Why Leaders Should Cultivate a Spirit of Possibility

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” I love this passage from Shunryu Suzuki's classic book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. 

The philosophy of viewing the world with a beginner's mind has become essential in my personal and professional development. Countless times, this perspective has guided me through what I had initially thought to be insurmountable challenges, only for those so-called "obstacles" to reveal themselves as the wonderful opportunities they truly were. 

In my experience, leaders and teams who cultivate a spirit of possibility towards all aspects of their work – relationship building, project management, product creation, sales and marketing, engineering, etc. – thrive. A spirit of possibility encourages all team members to share their ideas and perspectives, and increases the potential for innovation. Leaders with a beginner's mind are open to many unknown possibilities, they trust and inspire their team, and they get better results. Conversely, leaders who rely solely on their expertise or their positional authority often close doors before they even open, demotivate their team, and achieve sub-par results. 

Embracing a spirit of possibility has far-reaching benefits. We know that to achieve important business goals and reach the peak of innovation, everyone on the team needs to contribute optimally. Each team member needs to feel psychologically safe to share their ideas, and they need to feel like what they share is possible. It is the leader's responsibility to create that environment. Otherwise, team members will feel like their voice is unimportant. They will feel like they don't belong. 

And when team members feel like they don't belong – when they perceive that their contributions are not valued, their perspectives are not honored, or their lived experiences are not validated – there is no way they will be inspired to do their best work. And when everyone on the team isn't motivated to perform at their peak, the team suffers. People quit, valuable brainpower is lost, money and time is spent on needless hiring, and once awesome projects become mediocre or fade away into the abyss. All that possibility. . . gone. 

Why does this happen? There are a ton of causes – and way more to unpack than can be done effectively in a blog post. The overarching reason for lack of team unity, however, almost always comes down to one factor: a limited scope of what it means to be an inclusive and inspiring leader. 

Too often, team leaders or project managers, in an effort to maximize efficiency and increase productivity, don't prioritize and/or don't know how to create cohesive team culture. Of course, the ironic thing is that team cohesion is what allows intrinsic motivations to surface, and secures a greater dedication to team goals, which leads to greater creative thinking, more innovative products, and, more revenue for the organization. In short, cohesive team culture maximizes efficiency and increases productivity.

But when each member of the team doesn't feel like they belong, this doesn't happen. It is the responsibility of the leader to take the initiative for creating, building, and sustaining an inclusive team culture. They must do this up front, and consistently find ways to connect and build trust with members of their team. We're not talking about Kumbaya stuff here; we're talking about intentionally focusing on team member development. Remember, it is great people who make great products. 

In future posts, I will go into the finer details about how embracing a spirit of possibility leads to greater cultures of belonging. For now, I've created a short framework that you're welcome to adopt as a mental model. It starts with possibility and culminates with belonging. . . and repeats. Try it out and see what happens. 

1. Possibility: Approach every collaboration, project, conversation, and relationship being open to unknown possibilities. Don't close doors before they open.

2. Curiosity:  Show genuine interest in the personal lives of your colleagues. Take time to get to know them. Listen to their ideas. Encourage them to elaborate. Inspire them to contribute insights. Don't presume to know their intentions, backgrounds, preferences. Don't box them in. 

3. Empathy: Use emotional intelligence to understand where your colleagues may be coming from; how events outside of work (political, familial, personal, financial) may affect their performance. Instead of judging, ignoring, shaming, or showing impatience, STFU (seek to fully understand) the situation. 

4. Compassion: Put your empathy into action. Appreciate the subtleties of various contexts and work collaboratively to come up with tenable solutions that work for the individual and meet the goals of the team and project.  

5. Connection: Understand that people are more than their work role; value and validate that.  Be willing to be vulnerable. Establish trust. Trust creates connection. 

6. Belonging: It is only when we feel connected to one another that we feel a sense of belonging. Which is what we want in the first place.