This week, I found myself in a meeting where the conversation zoomed in on issues. You might argue that in operations, that makes sense. After all, our job is to solve problems, and we’re good at it.
Halfway through the meeting, I had a different thought. No one was talking about what was working, or where we were making progress.
As I zoomed out, I realised this wasn't just about our work. This was actually about how we are wired.
The default
Neuroscience tells us that our brains are wired for survival. The amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for detecting danger, constantly scans for threats, problems, and risks. It’s why a single mistake can feel louder than ten wins.
That hyper-vigilance has kept humans alive for thousands of years. So when teams fixate on what isn’t working, that’s not failure. It’s biology doing its job.
But staying in “threat mode” often narrows our vision. It keeps us locked in survival thinking. We protect ourselves in the short term but lose the creativity and resilience that come from feeling safe enough to imagine solutions.
Another way
Operations is about making things work. But when our only lens is problem identification, exhaustion builds. Hope acts as an antidote to our biology. It acknowledges the risks and notices what’s working.
Hope says: Yes, this is hard. Yes, there are real risks. And yes, I believe we can work through it together.
Hope isn’t about ignoring problems. It’s about creating a sense of safety big enough to hold both the struggle and the possibility of progress. To embrace the paradox.
I admit. I don’t always find this easy. But when I can shift from pure problem-scanning to possibility-thinking, it changes the way I show up. It calms me, builds psychological safety when I collaborate with others, and gives us the courage to step out of survival mode and into creativity.
Hope builds resilience: struggles feel temporary, not permanent. It sparks creativity: safety allows risk-taking, which fuels innovation. It strengthens connection: shared belief in progress builds trust across teams.
And this doesn’t only apply in operations. Any team that faces complexity and constant problem-solving benefits from the fresh energy that hope brings.
Practising hope
Hope is not only a personality trait. It can be learned. Research shows it’s partly inherited but also significantly shaped by practice and environment. Here are a few ways to cultivate it:
Name reality first. Safety starts with honesty. Acknowledge the hard things before pointing to hope.
Anchor in purpose. Remind people why their work matters. Purpose is the soil where optimism grows.
Celebrate progress. Spotting what’s working interrupts the brain’s threat-scanning and restores balance.
Hope in the workplace isn’t fluff, it’s fuel. It expands the circle of safety, making space for resilience, creativity, and connection. And when we practise it, especially in functions like operations, where problem-solving is constant, we remind our teams that we’re not just fixing what’s broken. We’re building what’s possible.
