Like many leaders, my clients are scrambling to adapt to this new “virtual reality” of uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. And now the social distancing isolation will continue through the end of April. In the face of not knowing how best to communicate with their people – what to say, how to say it, when to say it – they are grasping at straws. Afraid of saying the wrong thing and making people more anxious, leaders are tripping over their words and intentions, missing the one thing their people want most: hope.
This past week, one client lamented, “I just don’t want to give people false hope.”
I responded, “And nor should you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t help them find real hope.”
As we explored his concerns, I detected a pattern I’d seen among many leaders I’ve coached in past weeks – a genuine misunderstanding of what hope actually is.
So, let me start by talking about what hope is not. It’s hope’s counterfeits that create false hope, and we are wise to avoid them.
Hope does not come from making guarantees or promises, especially those you can’t keep. Many leaders, failing to manage their own anxiety, reflexively make commitments with the intention of offering people reassurance. In the face of dire economic uncertainty, layoffs, and swirling cyclones of conflicting information, people are fearful, and leaders understandably want to allay those fears. Reasonable leaders know that making promises you later break is cruel under these conditions. Trying to be measured, leaders instead say things like, “I wish I could tell you when this was all going to end,” or “This is the best information I have right now,” and some even attempt presumptuous empathy with statements like, “I know how stressful this must be.” But efforts to balance restraint and comfort can have the unintended consequence of missing the perfect opportunity to offer hope.
Source: Forbes