By Preston Poore
Gallup’s recent global leadership research uncovered something surprising. The number one thing followers want from their leaders is not trust, stability, or even compassion. It is hope. More than half of all positive leadership traits people named pointed back to hope as the defining quality they look for in a leader.¹
That finding matters because the workplace is in a fragile state. Employees are stressed, turnover is high, and engagement levels are low. Gallup reports that only about 23 percent of employees worldwide describe themselves as engaged at work.² In other words, most people are either checked out or actively disengaged. And managers account for up to 70 percent of that variance.³
Church staff and congregations feel these same pressures. Ministry teams are not immune to stress, turnover, or disengagement. Volunteers drift, staff burn out, and leaders often carry more than they can manage. So, the question is not whether hope is important. The question is whether leaders, in both the marketplace and the church, are actually providing it.
Too often, leaders confuse hope with hype. They think it means blind optimism or constant cheerleading. But real hope is different. Real hope steadies people in the present and points them toward a better future. It creates resilience. It inspires discretionary effort. It makes people want to stay, rather than walk away.
And the good news? You don’t have to be a celebrity CEO or a well-known pastor to deliver it. Hope shows up in how you lead every day. Here are four practical ways leaders can instill hope in the workplace and in the church.
- Cast a Clear Vision
Hope thrives on direction.
When people don’t know where they are headed, discouragement sets in quickly. Even if they don’t know every step, they need to know the journey is worth taking. Employees want to know their work matters, and church staff and volunteers want to know their ministry makes a difference.
Vision is not about handing out a complete blueprint. It is about pointing people toward a better future and reminding them that what they are doing matters.
I’ve seen this firsthand. During a season of corporate transition, my team felt stuck in the chaos of the moment. People were asking, “Does what we are doing even matter anymore?” My role wasn’t to solve every problem or guarantee every outcome. It was simply to lift their eyes, paint a picture of where we were headed, and say, “Yes, this is worth it. Let’s keep moving.”
Hope begins with a picture of a better future. Whether you are guiding a company through change or leading a congregation through transition, people don’t follow perfection. They follow direction.
- Be Consistently Trustworthy
Hope does not survive in unpredictability.
When people don’t know what to expect from you, they stop looking forward. They stop trusting. And when trust disappears, hope goes with it. This is as true for a team in the office as it is for a staff in a church.
Gallup’s research confirms that consistency fosters stability, and stability in turn fuels hope. People don’t need larger-than-life leaders. They need leaders who are steady, faithful, and reliable.
I worked with a leader at Coca-Cola who modeled this beautifully. His name was Michael. He didn’t command attention with charisma or big speeches. Instead, he built trust the old-fashioned way: he kept his word. He checked in. He followed up. He invested in people’s development plans and ensured they made progress.
It wasn’t loud. But it was powerful. His consistency created stability, and that stability gave us room to hope.
Hope isn’t hype; it is follow-through. Employees, church staff, and volunteers don’t need perfection. They just need to know you will be there tomorrow.
- Encourage in the Middle
Everyone loves to celebrate at the beginning of a journey. Everyone shows up at the end when the results are visible. But in the messy middle, when progress is slow, obstacles are mounting, and people are tired, that’s when hope is tested.
And that’s when hopeful leaders speak.
Encouragement doesn’t mean pretending everything is fine. It means saying: “I see you. I know this is hard. Keep going.”
Too often, we wait for results to affirm people. But encouragement is most powerful when it is given in the middle, before the outcome is clear.
Sometimes the most hopeful thing you can say is not a motivational speech. It is a simple, steady presence: “I am still here. I still believe in you. And I still believe in what we are doing.”
Leaders in both business and ministry understand this reality. In a company, projects stall and momentum slows. In a church, long stretches of ministry can feel routine or unfruitful. In either case, people need encouragement in the middle to keep pressing on.
- Invest in Their Growth
Hope is always forward-looking.
When you help someone grow, you’re not just assigning tasks. You’re giving them a future. People thrive when they know they are being developed, stretched, and prepared for what is next. Employees look for professional development, and staff or volunteers in a church look for discipleship, equipping, and opportunities to use their gifts.
Gallup’s research ties hope directly to development and well-being. When people feel like they are growing, they start to believe tomorrow is worth showing up for. When they don’t, they disengage. They plateau. They start looking for the exit.
Leadership isn’t just about getting work done. It is about growing the people who do the work. And it doesn’t require a complicated plan. Sometimes it starts with a single, intentional step:
- An honest career conversation
- A stretch assignment that builds confidence
- A check-in that shows you care about more than results
When leaders invest in people’s growth, hope takes root. Whether in the marketplace or the church, developing people today is what fuels hope for tomorrow.
The Bottom Line
People crave hope more than anything else from their leaders. Employees want it from their managers. Church staff and volunteers want it from their pastors.
Whether in the workplace or in the church, the principle is the same. Hope begins in the leader, flows to the team, and creates the kind of culture people want to be part of.
Notes
- Gallup. What Followers Want From Their Leaders. Gallup, 2025. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/655817/people-need-leaders.aspx
- Gallup. State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report. Gallup, 2023. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace-2023-report.aspx
- Gallup. It’s the Manager. Gallup Press, 2019. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/247391/manager.aspx
Preston Poore spent 30 years in leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies, including The Coca-Cola Company and The Hershey Company, learning firsthand how character shapes results. He’s served on corporate and nonprofit boards—from the defense industry to higher education—helping leaders grow from the inside out. Preston is the author of How Is Greater Than What: Master the Growth and Leadership Skill Everyone Else Ignores, a field guide for becoming the kind of leader people trust.
