From fear to flow: How positive encouragement unlocks potential
Writer: Hannu-Matias Nurmi
Alongside my day job, I coach a group of nine-year-olds in football in Kulps, a relatively small football club. This spring, I noticed something puzzling. Despite hard training sessions and clear progress in practice, our team wasn’t performing at its best in matches. The joy and energy seemed low, the effort inconsistent, and the quality of play was not what we knew we were capable of.
About a month ago, we made a small but important change. In matches, I asked the players to focus on cheering for one another and to pay attention to how they treated their teammates. The rule was simple: encourage each other after both successes and failures. My own role on the sidelines was equally clear – I would only comment positively.
From my own perspective, I hadn’t been an old-school loud shouting monster coach before that, but I had given some remarks to the players on how they could improve during the game, and sometimes in a way that others could hear. Additionally, my non-verbal presence wasn’t always only cheering: I hadn’t been immune to the setbacks on the pitch, and I’m sure this has had an impact on my players. I realised that positive coaching required very conscious effort on my behalf.
What followed was remarkable. Almost overnight, the players became more confident. Slowly but surely, the things we had trained – movement, passing, dribbling, calm finishing – began to appear naturally in games. Smiles returned, even in difficult moments. The collective energy shifted, and with it, the team’s performance rose to an entirely new level.
All of this from one adjustment: building a culture of encouragement.
As someone who works with improving leadership as a day job, all this made me think about what this could mean professionally. Imagine if we, as adults, were as intentional about cheering each other on in the workplace. Too often, our energy is spent on avoiding mistakes rather than playing with courage. We hold back ideas, delay decisions, or shy away from healthy risks because we fear criticism or failure. But what if the culture was different?
What if the culture of encouragement was not just a nice-to-have but the operating model?
A culture of support doesn’t mean ignoring problems or lowering the bar. In fact, it can have the opposite effect. Just as in football, where encouragement gave players the courage to try what they had practiced, in organisations, it permits people to bring out their full potential. It creates the safety to experiment, to challenge existing ways of working, and to recover quickly when things don’t go as planned.
Leaders play a key role here. The way they respond to both success and failure sets the tone for the team. A single word of encouragement in a tough situation can be the difference between a colleague shrinking back or stepping up. Over time, these small moments compound into trust, resilience, and performance.
Of course, adults are not nine-year-olds, and workplaces are not football pitches. But people are people. We all thrive when we feel supported, valued, and safe to be ambitious. A smile, a nod, or a simple “well tried” might not seem like much, but they can transform the atmosphere in a room.
I have seen it with my young players: when the energy is positive, the game flows, the risks are taken, and the best version of the team comes alive. The same principle applies at work. If we can shift our focus from fault-finding to encouragement, from fear to trust, we might discover that our organisations are capable of far more than we thought.
So here’s the question I carry with me: what would change in our companies if we made encouragement the rule rather than the exception?
Hannu-Matias Nurmi |Founder & Partner in Charge| hannu-matias.nurmi@chief.fi | +358 40 809 5291
