When teams face challenging times and are overwhelmed by negative news, failures, roadblocks, or uncertainty, the learned helplessness and pessimism they feel can erode engagement, energy, and performance.
Feeling pessimistic, apathetic, or stressed out is not a character flaw. Our bodies are wired that way. But without intervention, that attitude can be both personally and organizationally destructive.
Leaders can’t remedy pessimism at their organization with forced positivity. Instead, they need to build a culture of resilient optimism: the ability to see challenges clearly while believing that actions can still influence outcomes.
Here are three ways leaders can model resilient optimism.
