What your people want from you isn’t what you think
What if the one thing your team needs most isn’t what you think?
After every BRAVE® workshop I’ve run over the past seven years, I ask people the same question:
“What are three adjectives that describe how you feel about your culture, your team, and your ability to lead after our time together?”
There were some words I expected—like inspired, empowered, energized, confident... But one word kept coming up that I wasn’t prepared for...
Hopeful.
That word stopped me in my tracks.
It meant a lot to me. Because it seemed like our 90 minutes together went deep. It signified a real shift, a transformation. It told me that I created a meaningful change in their state. So, reading that, over and over, meant the world.
It also made me smile because (nerd alert🤓), we know from research that hope isn’t just a “nice-to-have.” It’s not fluff. Hope is a strategic foundation for real, measurable change.
Here’s the research:
Gallup’s 2025 Global Leadership Report said that when people were asked what they want most from their leaders, the top answer wasn’t vision, charisma, or expertise. It was hope. 56% of people ranked hope as the most important leadership trait—more than trust, compassion, and stability combined.
McKinsey’s 2020 research paper emphasizes that psychological safety—when individuals feel they can speak up, share ideas, and take risks without fear of retribution—creates conditions that foster hope. This connection emerges because a psychologically safe environment helps people believe that their efforts can lead to positive change, even in the face of challenges.
Research in social neuroscience suggests that human connection—particularly in the form of trust and empathy—stimulates brain regions associated with positive emotions, resilience, and forward-thinking. This in turn enhances feelings of hopefulness by making individuals feel more secure and connected, both in themselves and in their future.
Who understands the need for hope best?
You. People at fast growing, mission driven companies.
Why? Because your goals are often quite ambitious (at minimum) and sometimes they're just downright crazy. (But hey, it’s the people who are crazy enough to try to change the world who actually do🤩).
When leaders and teams at organizations like these (like yours) have the kind of hope I’m referring to, they can picture themselves as part of the company’s future. They feel more ownership. And, most importantly, they believe that a future at the company is possible and hence, sustainable. Hope is key to the belief that they can be part of achieving big goals without burning out or losing sight of what makes those goals meaningful.
In short, the bigger your vision, and the faster you’re trying to make it a reality, the more your people will need hope.
But here’s the challenge:
Hope isn’t something you can just decide or declare. It’s not a mission statement or a pep talk. Hope is cultivated. It grows over time when leaders prioritize support and connection before challenge.
Most leaders really struggle to create hope. It’s not because they don’t care. It’s because they’re stuck in the day-to-day grind, the OKR’s, consumed by urgent tasks and short-term metrics. They mean well, but without a clear, intentional, sustainable-amidst-chaos-approach, hope remains out of reach.
What’s worse is when they (unintentionally) try to instill hope and get it wrong. Let me be clear: Hope is NOT about adding another initiative (no matter how game-changing it might be). It’s not about doing more. It’s about creating a positive climate—a climate of psychological safety—where people feel supported enough to take risks, set boundaries, push back, speak up, without fear.
Do your people need hope? A great way to tell is if no one is pushing back on things like workload or timelines... (Yes, I see you).
Hope comes from a culture where people feel safe enough to grow… not just react to fire drills.
Creating hope is about crafting moments of clarity and connection that make a better future not just imaginable, but attainable.
BTS (behind the scenes) @ BRAVE Workshops
Inside scoop, that’s how I run BRAVE® workshops, we create an environment where people feel epically supported and seen, craft a vision and then take steps toward it, together. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the overwhelming consensus is that we create hope for our leaders!
Actually, in thinking about our workshops, one of my other favorite, post-workshop descriptors is “challenged—but in a good way.” Yes, they include the caveat! 🙃
What does this say to me?
First, the research: McKinsey’s report highlights that people perform at their best not because they’re pushed harder, but because they feel secure, supported and inspired. In fact, it says that if you don’t start by giving your team support, they won’t be receptive to being challenged, to excel. In other words, you can’t start by challenging your team. You need to make them feel so supported that they can handle—and even welcome—constructive feedback and higher expectations.
So, to me “challenged, but in a good way” means that beyond being hopeful, I got them to the point of being open to some tough love, hard feedback and the possibilities that come with change. To the point where they’re ready to take responsibility for their part, take their power and agency back, do what it takes to grow and rise to the challenges (really, the opportunities) in front of them. And that’s what leads to high performance.
When leaders create hope, they don’t just make people feel good. They give their teams the fuel they need to rise to new challenges, achieve more, and do it all with a renewed sense of purpose.
Hope isn’t soft. Hope is strategy. And now more than ever, it’s what teams need most.
So let’s give your people the #1 thing they want from you and the one thing that can change how they show up tomorrow.
And in doing so let’s get them to the place where they’re ready to grow and rise to the challenges (opportunities) that lie ahead!
If you want your team to experience what hope can truly accomplish, reply now to reserve one of the final workshop spots.
Cheers to you,
Elisabeth