Hope is Not a Business Strategy

Do you ever catch yourself using hope as a strategy to get the results you want? Think about how much of your work life you spend hoping that (1) the prospective client will sign up to work with you; (2) the position for which you are being considered will be offered; (3) things will work out. Test yourself by recording each time you catch yourself using hope as a business strategy. Is hope a word that works in business? "I hope things work out," is a sentence I hear frequently from coaching clients, who early on in our coaching relationship relied on hope as a business strategy. Small Business Owner—Some of the coaching was about severing a business relationship with her most demanding client that she continued to hope would work out. My client did not get paid on time and when she was paid, she received only partial payment. She was doubtful about ever getting paid in full. Yet, she maintained the relationship because she continued hoping for both payment and for "big money" clients this partially paying client promised. My client was overwhelmed, uncomfortable, not aligned with her values, and unable to focus on her prompt, fully paying clients. When I asked her to describe how the word hope was working for her from the purely physical aspects, she said, "My shoulders and neck hurt, my throat feels tight, I have a heavy weight on my back. I am walking in mud." Hope was not working as a business strategy. Professional in Career Transition—Some of the coaching was around interviews in a job search. My client had been searching for many months without success and beginning to feel desperate. During one coaching conversation about an upcoming interview, the client offered, "I hope things will turn out OK." I asked her to explore how she experienced herself saying hope, and she responded, "Weak." By describing how she was sitting with her shoulders bent forward and her eyes looking slightly down she was able to get a deeper sense of how hope was not a word that worked. Through reframing talking about interviews to, "I trust things will turn out OK," the client experienced herself more positively and within three months had two job offers. If you hope to get clients, a job, sell a product or that things will work out, you are wasting your time. Check out what physically happens when you hope. What shape is your body in? Are your head, neck, and shoulders aligned? How does your throat feel when you speak the word hope out loud? How solid do your feet feel touching the floor? What energy vibrations do you sense when you use hope as a business strategy? Hope is definitely a word that works in settings other than business and sometimes is the best and only strategy. While hope may be a campaign strategy that helps win an election, hope does not win the vote of clients, customers or employers. As a business strategy, hope is a word that does not work. In business, replace hope with trust or expect to get positive results.