Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. ~ Aristotle
Low levels of employee engagement continue to create performance challenges for every type of enterprise. While surveys reveals CEOs are highly concerned, not much has happened to improve the results of decades of employee surveys. It is time to seriously look for the real solution — passion.
Our passions often guide how we work. It affects our behavior, personality, and mentality when we work. It’s no surprise then that the lifeblood of an organization is an employee who is passionate in what he or she does.
What sets companies apart, the companies where people love to work, is passion. People want to be passionate about what they do, and they want to be surrounded by people who are also passionate about what they do [Source].
Passion and the Employee
In an ideal world, organizations and institutions would be run by passionate workers who love what they do. Unfortunately, according to a survey done by Deloitte LLP, 87.7% of US workers don’t fulfill their potential because they don’t have passion for their work, and that only less than 12% of the workforce possesses all three attributes of worker passion:
Long-term commitment to a specific domain: employees who focus on long-term goals.
Questing disposition: workers unafraid to learn new things and face challenges to get the job done and better themselves.
Connecting disposition: workers who seek to build long-lasting relationships based on trust and mutual goals for the organization.
John Hagel, director of Deloitte Consulting LLP, states that, “Unleashing the passion that is latent within existing employees is a long-term solution versus narrowly focusing on just recruiting passionate people.”
I’ve written before how employees who are more committed to their companies put in 57% more in their work and are 87% less likely to resign.
Redesigning the Workplace Around Passion
This means that it falls on the leaders and managers to redesign their work structure or environment to cultivate or rekindle the passion in their new or existing employees.
It is imperative, therefore, that leaders take the initiative to help their team members or employees in identifying their passions, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they can work together to rekindle their passion for their work.
With the right coaching and guidance, your team members can fulfill their potential while finding meaning and passion in what they do.
The Talent Management Institute provides a variety of cost effect resources specifically designed to equip team leaders with the skills to effectively coach and provide guidance to the new generation of knowledge workers and emerging leaders. Click here to learn more.
