Ever walked into work and felt the silence from leadership? It’s more damaging than you think!
In this episode, we explore how leadership silence can breed burnout, wreak havoc on your nervous system, and diminish team morale. We’ll tackle what uncertainty does to your brain and body, and provide actionable tips for coping and leading in the dark.
Learn how to advocate, adapt, or know when it’s time to exit. Plus, discover the five big reasons companies go silent and how you can protect your brain and stabilize your team through the chaos.
The Cost of Corporate Silence
Your brain isn’t built to sit in uncertainty.
There’s a classic study where participants were told they might get a mild electric shock. Some were told “yes, it’s coming.” Others were told “maybe.” Guess who experienced more stress?
It wasn’t the people who knew the pain was coming. It was the ones left in limbo.
When leadership goes quiet, it creates the same effect.
You start scanning for signals. Reading between the lines. Decoding tone. Obsessing over Slack messages and cryptic emails. Your nervous system flips into high alert, and suddenly, you’re not making strategic decisions… you’re surviving.
You’re not overreacting. You’re reacting to an unsafe information environment.
Why Do Leaders Go Quiet?
Silence always serves someone, and it’s usually not you.
Most blackouts stem from one (or more) of these issues:
- Narrative Control. Leadership wants a perfectly packaged message before saying anything. But while they polish the story? Your trust is eroding.
- Executive Misalignment. They can’t speak up because they don’t agree on what to say. So instead of owning the mess, they pretend clarity will eventually trickle down. It rarely does.
- Crisis Containment. Some organizations still operate in a command-and-control mindset. They treat information like a liability. So they hoard it and hope silence will somehow stabilize the team.
- Emotional Avoidance. Some leaders don’t know how to hold space for hard emotions. So they go missing. Delegating the hard conversations or disappearing entirely.
- Lack of Infrastructure. Some places simply don’t have systems for internal communication. No cadence. No clarity on who communicates what and when. So even well-intentioned leaders get stuck in the bottleneck.
Each of these creates a different kind of damage, but the end result is the same: you’re left to lead through a fog with no roadmap.
The Invisible Labor of Mid-Level Leadership
When silence rolls downhill, mid-level leaders catch the full weight of it.
You’re expected to:
- Translate vague corporate messages into team direction
- Reassure people when you’re just as in the dark
- Hold emotional space while managing your own anxiety
- Create temporary strategies without knowing long-term goals
- Answer the same panicked questions on repeat
And you’re doing all of this with half the context and twice the emotional labor—especially if you’re a woman, BIPOC leader, or in a people-support role like HR, L&D, or operations.
This is the unpaid labor of emotional buffering. And it’s a direct pipeline to burnout.
Because when there’s no structure, the people become the structure. And that’s not sustainable.
Leading Through the Fog: What You Can Control
You can’t force leadership to communicate. But you can lead yourself and your team through the silence with more clarity, care, and intention. Here’s how.
Protect Your Brain
Your brain is wired to fill in blanks. So give it structure:
- Use the Known / Unknown / Assumed Map. Write it down. What do you know for sure? What’s unanswered? What are you guessing or fearing? Putting it on paper creates distance and clarity.
- Downregulate your nervous system. Try 2–3 rounds of box breathing (in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4). It sounds simple, but it works.
- Vent on purpose. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Let it out. Then stop. Don’t let it completely take over.
Stabilize Your Team
You don’t need all the answers to be a steady presence.
- Create a predictable cadence. “I’ll check in every Friday, even if it’s just to say I don’t know anything yet.” Consistency is its own kind of safety.
- Name the emotion. “This uncertainty is exhausting.” “It’s okay to be frustrated.” When people feel seen, they calm down.
- Shrink the timeline. If long-term clarity is gone, focus on the next week. Or even just today.
Escalate Without Apologizing
You’re allowed to ask for clarity.
“The lack of updates is increasing stress and limiting our ability to plan. Even a quick ‘nothing new’ check-in would help us prioritize better. Can we set up a weekly status update?”
That’s not complaining. That’s leadership.
Reflect the Pattern
Silence might be situational. Or it might be cultural.
Ask yourself:
- “Is this a one-off, or is this how they always handle change?”
- “Do I believe this will improve?”
- “What toll is this taking on me—emotionally, professionally, and physically?”
One communication gap is a problem.
Three? That’s a pattern.
Silence is a Culture Clue
Silence steals things from you:
- Time, because you’re interpreting instead of executing.
- Energy, because your nervous system never gets to settle.
- Confidence, because you start questioning yourself.
In a perfect world, leaders would speak with candor. They’d update consistently. They’d acknowledge the emotional impact of change.
But if you’re not in that world, don’t wait around hoping for it to change.
Here’s what we know. Here’s what we don’t. Here’s what we’re focusing on this week.
Those micro-anchors create calm in the chaos. And that’s how you keep leading, even when no one’s leading you.
Got thoughts or questions from this week’s episode? Drop them in the comments. I’d love to hear from you! 🫶
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00:00 Introduction: The Weight of Leadership Silence
01:04 The Impact of Uncertainty on Mental Health
03:53 Understanding the Reasons Behind Leadership Silence
10:08 Coping Strategies for Uncertain Times
13:20 Advocating for Clarity and Making Decisions
15:41 Conclusion: Taking Control in the Fog
I’m Tara Kermiet, a leadership coach specializing in burnout prevention and work-life integration. I know what it’s like to feel like you’re holding it all together with duct tape and coffee. But success doesn’t have to mean running yourself ragged. I help high achievers find work-life balance and shine as badass leaders.
👉 Take my quick quiz to find out where you stand on the burnout spectrum, plus get tailored tips to help you turn things around before it’s too late. Visit: https://tarakermiet.com/free-resources/
😍 If we’re not friends yet on social media, why the heck not? Follow me on Instagram (@TaraKermiet) and/or LinkedIn (@TaraKermiet) so we can stay connected!
🎤 Got a question, a topic you want me to cover, or just want to share your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you! Send me a DM or email.
Stay balanced, stay badass, and make good choices!
Disclaimer: My content is for educational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice. For serious concerns, please consult a qualified provider.
