Cultivate an Attitude of Creative Abundance

Many leaders look for growth by looking at the gaps that exist within their organization. They think about markets, customers, or partnerships that their company has not yet explored, the unmet—or only partially met—needs of their customers, the areas of weakness of their direct reports that need to be improved, and the lack of efficiencies in some of the processes that keep the organization running as it does. They think, "We need more (fill in the blank) to be successful".

But when they say that they want "more", what they're really saying is that they don't have enough. And that is the seed of scarcity that gets planted in their minds as well as in the minds of the people they are trying to lead. When these seeds take root, look out! They may not get the garden of their dreams at all but rather, a whole lot of weeds that need to be dealt with.

Scarcity thinking generates leadership rooted in the belief that "We're not good enough. We have to be better." Out of the mouths of leaders, it can sound like:

• "We're not competitive enough".
• "Our products are not keeping up to consumer trends"
• "We're so inefficient. Unless we improve some of our processes, we'll never get anywhere."
• "Once we do "x", then we'll be successful".

The motivation that is created in the organization from this kind of thinking comes from the fear of failure. Morale is often poor, after all, most people want to work for a great company not a loser one loaded down with problems. Creativity is shut down or severely suppressed. People are too stressed to lighten up enough to let their natural creativity flow and are certainly not in the place of taking creative risks. Scarcity thinking makes people feel that there isn't enough to go around so they look for ways to grab on to what is safe, secure, and reliable: three things that creativity isn't. The walk down this garden path may follow the steps of fear to panic, panic to overwhelm, overwhelm to shut-down, shut-down to failure. Scarcity breeds scarcity so we get more of what we don't want.

In stark contrast, abundant thinking generates leadership that takes its roots in: "We're such a successful and amazing company. Let's look at all the ways that we can share our greatness." From abundant-thinking leaders, you'll hear things like:

• "We have strong people on board and everyday they're getting stronger."
• "Look at all of the creative ways that we're solving problems and growing our business."
• "This is what our customers like about our products. These are the needs that we're fulfilling in the marketplace."
• "We're accomplishing a lot. Just this week, we've been successful at...

The motivation that is created in this kind of organization comes from the desire to focus on, and therefore, encourage, success. Morale is high because people feel good about what they're doing. Their leaders have made them see the direct connection between their strengths and the company's vision and successes. As the people get stronger, they do better work. Their creativity flourishes and they are more comfortable taking creative risks. Problems are not seen as big trees that can't be moved but more like annoying little weeds that need to be pulled out so more flowers can be planted. Abundance is a place of thriving. Scarcity is a place of surviving.

If you want more abundance in your organization, put your gap analysis into the compost bin and toss it around a bit. Use it as a starting point to identify the discrepancy between where you are and where you want to be. For instance, if your gap analysis reveals that you want a more creative culture, start focusing on the creativity (including your own) that exists in your company, the ways in which people are using creative problem-solving, and the creativity that has generated company successes, even the teeny tiny successes. In fact, especially the teeny tiny successes, because then they will grow too. Remember, we all get more of what it is that we focus on. If you want more creativity, then focus on the creativity that already exists. Fundamentally, we're much more abundant-and creative-than we give ourselves credit for.