What if there is hope for a better future?

There is a street in Liverpool, England, called Hope Street, it famously links the City’s Anglican Cathedral and Catholic Cathedrals together. When Pope John Paul II visited the city in 1982 he celebrated mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral and prayed at the Anglican Cathedral.

This was hugely symbolic, as the city had once been split by religious divides that had all but disappeared thanks to the work of Archbishop Worlock and the Right Reverend David Sheppard. This historic visit symbolised hope for a better future and reminds us that rituals and symbols are important in change.

Hope is powerful and sustaining, as we go through these unprecedented times. We hope for normality to return and we hope for a better future.  The work of Leadership during the COVID 19 crisis is to save lives. To keep people safe. It is also to ensure the supply chain still works, people are adhering to advice to encourage us to display kindness to each other but it is also to provide hope that this crisis is temporary and that we can safely navigate through the toughest of times.

How do Leaders realistically manage expectations when the landscape is changing on a daily if not an hour to hour basis, what reassurances can they give and what reasonable degree to hope can they furnish? Hope can be a double-edged sword. Is the future a better place or are we being given false hope?

During this crisis there are so many lessons from the practice of adaptive leadership. One we are seeing as a regular theme reminds us of wisdom from Martin Linsey which is to ensure you are “disappointing your team at a rate they can absorb.” So, the lock down is a disappointing loss of liberty but it had been expected and more than that we feel we are contributing to beating the virus by complying with the command. There is disappointment but there is also hope.

In fact, hope is such a powerful emotion, it is unsurprising that it plays a significant role in leadership, especially when leaders are trying to resolve wicked problems. In other words, take a step or chart a path into the unknown. Leaders need followers and when we are dealing with the unknown the job of leadership is to alleviate anxiety.

In her HBR article Deborah Mills Schofield said “hope is a critical part of achieving a strategy based on what is possible, perhaps not highly probable, but possible. Hope is a belief that something is possible and probable and the recognition that the degree of each is not necessarily equal.”

When hope is based on something that is possible and probable it will lead to trust and that is so important in the crisis we are facing into.

As elected leaders around the world deal with the COVID 19 crisis with varying degrees of success, it is interesting to watch the leaders of businesses and how they are reacting. We asked Ian Jones Managing Director of Deveraux Kelly Associates for his observations on how leaders are dealing with the crisis.

“Leaders need to take a strategic view, listen to their stakeholders and communicate their plans effectively. Balance the focus on the immediate future, with an articulation of the mid-term. This is where the hope comes in. People need to know that there is light of the end of the tunnel. Stakeholders don’t want the senior execs dancing on the floor when they should be up on the balcony selecting the next hit single!

Companies will need to reinvent themselves. They need to think about how they position themselves as unique. With the UN’s sustainable development goals increasingly in the spotlight, along with a growing demand for transparency in the areas of environment, impact on society and corporate governance, these ingredients of ‘hope’ need to be visible to stakeholders (note – ESG is a growing movement!).

Operate flexibly, act decisively, stay curious, keep people at the heart of everything you do, and look after the phycological, health and wellbeing of your stakeholders.”

From Ian’s thoughts we can see how challenging leaders are finding these unprecedented times. If we had to back a winner we would say it is the leaders who are able to balance the demands of the short terms alongside a view of a hopeful future. Take the lessons from the crisis and work collaboratively to imagine a more sustainable future.

So we leave you with this question. Who in your business is thinking how the learning from this crisis can propel you forward to a better future? What do you really hope for? How can those hopes become real?

Anne McCarthy is an experienced leader of change and transformation, supporting business with their people strategy. (+44) 7801 091538.

Murray Cook is experienced at leading change in complex situations and developing creative solutions to strategic challenges. (+44) 7547 504277.