Are You Able to Bring Hope?
Recently, I have traveled through some life circumstances that have been difficult for my entire family. It has caused me to reflect quite a bit, and one of the qualities I have thought about is hope. What a beautiful word “hope” is. Even the way we say it sounds good.
Servant leaders are champions of hope. They bring it — for their organizations, their teams and even themselves. I think we should have it become part of the job description for anyone who has a direct report; you must bring hope.
But it isn’t easy. Not all of us can be eloquent speakers like Martin Luther King or Barack Obama, but there are some practical things you can do to inspire hope in the workplace — to inspire and motivate the people who get the job done on a daily basis.
Use kindness. When are we going to get over the belief that the way to motivate is to come on strong? To motivate with fear does not work in the long run. Fear is a hope killer. It works if you want a workforce of adversaries. The need to hear “please” and “thank you” is real. The need to be treated with dignity and respect never goes out of style.
Be present when managing change. Change can be unsettling for people, but if your leadership can be felt, people will feel hopeful about the new process or direction. That means you must be physically present with your team and emotionally present as well, using your emotional intelligence to gauge how folks are handling the time of change.
Equip with more than physical tools and training. Equipping also means preparing people mentally to be part of a successful team. That includes giving them a picture of a hopeful future, even when it doesn’t feel hopeful. Here’s where servant leaders have to dig deep. Revisit your mission and purpose often with people. Make sure the messages are accurate and don’t hide in your office.
Here at SLI, our job is to equip you to bring hope by addressing these subjects and much more. We do this year-round, but our showpiece event is our annual servant leader conference. Our conference theme this year is Are You Able? SLC19 will be particularly compelling as we hear from engaging speakers on subjects like:
Servant leader behaviors
The artistry of change
Diversity and inclusion
Servant leadership lessons from the U.S. Army
Leading with integrity
What it’s like to implement servant leadership
Cultural enrichment through kindness
The team at SLI invites you to join us and learn from the largest, most diverse group of speakers we’ve ever presented. Find out more at here.
There will be a lot of hope in the air; I guarantee it.