How Managers Can Instill Hope in Their Teams

In times of uncertainty and change, hope becomes a critical component of team resilience, performance, and engagement. Managers play a central role in cultivating this sense of hope. Here are powerful strategies and insights for leaders to help build and maintain hope within their teams:

The Leader as a Source of Hope

These principles emphasize that hope begins with the leader and their mindset.

1. Leaders must be hopeful themselves. If you’re unable to be hopeful, it’s essential to seek support.

2. Model positive behavior. Think, speak, and act with positivity.

3. Recognize that hope is essential—it's the foundation for engagement, fulfillment, and performance.

4. Hopelessness causes languishing; hopefulness leads to flourishing. Hope requires teamwork.

5. Hope isn’t blind optimism or toxic positivity. It’s strategic, grounded, and actionable.

Vision, Meaning & Strategy

These strategies guide teams through uncertainty with clarity and direction.

1. Create a shared vision of the future and secure the team’s buy-in. Alignment is key.

2. Build realistic optimism: set achievable goals, craft solid plans, and express belief in your team.

3. Connect actions to meaning and purpose to foster loyalty and fulfillment.

4. Create conditions for hope: offer prizes for creative solutions, clarify the team’s locus of control, identify goals, obstacles, motivators, and build pathways to success—invite team members to use their superpowers to guide and support one another through change.

Empowerment & Engagement

These focus on ownership, collaboration, and shared leadership.

1. Offer agency and empowerment, especially during uncertainty. Support this with data where possible.

2. Assign more responsibility to optimistic team members who can uplift the team's tone and culture.

3. Give small projects to mixed pairs—one positive, one who needs uplift—to create wins and bonding.

4. Offer leadership opportunities to team members to boost engagement and empower collaboration.

5. Ask questions like: "What does success look like?" and "How would you like to contribute?"

Positive Culture & Relationships

Creating a healthy emotional environment that nurtures hope.

1. Use positivity techniques in meetings: acknowledge, appreciate, and admire team members.

2. Increase positivity-to-negativity interactions with kindness, gratitude, reflection, and smiles.

3. Incorporate trust-building and fun: it’s okay to laugh and be playful together.

4. Increase your team’s positivity ratio—aim for 4, 5, or even 6 to 1 positive-to-negative interactions.

Resilience & Growth Habits

Hope thrives when teams are adaptable and resilient in their daily practices.

1. Encourage resilience and practice servant leadership by asking, "How can I help you succeed?"

2. Break team-building into small habits. Uncertainty can drive innovation and motivation.