When we think about change and strategic thinking tools, rarely does “hope” turn up in the toolshed. It is certainly not the go-to as we look to other strategic frameworks to mine and make meaning of the data and road ahead. Yet, the psychological drive for hope is universal. When it comes to our field of work at Leaderology, there are few things more demotivating and less conducive to an organization’s health and effectiveness than a pervasive lack of hope and psychological safety. A less hopeful community of effort is one which can quickly become a breeding ground for depression, absenteeism, tardiness and missed deadlines. Not only does that affect the bottom line of organizations, it also, more significantly, affects the health and wellbeing of our friends and colleagues with whom we share so much of our lives.
Just as the various aspects of organizational experience intersect and interact with one another, so too does the outside world affect our jobs. Despite establishing well-intended boundaries between our personal and professional selves, those borders inevitably prove porous. This can challenge our sense of safety and stability. In many ways, events of the past few years have created the unsettled feeling of being constantly at the mercy of historical significance.
Fortunately, as many as there have been reasons to lose hope, there are just as many inspiring examples of leaders accessing hope from the strategy toolshed. We share a few ways leaders have utilized hope in the face of an impending challenge or difficulty.
Prior to the war in Ukraine, few Americans were familiar with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy beyond his proximity to domestic political events of 2019, and even that would be quickly overshadowed by the Coronavirus. As the emergence of hostilities appeared increasingly likely, most observers were not particularly optimistic about Zelenskyy’s leadership capabilities. Yet, what had widely been thought to have been a liability – his media background – turned out to be his greatest strength.
When the attention of the globe turned toward the nascent war, many expected a quick and disheartening defeat. All of us were met instead with photos of President Zelenskyy and his aides, alive and defiant in front of Kyiv landmarks. These now iconic images and accompanying statements would both galvanize the morale of Ukrainians and instill hope among countless ordinary people throughout the world who would stand up to bullying and aggression. As Zelenskyy himself once said, “The president can't change the country on his own. But what can he do? He can give an example.”
Kizzmekia Corbett’s teachers knew early on in her grade school career that she was exceptionally bright and talented, and encouraged her parents to enroll her in more challenging classes and advanced academic subjects. It was a decision that paid off. In 2015, Corbett, who had shown an early aptitude for the sciences, graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a PhD in microbiology. Her first appointment was at the National Institute of Health as a research fellow studying SARS, MERS and other members of the Coronavirus family.
When reports began to appear in late 2019 about the emergent virus that would soon overtake the planet, Dr. Corbett found herself in a critically important position. Her research on the spike proteins of SARS and MERS would lay an early foundation for the development of the Moderna vaccine, thus shaving years off its completion, and delivering a much-needed booster of hope in the darkest days of the pandemic.
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett’s contributions to fighting the pandemic do not end in the laboratory. She has also been a vocal and instrumental spokesperson for vaccine and pandemic awareness in communities of color, many of whom have been struck disproportionally by the virus. Her outreach has focused on combatting both vaccine misinformation and skepticism in populations which have historically suffered from structural inequalities and injustices within the healthcare system. Dr. Corbett is an advocate for a dialogue of understanding and respect for varying opinions. Through her work, she has helped to inspire hope not only in the lifesaving power of modern medicine, but in the possibility that the medical injustices of the past may be remedied.
Jacinda Ardern is not New Zealand’s youngest Prime Minister, nor New Zealand’s only female Prime Minister, but she will no doubt be recorded as presiding over the nation during some of the most significant times in modern history. Her Covid-19 policies, though not without controversy, resulted in New Zealand being one of the few countries minimally affected by the virus during the first year of the pandemic. Additionally, New Zealand’s vaccine program itself has proven immensely successful in blunting the worst fallout of the more infectious Omicron variant.
Yet because of the tumult of the past few years, it’s easy to forget that Prime Minister Ardern forged a persona as a leader who embodies hope, one year prior to the outbreak. Following the 2019 terrorist attack on a Christchurch Mosque which sent shockwaves throughout New Zealand and the world, Ardern at once condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms and centered the nation’s grief on the victims by refusing to say the name of the attacker. After visiting with and comforting the Christchurch Muslim community, Ardern and the parliament presided over the passage of several laws aimed at curbing violence and extremism, thereby proving that hope in the face of such tragedy is never in vain.
The through line in the stories of these three remarkable and fearlessly authentic leaders is hard to miss. They have all been successful in galvanizing support by speaking directly to the deeply held psychological needs and concerns of their respective audiences. Through their words and actions, each has managed to uncover wellsprings of hope amidst terrible circumstances.
None of this is to imply that the difficulties and frustrations of leadership in the workplace are comparable to those described above. Nevertheless, as leaders we must also be aware that we ourselves are not immune to many of the sources of hopelessness that also vex our various stakeholders. Not only may we share some of those same frustrations, but we also experience the resulting fallout of an unmotivated and dissatisfied team which can in turn strain the relationship between ourselves and our own superiors or peers. Creating a hopeful culture builds upon effective management and leadership strategies by articulating the very values of our organizations.
What then can we as leaders do to cultivate an environment where hope, engagement, and success can flourish? It all comes down to communication. The most critical action we can take is to redesign the discourse of the organization in such a way that it becomes a space where people are comfortable bringing up concerns and desires. The creation of such “conversational containers” allows our team members to express their own organizational hopes while safely engendering dialogue and growth, by reducing fears of negative blowback. Allowing ourselves to be available coaches by demonstrating confidence in our team’s decision-making abilities will help them to both identify pathways to their own goals and become more resilient in the face of unexpected changes or challenges.
As leaders, we should hold ourselves to the same standards we expect from our team members and as such, also allow ourselves to embody the hope we aim to infuse into both our professional settings and our organizational strategies. Hope in our communities of effort liberate us from our constrictive anxieties by allowing us a space to be authentically creative.
"I'm not a pessimist. I'm a realist." - said Someone.
You've possibly heard someone in your life say this at some point - especially in relation to optimism. Yet, hope does not mean avoiding the realities of a situation. Rather, when utilized effectively, hope should foster the identification of risks (and the icebergs ahead!) more readily than may not have been voiced otherwise. How to get there? An environment where psychological safety is established as a paramount organizational value is an environment that nurtures hope.
Will you choose to access this often overlooked tool in your leadership toolshed... and access it often? We certainly hope you do.