Anne's Column - Keeping Hope Alive

In this ezine we start a new column. Anne McLaughlin, a Senior Partner of Nexus Partners and leadership expert, will be writing about topical issues that are affecting organisations now.

This time, she's talking about keeping hope alive in tough times. She draws from her experiences as a journalist, as a senior manager in large organisations and from her years of experience in leadership research and training.

There's plenty of talk about tough economic times at present and it's easy to be distracted and become despondent. But leaders who remain focussed and positive can help themselves, their staff and their organisation weather the economic storm.

This is a critical time for leaders to "step up" and realise the difference they can make. What their teams need from them is an almost unshakeable confidence in their ability to succeed regardless of the current situation.

In Learning to Lead Warren Bennis tells us "Leaders are the vision keepers, the guardians of hope". His research on what followers need from a leader places providing optimism as one the key leadership behaviours that others look to, together with building trust and creating a vision.

To motivate others the leader must be energetic, enthusiastic and optimistic in themselves. This optimism however needs to be founded in reality. It isn't about delusions or grand plans but about commitment to, and passion for, the vision of the organisation, about the willingness to take risks. It's about being prepared to see failure as an opportunity to learn and grow, rather than a chance to allocate blame.

Succumbing to the doom and gloom promoted by the media and displaying negativity can prove toxic in a workplace where followers may themselves be feeling uncertain.

Imagine a professional sports team that has had a tough season announcing at a press conference: "Times are tough so we've decided to cut back on the coaching staff, reduce practice time, eliminate the recruiting programme and halve the size of our facilities". The press would have a field day, season ticket holders would forsake the team and the general public would lose interest after a good laugh. Now substitute publicity for press, customers for ticket holders. And remember it is not only official announcements that can perpetuate gloom, leaders must also watch out for the non-verbal cues they are sending out.

As leadership researcher and author Jim Kouzes says: It all boils down to keeping hope alive.

"Keeping hope alive" is much more than a slogan. Keeping hope alive is essential to energetically achieving the highest levels of performance. People with high hope, compared to people with low hope, have a greater number of goals across various arenas of life, select more difficult goals, see their goals in a more challenging and positive manner.

But it is not about being a Pollyanna. It is about getting the leadership balance right. That balance is between being both tough and empathetic; showing optimism while being realistic; being self-reliant while still trusting others and showing a sense of urgency while demonstrating realistic patience.

Hope is an attitude in action. It builds the credibility that people look for in their leaders and hope in others. It keeps the vision alive, promotes trust and encourages everyone in an organisation to take action towards that vision.

Some key questions for leaders in the current work environment are:

What positive steps have you already taken to demonstrate hope and how can you communicate those to others?
What can you do daily to demonstrate a positive and hopeful outlook?
What can you do to recognize those who are making a positive contribution?
How do you keep yourself, and others, enthused about the work that you're doing?

And a final word: in tough times promise less. But put everything you have into making those promises a reality.

Do you want keep hope alive in your organisation? For more information about Nexus Partners' leadership programmes, email us or call on 0800 4 LEADERS. More information is also available here.