Sparking Passion

In my work, I find that leaders who hold close the best interest of their team members and encourage and inspire them to be their best selves. They see themselves in relationship to and with their team, believing in the value of their people and demonstrating trust and respect for their contribution to the team. When people are inspired by a purpose beyond themselves they accomplish much – these leaders embody this. Being an inspirational leader takes tenacity, holding steady belief in their team’s compatibilities and capacity to be their best selves and deliver on the mission.

This is a BONUS in this 5-part series on Passion and Great Leaders by Diana Gabriel, Certified Strengths Strategy Coach.

You must have personal familiarity for what drives passion at work. Click To Tweet

We have been talking about the elusiveness of passion at work, and how important it is for leaders to pay attention to it, unleash it, and reward those who engage with enthusiasm for their work. Personal passions and strengths ­– when aligned with company purpose and values – is a powerful force in boosting high performance and fulfillment.

But it doesn’t happen without forethought. It’s not good enough for you, as the leader, to assume your team will know it when they see it. You can’t leave it up to your people to bring it on. You must have personal familiarity for what drives passion at work in their Strengths domains and set the platform for your team by articulating clear values and purpose.

Furthermore, no one can become passionate and perform above and beyond expectations without autonomy and responsibilities. When you insist on controls and top-down management, you will struggle to get grass roots participation.

Formal hierarchies are typically miserable at driving innovation and creativity. Participative management styles, on the other hand, are good at creating cultures of engagement where ideas and passion can grow and flourish. Are your team leads convinced, however, that less control and more autonomy is possible for improved productivity and performance? You need to lead from a place of exhibiting trust in your team lead’s personal passions and strengths. When aligned with company purpose and values this is a powerful force in boosting high performance and fulfillment. For many of the team leads I work with, handing over their managerial controls and extending trust to their teams takes trust and courage in their leader.

Red Hat’s CEO Jim Whitehurst discusses unleashing passion and performance where you work. In The Open Organization, Whitehurst suggests five key leadership tips:

1. Passion is contagious. When leaders display emotion, others will follow.
2. Most companies have a stated purpose or mission. Integrate it into your dialogue with others on a daily basis.
3. Add passionate words to your work vocabulary: “love,” “hate,” “excited” and “upset.” Others will adopt this behavior.
4. Ask questions that tease out passion when hiring (i.e., “What inspires you?”).
5. Create vehicles for people to show their unvarnished selves. Company outings or team-building events should allow for some silliness.

How do the team leads in your organization ignite passion? How do you need to show up to create an inspirational workplace? What is needed now?

You can reach me here or on LinkedIn. I’d love to hear what’s happening where you work.