You know those yellow cabs in New York City? I was told this is where all the umbrellas of the world end up. According to the taxi driver who fetched me at Kennedy Airport, there is a strange black hole phenomena taking place at the back of these cabs, and umbrellas just keep accumulating there. Small, fragile and cheap black models made in China, elegant wooden pieces forgotten by some British visitor or funky rainbow plastic ones dearly hold by a little girl before she forgot it on the back seat… Yet when I entered this yellow cab after a long and tiring flight over the Atlantic, the umbrella I found was of a more unusual style – simple and sober, it had a solid, silver stick and a huge, transparent plastic cover.

Quite an easy way to solve the ever boring question – if you want to avoid the standard, usual black umbrella but don’t quite fancy strange materials which remind you of 70s wallpapers’ patterns… then which umbrella will you go for? A transparent one. I wondered how it would feel walking in the street with such an umbrella and started really liking the idea. I pictured myself being able to hide from the rain, yet still enjoy the city décor around me and maybe even catch some sunrays on those rare moments where clouds separate and a bit of light refreshes the overwhelmingly grey landscape…

It struck me what a perfect metaphor this could be for Wilfried. A high-ranking manager in a large, international IT firm, Wilfried was struggling to protect his team. Too much pressure, bad news coming from top management, demotivating news from other departments… We had spent a long time talking about this very delicate task a manager has to accomplish in such moments: what information can be shared with team members? In what form? Wilfried wanted to maintain their trust in him and understood their thirst for accurate, important information. But he didn’t want this information to be demotivating either.

In a way he needed to create the appropriate “umbrella” for his team: he certainly couldn’t (and didn’t want to) hide the existence of bad weather. But he wanted to protect them from the rain, help them benefit from as much light as possible, and remember about the existence of the sun behind those heavy clouds. I brought this image of the umbrella into our next coaching session and we elaborated it further, breaking it down into concrete criteria and actions.

Maybe this image could work for you as well? If you’re leading a team in a difficult work environment, maybe of some of your direct reports have been standing in the rain for too long? Maybe it could be the right time for you to stop and think: what kind of umbrella do I need to pull out to protect my team?

note: the website superboss typically pulls ideas and suggestions from very different fields and targets its articles at higher-level leaders and CEOs ; yet you might find their tips interesting no matter what level you are working on.