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Maker

Leadership Practices

Positivity and Perseverance

Celebrate small wins to enhance team morale and sustain long-term creative goals

Table of Contents

Introduction

Positivity and perseverance are crucial abilities that enable leaders to maintain an optimistic outlook and bounce back from setbacks while pursuing long-term innovative goals. This practice emerged from the intersection of positive psychology and innovation studies, recognizing that sustained creativity requires both hope and resilience. By cultivating these qualities, leaders can inspire their teams to overcome challenges and drive meaningful change.

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When to use this practice

Employ positivity and perseverance when:

The desired change seems distant or impossible;
The world appears to be moving in a contrary direction;
Repeated failures threaten to derail the project;
Team morale is low due to prolonged challenges;
External skepticism or criticism is high.

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How to develop this practice

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1. Practice ‘active hope’

Active hope is a practice developed by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. Here's how to implement it:

Accept reality as it is: Conduct a "current reality assessment" with your team. List all the challenges and obstacles you're facing. For example, if you're working on a sustainable energy project, acknowledge the current reliance on fossil fuels, political resistance, and technological limitations.
Identify aspirations: Hold a visioning session where team members share their hopes for the future. Create a collective vision board or document. For the sustainable energy project, this might include a world powered by 100% renewable energy, cleaner air in cities, and thriving green economies.
Take action: Break down your vision into actionable steps. Assign responsibilities and set timelines. In our example, actions might include lobbying local government for green policies, developing new solar technology, or launching a community education program on energy conservation.

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2. Develop a support network

Create a "resilience circle" within your team or organisation. This group meets regularly to share challenges, offer support, and brainstorm solutions.

Identify 5-7 team members who are committed to supporting each other.
Schedule bi-weekly meetings where members can share challenges and successes.
Implement a "buddy system" where pairs check in with each other regularly between meetings.
Use techniques like "appreciative inquiry" in these sessions to focus on strengths and possibilities.
Encourage vulnerability and authentic sharing to build trust and mutual reinforcement.

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3. Celebrate small wins

Implement rituals to acknowledge progress, no matter how small. This practice helps maintain motivation during long innovation journeys.

Create a physical or digital "win wall" where team members post their achievements weekly.
Implement a "Friday Wins" ritual where the team gathers for 15 minutes to share successes.
Use a project management tool that visually represents progress, like a Kanban board, to make incremental progress visible.
Establish a monthly "Milestone Moment" where the team reflects on progress towards the ultimate goal and celebrates key achievements.

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4. Embrace responsibility

Encourage team members to take ownership of their responses to challenges. As Viktor Frankl writes in Man’s Search for Meaning: "Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In that response lies our growth and our freedom."

Encourage team members to keep a "response journal," documenting challenging situations and their chosen responses.
In team meetings, use the "pause-reflect-choose" method when facing obstacles: pause to acknowledge the challenge, reflect on possible responses, and consciously choose the most constructive one.
Share stories of team members who have demonstrated ownership and positive responses to challenges, highlighting the impact of their choices.

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5. Foster a positive work environment

Create a culture that promotes positivity and resilience. Encourage open communication, provide constructive feedback, and lead by example.

Start meetings with a "positivity round," where each person shares something positive or expresses gratitude.
Implement a "solution-focused" approach to problem-solving: for every problem raised, require at least two potential solutions to be suggested.
Create a "Positivity Champion" role that rotates among team members monthly. This person is responsible for organizing morale-boosting activities and recognizing others' positive contributions.
Establish a "Lessons Learned" process that reframes failures as valuable learning experiences, documenting insights for future projects.

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6. Encourage continuous learning

Promote a growth mindset within your team. Provide opportunities for professional development, encourage experimentation, and view failures as learning experiences.

Allocate a portion of work time (e.g. 10%) for personal development projects related to team goals.
Create a team library (physical or digital) of resources on resilience, innovation, and leadership.
Implement a "Teach-Learn-Share" program where team members attend external training and then teach what they've learned to the rest of the team.

🔗 Check out the Growth Mindset practice, also in the Maker craft.

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Benefits of this practice

By implementing these practices with specific, actionable steps, leaders can create a culture of positivity and perseverance that sustains long-term innovation efforts and helps teams navigate challenges more effectively. Doing so offers the following benefits:

Enhanced ability to persist through challenges;
Improved problem-solving skills due to a positive outlook;
Increased team cohesion and morale;
Improved well-being and job satisfaction among team members;
Greater resilience in the face of setbacks and obstacles.

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How to take this further

For individuals:

Take a long view. The transitions we are working on may take 50+ years to complete.
Focus on ‘becoming’ rather than achieving. It is our own process of personal growth that may be the most consistent motivator in the long run.
Keep some form of a "gratitude practice" to record, name or discuss daily instances of progress or inspiration.
Practice mindfulness to build emotional resilience.
Engage in continuous learning, adopting a growth mindset, to maintain a sense of progress and possibility.

For teams:

Have occasional long-term strategy conversations sessions, (e.g. using forecasting and backcasting) to keep giving fuel to the vision.
Celebrate successes, however small they may seem.
Create an environment in which optimistic, resilient, and patient veterans collaborate with newer team members.
Develop a storytelling culture that highlights past successes when overcoming similar challenges.

By cultivating perseverance and positivity, Makers can sustain their innovation work through the inevitable ups and downs of the creative process. This practice not only fuels long-term success but also contributes to a more fulfilling and purposeful innovation journey.

As the adage goes, "The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." Positivity and perseverance empowers Makers to be the realists who adjust the sails while holding onto the vision of their desired destination.

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