How do you bring your teams on board in times of uncertainty?

It was the big question at the heart of the Bureau des Talents round table in March 2025, led by Flore Villemot-Crozet (HR Consulting Director at Boson Project). Alongside her, two guests with complementary backgrounds: Maxime Wagner, Co-founder and CEO of Captain Contrat, and Gaspard de Stabenrath, Managing Director of Morning. Before an audience of HR leaders, both shared their experiences and concrete tips for holding the course when the horizon isn’t always clear.

As Maxime and Gaspard operate within organisations of different sizes and activities, here’s a brief description of each to better understand their point of view:

• Captain Contrat offers online legal services in the field of company creation and management (employment contracts, changes to company articles of association, company closures, commercial contracts, etc.). Founded in 2013, the company brings together nearly 40 team members who support entrepreneurs and business leaders in their day-to-day.
• Morning designs workspaces so that companies and their teams can enjoy a good working day. The company runs its own spaces (50 spaces in Paris + the Île-de-France region) and also fits out offices for external clients. The team, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024, now has nearly 300 people.

At the heart of the matter: employee engagement.

What makes employees stay, work and invest themselves in the company? What keeps them on board, especially through difficult periods?

As engagement is above all a deeply personal endeavour, it can’t be imposed. It’s an individual choice that the company can foster by creating a favourable environment, but that it cannot force.

This personal dimension, once established, naturally creates strong bonds with the collective. The beauty of engagement lies in its ability to turn the individual into the collective. When it’s authentic and shared by everyone, it becomes an exceptional driving force, particularly precious in getting through difficult moments. It’s what allows a team to surpass itself and hold the course, even in the face of obstacles.

What kind of uncertainty are we talking about?

We’re talking here about changing, unpredictable contexts that create instability and complicate projections and future decisions. Here are a few examples experienced by Maxime and Gaspard:

#1 Acquisition by another company: the uncertainty tied to an acquisition by another company raises concerns about both cultural and operational impact.

#2 Rapid (de)growth: a necessary shift from a rapid-growth strategy to a search for profitability, calling for a reorientation of efforts.

#3 A failed fundraising round: one company had to reduce its headcount because of growth metrics that were insufficient to secure additional funding.

#4 The impact of a health crisis: the Covid pandemic left workspaces empty and teams working remotely, creating financial uncertainty.

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7 tips for engaging your teams in times of uncertainty

During the round table, Maxime and Gaspard shared a great many ideas and real-life situations. We’ve chosen to distil this content into 7 tips. Do listen to the audio recordings for more precise detail.

1. Bring the company’s values to life every day

It’s the foundation. To spark and nurture a sense of belonging, the company’s values are a starting point. If everyone in the collective identifies with these values, mutual support will be encouraged, and so will group life.

These values must be built collectively so they can be lived every day by all. They will allow everyone to commit and invest themselves, especially when the company’s objectives and strategies evolve.

‍2. Listen to weak signals (via managers)

For detecting weak signals, the monthly surveys sent by HR to the whole workforce don’t seem to be the most effective approach. At Captain Contrat, a manager-focused system was put in place. It’s the managers who run monthly one-to-ones where, beyond operational matters, employees’ feelings and outlook are discussed.

These conversations, held in a climate of trust and without traps, make it possible to pick up more effectively on the signs of engagement or disengagement within teams.
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3. Establish regular communication.

Maintaining regular, open communication keeps teams involved, reducing rumours and misunderstandings. During the Covid crisis, Morning set up a video call for the whole team, every week. This regular communication helped strengthen commitment and maintain the connection despite working remotely.

4. Communicate transparently, but appropriately.

There’s consensus on the importance of transparency and trust as major levers of engagement. That said, you need to strike the right balance depending on the context and the people involved.

More precisely, you have to adjust the level of information shared to the level of understanding of the subject. Transparency doesn’t mean telling everything to everyone, but rather answering questions honestly, adapting the message so it’s constructive and understandable for each person.

5. Give employees responsibility.

Giving employees responsibilities helps engage them further and gives them a sense of belonging and control, which is particularly motivating in times of uncertainty. For Gaspard, “this sense of responsibility leads employees to see the company’s challenges as their own”.

Maxime points out that autonomy must be calibrated to each employee’s actual skills and genuine appetite, rather than granted uniformly and without a framework.

6. Turn employees into partners.

Opening up the company’s capital to employees strengthens their engagement and sense of belonging, aligning them with the company’s long-term success. At Morning, employee shareholding has been a "really strong and really powerful lever", in Gaspard’s words.

“With three-quarters of employees holding shares in the company, it created a different dynamic. Each employee became a partner who put into their company a piece of what they might have put into their flat.”

7. Handle departures with empathy.

When circumstances force you to part with some of the workforce, it’s important not to trigger a traumatic, demotivating situation for those who remain. It’s better to anticipate and communicate transparently about the context and the reasons behind such decisions. What’s more, giving teams the choice to volunteer can be a good way to keep people motivated, even if they may be technically less skilled.

This transparent, respectful approach can strengthen the engagement of the remaining teams, entrusted with greater responsibility.

A final piece of advice

By way of conclusion, the 3 speakers share a piece of advice for bringing your team on board in times of uncertainty.

Flore Villemot-Crozet (HR Consulting Director at Boson Project): Make it a strategic priority. There’s no engagement without thinking about it, questioning it and working on it; it’s a test-and-learn territory at the heart of your company.

Gaspard de Stabenrath (Managing Director of Morning): Trust them. They’ll give plenty back to the company. People can handle anything: by sharing the doubts and the questions while giving them a direction, you help employees really grasp what’s at stake and take ownership of it.

Maxime Wagner (Co-founder and CEO of Captain Contrat): Share the difficulties. The most important thing is trust; as a leader or founder, it’s about sharing the doubts and the proposed directions for the company. There’s no point in over-protecting: by fostering transparency, you create engagement, and that helps us rise above these periods of uncertainty.

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