Plausible Hope - the secret to success?

What would you do if you had no hope?

It's an interesting thought and perhaps one which gets us to the heart of the matter straight away. Without hope there is no motivation to change or move, and therefore without hope there is stagnation, failure and wasting away.

In how many movies and books have the villains sought to destroy hope or make it seem so illogical and so unrealistic that it becomes fantasy, all in order to break someone's self-autonomy, their spirit to change and challenge, their desire to become more than they are. Sadly this isn't fiction but a reality of torture and abuse, if you want to break someone then removing hope is key to control.

At the heart of abusive relationships is the undermining of hope and the isolation of the victim to the extent that they no longer see any opportunity outside of the abuse relationship, the destruction of hope is part of the coercion that prevents an individual seeing an alternative reality without the abuser. Building back that hope is a key step in enabling change to happen and undermining the coercive control of the abuser.

So why is this relevant to business and leadership?

Well think about the last time you tried to initiate significant change within your business, how much hope did you have that it would succeed? How much effort was put into creating plausible hope for the transformation and how much was spent trying to get over the being stuck in the story of now?

The story of now describes the current situation. In project conceptualisation mapping and capturing the story of now is a good starting point to create the justification for change. By definition it focuses on the problems more than the assets, as it is trying to create momentum for change by demonstrating the status quo isn't sustainable or efficient.

However too often we get stuck in the story of now. The narrative of the current problems and barriers that suck away hope and aspiration. I certainly have had times when the story of now was so overwhelming that it was hard to see a way through the avalanche of 'buts' that blocked every effort to form an alternative vision of the future to generate hope. Often what starts as a constructive process becomes so bogged down in the negative barriers and each step forward seems to be blocked by a rationale and reasonable 'but'. Key to overcoming this maze of reasons why change is impossible is plausible hope.

So what makes hope plausible?

Plausible hope is more than simply setting a vision, it is also about creating a plausible pathway between where things are today and this vision of an alternative future.

Sounds simple doesn't it? Well like most simple phrases the reality is a bit more complex and layered.

Plausible hope for me is about four strands of action that run in parallel towards the common goal:

Milestones are key to creating plausible hope, they create the stepping stones between the story of now and the vision of an alternative future that you are trying to achieve. Judging the milestones is an important as if they are perceived as too unrealistic then you won't carry people with you, but if they are too small then people will feel nothing is changing. Creating milestones that speak to the avalanche of buts is important but it is important to have a broader set that also keeps hope alive and resonates with the vision of a better future.

Authentic reality is about maintain an honest story of now and evolving it as the journey of change progresses. No journey of change is without mistakes and missteps so when they happen being honest about them and authentic in acknowledging things could have been better is key to keeping people with you on the journey. Regular check-ins with your peers about your reality narrative helps you remain authentic and also allows your perception to be constructively challenged so that you can identify areas for improvement.

Keeping hope alive as the journey of change progresses is important both personally and for those you are leading. It isn't unusual to have moments of doubt and moments when things take a step back, but being compassionate with yourself and reframing your internal and external narrative at these moments is key to keeping the hope alive. It is also important to celebrate success and change as it moves forward, even small wins highlighted and celebrated can help keep the hope alive, especially if the vision of change is going to take a long time to achieve. Although it's a bit of a cliche this is like keeping a fire alive, adding kindling and larger logs at different points to keep the flames going.

Letting go of the original story of now, the avalanche of buts and the missteps in the journey is important to maintaining plausible hope. It's not about denying what has happened or forgetting it but it is about being able to let go of it and move forward. If you don't let go of these things they can act as anchors that can create resentment, especially if through the journey you are joined by others who didn't start from the same place and so don't have the same scars from the difficult times. So finding ways to let go, particularly of the emotions attached to the origin story and the difficult aspects of the journey, allows you to maintain plausible hope and not be undermined by nostalgia.

Creating hope is something that we talk about partially in leadership theory, our focus is perhaps more on the language of vision and conditions to enable change. Hope as a word often feels like it's something too evangelical or religious and so is avoided, yet it is perhaps one of the complex simple words that we should embrace and explore, as at the heart of innovation is the hope that things can be better. To deliver successful change hope needs to be plausible and it needs to be nurtured and worked at throughout the journey by leaders at every level. So next time you are planning change with your team be conscious and intentional in building plausible hope and see what difference it makes.

These thoughts were something I recently explored on an away day facilitated by University of Birmingham School of Public Leadership, and I thought might be useful to share and I hope you have found them useful.