re a manager and a lot of stuff is outta your control. You wanna be engaging in that conversation because then you pair this with the second step of the framework, which is to model what you’re doing.
Take that return to office question. Someone says, Hey, are we having to come in three days a week? Well, that’s what the policy says, and I talk with our management. And so here’s what I’m doing. I’m coming in three days, twice a month, and the other weeks I’m gonna come in one day a week. And that’s looking like, that’s what’s working for me. That’s what’s working for for my family. So you’ve made it clear what you’re doing and you’re modeling what you’re thinking.
Same thing with someone asking about layoffs. Modeling. Hey, I’m taking a class in this area. I’m building up my skills here. I’ve been doing a lot of networking showing that there is ways to be proactive even when it’s uncertain. This will help our team members build confidence as well. Third step is to show how you are gonna support your team members emits his uncertainty. When we put together, I don’t know, but here’s what I’m doing, and last, here’s how I will support you.
Now again, we’ve created so much certainty where there otherwise wouldn’t be. And this helps quiet those questions that we really feel like we can’t answer because we see we can give an answer. Putting this third step into action with that layoffs question, saying to our team members, you have a superpower in communication skills or DOT connecting or relationship building. I am going to help you lean into those things, build resilience in case there is change. Feel confident that you can do things beyond this job.
This creates resilience. It creates actually higher engagement when people are in the roles. Higher motivation because people see someone believes. And by showing them that you are there to support them as whole people, as people with a career way beyond this job they have today, then they can go out there and face any challenge that might be thrown at them. With that, my hope is this quiet, some of those Sunday Scaries about people asking you questions you can’t answer, because truthfully, when you apply this framework, you can answer the question.
You’ve given an answer. The answer is, I don’t know. Here’s what I’m doing, here’s how I’m modeling it, and here is how I will support. And that is how you would have an answer every single time. And if you still have questions that you wanna answer for yourself, send the text manager to 4 1 5 2 3 4 5 7 1 6. I am gonna be launching q and a sessions over Zoom where I will answer all of your questions.
We’ll do some live coaching, help you get unstuck on whatever’s top of mind for you as a manager. These sessions will be exclusive to my text community. So to get on that list, text manager to 4 1 5 2 3 4 5 7 1 6. See you next. That’s all I have for today. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Managing Made Simple Podcast where my goal is to demystify the job of people management so that together we can make the workplace somewhere everyone can thrive.
I always love to hear from you, so please reach out at liagarvin.com or message me on LinkedIn. See you next time.
Questions this episode answers
What do I say to my team when I don't have answers about layoffs or job security?
Start by acknowledging the uncertainty honestly. Say something like: 'I don't know what's going to happen. There's a lot of uncertainty in the economy right now and I can't make promises I can't keep.' Then model what you're personally doing, like building skills or networking, and commit to supporting your team members as whole people with careers beyond this job. This three-part response gives your team real certainty even when the situation itself is uncertain, and it keeps you engaged in the conversation instead of going silent.
How do I handle team questions about return to office policies when I don't know the rules myself?
Be honest that you don't have all the answers, but stay in the conversation. Share what you do know, like what the current policy states, then tell your team what you personally are doing. For example, explain how many days you're coming in and why that works for you. Finally, let them know how you'll support them as the situation evolves. This approach creates a sense of certainty and shows team members they're not navigating it alone, which is far more helpful than pointing them to an email and going quiet.
What's a simple framework for answering hard questions from my team when things are still uncertain?
Use a three-part framework: first, acknowledge that you don't know and stay engaged in the conversation rather than going silent. Second, model what you are personally doing in response to the uncertainty, whether that's a work schedule, a skill you're building, or a habit you've adopted. Third, show how you will support your team through the uncertainty. When you put those three pieces together, you actually have given a real answer, and your team feels seen, supported, and less anxious even when the situation itself hasn't resolved.
Why does going silent or avoiding questions make things worse for my team?
When a leader goes quiet during uncertain times, it doesn't calm people down. It creates more assumptions, more anxiety, and a greater sense of instability. Team members fill the silence with worst-case scenarios. Staying engaged, even to say you don't have the answer yet, signals that you're present and that they're not alone. The act of being in the conversation is itself reassuring, and it gives you the opening to share what you are doing and how you plan to support them through whatever comes next.
Is it okay for a founder or business owner to tell their team they don't know what's going to happen?
Yes, and it's actually the right move. Even if you're the one making the decisions, you can't always predict the future, and promising outcomes you can't guarantee will damage trust later. It's better to say here is where we are today, here is what we know, and I don't know what comes next. Then pair that honesty with what you are doing to navigate uncertainty and how you will support your team. This builds trust, keeps communication open, and models the kind of resilience you want your team to have.