Over the last few months alone, the escalation of the US-Israel war with Iran, Trump dominating headlines yet again, rising geopolitical tensions and growing uncertainty about what happens next have filtered into everyday working life, especially in remote and creative environments where work and daily life are already deeply connected.

For a lot of people, these events don’t just live in the news either - they show up in rising fuel costs, more expensive travel, cancelled flights, worries about loved ones overseas, financial anxiety and the general feeling that the world feels increasingly unpredictable right now. That emotional load doesn’t magically disappear when the working day starts and things don't really stay outside the workplace anymore either. For leaders, navigating all of this can be very challenging.

One person on your team may be deeply affected by something happening globally, yet another may have completely different views on it. Someone overseas may be living through the reality of what others are only seeing on social media. Meanwhile, the business still needs to function - deadlines still exist and clients still need things yesterday. Amidst all of this, leaders and managers are trying to work out “How do I support people properly without letting everything become emotionally exhausting or divisive?” which isn't a easy balance to get right.

Particularly in the creative sector, where teams can be global, emotionally invested, highly online and values driven, these conversations can become very personal very quickly. With a number of companies operating with freelancers and contractors based overseas, things aren't distant but now feel as though they're sat directly inside your Slack channels.

Although the pressure that leaders are feeling is very real, one of the biggest mistakes businesses make is thinking they need to have the perfect response to everything happening in the world - they don’t. Most people are looking for humanity, steadiness and common sense.

You Don’t Need to Carry the Weight of the Entire World

A lot of leaders are exhausted because they feel responsible for emotionally holding everyone through every difficult global event that comes along, which is not sustainable. You can care deeply about people without trying to absorb every crisis yourself.  There’s a difference between being compassionate and feeling responsible for fixing things that are completely outside your control. It's important to remember that you can’t:

• Stop conflict
• Remove uncertainty
• Control people’s opinions
• Make everyone agree
• Solve every emotional reaction within your team.

However, what you can do is create an environment where people feel respected, supported and psychologically safe. That matters more than having the perfect statement or saying the exact right thing on LinkedIn. Sometimes leadership is simply:

• Checking in with someone
• Giving people space when needed
• Being flexible where you can
• Keeping communication calm and grounded
• Reminding teams what actually is within their control.

Different Beliefs Will Exist in Your Workplace and That’s Okay

This is the part many businesses struggle with. Workplaces are made up of people with different backgrounds, cultures, political opinions, religious beliefs and lived experiences, and during emotionally charged periods, those differences can feel more visible.

Healthy workplaces are not built on everyone thinking the same thing - they’re built on mutual respect which means creating cultures where:

• People don’t feel pressured to publicly share opinions
• Respectful disagreement is possible
• Assumptions aren’t made about others’ beliefs
• Conversations don’t become hostile or exclusionary
• Employees know where professional boundaries sit
• Discrimination is not tolerated and is addressed quickly and appropriately.

One of the dangers in highly values led environments is accidentally creating a culture where people feel they have to perform agreement publicly to feel safe - that isn’t psychological safety either. This is also where employers need to tread carefully from a legal perspective too.

In Ngole v Touchstone Leeds, the EAT reinforced that employers need to separate a protected belief itself from the way that belief is expressed. If the issue is simply that others may disagree with, dislike or feel uncomfortable with someone’s protected belief, that alone is unlikely to justify less favourable treatment. Instead, employers need to look carefully at whether there was genuinely something objectionable about the manifestation of the belief, and whether any action taken was proportionate. That doesn’t mean “anything goes” in the workplace. Employers still have responsibilities around inclusion, dignity, safety and conduct. What it does mean is that leaders should avoid knee-jerk reactions and focus on behaviour, context and actual workplace impact, rather than assuming disagreement automatically equals misconduct.

A useful question for leaders to ask here is “Are we responding to someone’s belief, or are we responding to specific conduct creating a genuine workplace issue?” That distinction matters and good leadership always leaves room for nuance.

Global Teams, Freelancers & The Human Reality Behind “Business as Usual”

Creative businesses are incredibly international now. Studios regularly work with freelancers, artists, developers and contractors across different countries and time zones, which means global events often have a very real impact on the people connected to your business. For some, that impact is emotional and for others, it’s practical.

Political instability or conflict can affect someone’s safety, internet access, travel, banking, electricity, family responsibilities or ability to work consistently. And unlike employees, freelancers and contractors can sometimes feel pressure to quietly “push through” because they don’t want to appear unreliable or risk future opportunities drying up. This is where thoughtful leadership matters, through recognising when someone may be operating under circumstances far beyond normal day to day stress. Sometimes all that's needed is a simple “How are things your side at the moment?” because acknowledging reality matters.

In some situations, leaders may need to accept that a person genuinely cannot work safely or sustainably for a period of time. That can feel difficult operationally, particularly in fast moving creative environments with tight deadlines and client pressure. But when someone is dealing with active conflict, infrastructure disruption, safety concerns or instability around them, expecting “business as usual” may simply not be realistic. This is where leaders need to balance compassion with practical decision making:

• Are deadlines still achievable?
• Does work need redistributing temporarily?
• Is flexibility or additional time needed?
• Are contingency plans in place if communication suddenly drops?
• Have conversations focused purely on delivery, or on the person too?
• How are you able to support the employee during this time?

During periods of geopolitical instability, even routine business travel can create genuine anxiety for employees and their families, particularly where riots, political unrest or rising tensions may leave some individuals feeling more vulnerable because of their race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or perceived identity. Combined with disrupted flights and rapidly changing situations overseas, it’s understandable why some employees may feel uneasy about travelling for work. Businesses should be actively assessing:

• Whether travel is genuinely necessary
• Whether plans need adjusting
• What support employees need before travelling
• Whether employees feel psychologically safe raising concerns
• How they would respond if the situation escalated unexpectedly while someone is overseas.

For some employees, simply knowing they can voice concerns without judgement makes a huge difference. Even where someone isn’t technically an employee, there’s still a human responsibility to lead thoughtfully. That doesn’t mean businesses can absorb unlimited disruption indefinitely, but it does mean responding proportionately and recognising when people may be operating under extraordinary circumstances rather than treating the situation as a standard performance or conduct issue. Sometimes compassionate leadership looks like flexibility; sometimes it means temporarily adjusting expectations; and sometimes it means recognising that safety comes before productivity.

Where employees raise concerns about travelling overseas, leaders should avoid immediately treating the situation as unwillingness or non-compliance.  Even where a business has assessed travel as low risk, the employee’s concerns may still feel very real to them, particularly if worries are connected to political unrest, discrimination, racial tension, religion, nationality, family safety concerns or previous lived experience. The starting point should always be conversation, not escalation. That means:

• Understanding what specifically is causing concern
• Discussing the business’ risk assessment openly
• Exploring whether adjustments or alternatives are possible
• Avoiding assumptions that everyone experiences risk in the same way
• Considering whether the concern links to protected characteristics or wellbeing.

At the same time, leaders also need to balance operational needs fairly and consistently. There may be situations where travel remains a reasonable requirement of the role, particularly where the organisation has carried out appropriate risk assessments and support measures. Even then, how businesses handle those conversations matters. Employees are far more likely to engage constructively when they feel listened to, taken seriously and involved in the discussion, rather than feeling pressured or dismissed. In some cases, the outcome may not be a simple yes or no but may involve adjusting travel plans, delaying trips, changing locations, increasing safety support, or finding alternative ways to achieve the same business objective remotely.

Good leadership in these moments is rarely about “winning” the conversation but about balancing business needs with human reality thoughtfully and proportionately.

Managers Are Human Too

There’s also another side to this that doesn’t get talked about enough - managers are overwhelmed too. They’re consuming the same news, managing the same anxieties, supporting teams while often trying to keep themselves afloat at the same time. Somewhere along the line, many managers have started believing that being a “good” leader means always being emotionally available, endlessly informed and perfectly measured, but it really doesn't. It's important to remember that managers are also human and are allowed boundaries. They're not therapists and shouldn't be expected to mediate every political debate or carry the emotional wellbeing of an entire team alone. What people usually seek from leaders is a form of steadiness - someone who's able to stay calm under pressure, treats people fairly, listens properly, communicates clearly, takes action when necessary, doesn't escalate panic and creates consistency when everything else may feel uncertain.

Not Every Conversation Needs to Happen at Work

One of the hardest things for modern businesses to navigate is where the line sits between supportive culture and constant discourse. Digital workplaces can become emotionally heavy very quickly. A Slack thread that starts as awareness raising can suddenly become tense, divisive or overwhelming for others reading it quietly in the background. While open dialogue matters, workplaces still need boundaries and not every debate belongs in a work channel; not every employee wants to process global events publicly with colleagues.

Part of creating psychologically safe environments is recognising when people may actually need less emotional noise during the workday, not more. That means managers should feel confident setting expectations around respectful communication, appropriate workplace channels, inclusive behaviour, boundaries between personal activism and work spaces, how disagreements are handled when tensions rise. The goal here isn’t to silence people but to create an environment where people can still work together safely and respectfully even when beliefs differ.

Key Takeaways for Leaders

• You do not need to solve every global issue to be a compassionate leader.
• Respect matters more than forced agreement.
• Overseas freelancers and distributed teams may be experiencing global events very differently to UK based teams.
• Managers need boundaries too.
• Psychological safety includes people who don’t want to publicly engage in political or emotional discussions.
• Belief discrimination risks can arise when employers react to protected beliefs rather than genuine workplace conduct issues.
• Calm, consistency and humanity are often more impactful than reactive statements.
• Sometimes the most supportive thing a leader can do is simply acknowledge reality and ask what people need.

If your leaders or managers are currently navigating difficult conversations around psychological safety, global tensions, international teams or employee wellbeing, Fresh Seed supports creative businesses with practical, people-first guidance that balances empathy with the realities of running a business. Whether it’s helping managers handle complex conversations, supporting globally distributed teams, reviewing policies and approaches, or guiding businesses through sensitive people challenges, we help creative organisations respond thoughtfully without losing sight of the humans behind the work.

If you’d like support navigating these kinds of challenges within your business, get in touch with the Fresh Seed team at info@freshseed.co.uk to see how we can help.