Abundance

As leaders, it’s tempting to try to persuade people by focusing on scarcity. 

“We have to do this, or we'll have to cut back programs or staffing.”

“We can’t do that because there’s no money in the budget.”

“You need to do more, because we don’t have anyone else who can do it.”

In the short run, that can be effective. People are motivated by fear and anxiety, and giving them a reason to be afraid can spur them to action--or at least get them to suck it up for a while. But this tactic doesn’t succeed in the long run. A scared worker isn’t a happy, productive, engaged worker. More likely, they’re burnt out, resentful, and scanning the job search sites at night when they finally drag themselves home. 

Each of us has a toggle switch inside of us. When we sense scarcity, we flip into competition mode. We look out for ourselves, and treat the world a zero-sum game: your gain is my loss, so I better focus on protecting what’s mine. On the other hand, when we believe there’s abundance, we flip back to cooperation mode. There’s enough to go around, so we recognize that sharing and supporting each other strengthens our effectiveness as a group, and everyone wins.

When we lead from scarcity, we flip the switch for our teams, and cooperation goes out the window. It’s not that scarcity is never a factor, but we have to make a positive case for our actions as well. What do we gain through this policy or initiative? What does it allow us to do? How does it help us support each other and share the burden? What is the better future we’re trying to achieve?

We can’t be pollyannas. When we face adversity, we need to be honest about it. But to face it effectively, our teams can’t be acting out of fear. 

When a predator attacks, a herd of animals moves, but they split and scatter. When they migrate to their breeding or feeding grounds, they move together, as a steady, undeniable force.