A couple years back, my former event client had wrapped up a pair of co-located conferences for 1900+ attendees. On the morning of the last event day, I found myself in a deep freeze state.
That morning, I had an overabundance of (awesome) volunteers show up to help me with speaker and room management. I knew they were coming, but it turned out to be more resources than I needed, really.
In the same moments, I’d just restarted my laptop and could not, for the life of me, remember my laptop password, which I needed to get into for the day’s show management. Denied at the gates repeatedly.
AND, our morning keynote program was running behind, and I needed to help triage that with the team producing that mainstage content
(It didn’t help that I was on a sleep deficit and not practicing the best basic fooding-and-hydrating self-care that week 😱)
My Human Design profile is a 3/5 Emotional Generator. So I’ve learned to recognize that when a triggering, stressful event happens, I need to pause, ride the emotional wave, and come back to a neutral set point before acting.
In this instance, a couple of deep breaths to get back into my body helped immensely.
A quick text message to Ixchel solved my password brain-farting.
The (awesome) volunteers stepped up to self-organize with a little “this is what I need” direction (we’re in this together!).
The mainstage team figured out getting the trains back on track (as it turns out, with little need for anything from me).
It all worked out.
But, man, it was an uncomfortable 5-10 minutes of personal chaos that I knew my team could feel.
It happens.
In any project, chaos can happen. It usually reveals itself in at least a couple of forms — beneficial/assistive and harmful.
It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between the two, in the body, in the moment.
It’s essential for leaders at every level in an org or project team to learn how to recognize the difference between “good” chaos and “harmful” chaos (“Chaotic Good” or “Chaotic Evil” for my D&D kindred spirits out there)—and how to transmute each, in service to your project goals and desired outcomes.
It’s all useful information, even if it doesn’t always feel good.
When Chaos is an Ally
Chaos as an ally can be wildly useful to project leaders and teams. It can:
Drive/foster more rapid problem solving and innovation
Build team trust and resilience
Help make us more adaptable
Help us prioritize tasks (and reveal tasks that are non-essential)
In the case of this event example, being vulnerable as the team lead and pulling out my personal toolkit got me the help I needed and enabled us to problem-solve as a team. It didn’t matter that I was “on salary” and they were “volunteers”.
When Chaos Causes Harm to Our Bodies and Teams
In its non-beneficial forms, chaos can have disruptive, damaging effects, including:
Decision fatigue from lack of focus or clarity — which causes cognitive load and accelerates burnout
Disrupting Flow and continuity
’Heat of the moment’ miscommunication
If unchecked, too much chaos can lead to team frustration and disengagement
Managing Chaos Always Starts in Your Body
For most of us, chaos shows up as one of the 4 F’s (fight, flight, freeze, or fawn).
Recognizing I was over capacity
Accepting I was in a freeze state (I wasn’t running away or lashing out at others).
Allowing myself a few moments to come back to center — and being vulnerable enough to communicate with my team around me that I needed those few moments.
Deep breaths.
Doing a body safety check. I wasn’t in any “danger”. I was just overwhelmed.
Letting the emotional wave pass
Single tasking and problem solving one thing at a time
Asking for and accepting help (the collective is always better)
(Massive love and credit to Ixchel Lunar and Holistic Life Navigation for teaching me somatic tools like these. They can help you too ❤️)
Transmuting Chaos into Calm With Your Team
When chaos emerges, your team looks to you—consciously or unconsciously—to set the tone.
It’s less about pretending you’re unfazed and more about having a grounding practice so you can help the collective. This “oxygen mask first” approach is about being real with yourself and your team.
With your own oxygen mask on (to continue the analogy), you’re better prepped to help lead chaos into calm at a team level, in the collective.
Collective Tools for Managing Chaos in Real Time
Start by helping your team recognize and label the chaos. Is this disruptive chaos—the kind that drains energy and throws off focus? Or is it constructive chaos—an opportunity to pivot and adapt? Once you’ve given it a name, try these quick tools to lead the team through it:
Quick Grounding: Encourage each team member to take a brief pause to recognize the flavor of the chaos and settle into a neutral, grounded mindset. It’s about creating space for calm individually, helping everyone get back to center even while working remotely.
Single-Task Focus: Reinforce tackling one priority at a time, asking, “What’s the next, best move we can make?”
Crisis Roles: Assign specific people to handle different types of issues to prevent overlap and reduce decision fatigue.
Collective Regrouping: A quick check-in or acknowledgment (“We’re in this together”) — with the group and 1:1 — can help renew, purpose, focus, and energy.
When Chaos Becomes Too Much
Even with the best grounding practices, sometimes chaos overwhelms. When the team shows signs of burnout—frustration, lowered productivity, or frequent miscommunication—it’s a cue to pause and reassess.
Allow the space to recalibrate without judgment, reaffirm priorities, and give permission to adjust timelines if needed.
Staying attuned to the team’s energy helps you address “harmful chaos” before it derails the project or — more importantly — causes harm to your team.
Chaos happens — in projects, in pursuit of our goals, inside team and group Flow. Sometimes more than we’d like.
When a team learns to face the unexpected with intention, each chaotic moment reminds us that we’re more vibrant, together. The goal isn’t to stamp out chaos (or to run from it), but to dance with it with calm and purpose.
With practice, each instance of chaos stops being a boulder in our path, and instead becomes a guidepost to more resilience and adaptability.
If you're a team or company leader who needs a help with change management, chaos management, or fractional operations or project management, let's talk! Drop a comment below, visit bearfuht.com, or send me an email at jaimeywb@gmail.com.