Most recently, I agreed to partner with a colleague on a 30-page response to an RFP for a four-year contract providing services to a governmental organization. We provided our qualifications, related work experiences, and resumes, along with the responses to their many questions. Now, we wait to hear who was selected. Unlike a sporting event – we don’t know who all responded, so we won’t know our competition until the award announcement is made. Unlike a theater event – we are not all in the room when the reviewers are making their contract award decision. And unlike a school environment – we are not receiving our proposal back with notes on how to improve next time.
Workplace: Hope Again
Anyone who has had a hopeless day, week, month or year knows that hope is what pulls us through. Hope for things to change, to become better, to get a little easier, to be a tiny bit more happy, or to be a large-bit more joy-filled. Hope is an underpinning of resilience and plays a part in our willingness to get up every day. Hope is what we need. Hope is as vital to humans as is oxygen. People hunger for hope because Hope helps us survive challenging times.
Workplace: Hope is a Strategy
Let’s look at hope as a strategy – an affirmative strategy that does change minds, affect hearts, and move behaviors. Hope is a strategy because inspiring people to hope for something better than they have can move people to act in ways that change election outcomes, that cause purchases to be made, and cause behaviors that can help others.
Nesting: Turbulent Times
The more time we spend in turbulence, the more we find ourselves wanting something safe, supportive, and serene; the more we want people in our lives who bring us joy and peace.