According to Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks "Passion" for what you do is an essential attribute for a good leader. I have always been very passionate about my work. I love my job, (most of the time) and always give 100%.
A question to ponder is........How do we as leaders keep the passion alive in tough economic times during downsizing and restructuring and still keep the management team motivated?
I really struggle with this issue, and as we've talked about previously, none of us get any satisfaction when forced to terminate. What words of wisdom can you share?
Mariann
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8 comments:
From our reading, I see that passion must be partnered with ambition, vision, creativity and everything else that keeps people and organizations moving on to the next phase. A down economy shouldn't spoil the excitement of the next new way to serve your customers, or solve a problem. Keep the dream alive, the passion alive by constantly challenging it.
Here's a new reference I've found: Leader to Leader http://www.leadertoleader.org/knowledgecenter/L2L/index.html. Maybe something there will be of use to you in your work or writing your paper.
Last comment by Jan.
I think the issue of keeping the passion for work alive should be looked at in both thriving and poor economic times. Passion, and zest for our individual jobs can be lost because we go to our jobs 5-6 times a week. If a person stays at this company for a long period of time I think it is only human to lose passion for a job once in a while.
Rekindling the spark is the real trick, and I think the ownership of keeping an employee’s morale up is with both the management team and the employee.
Managers, I think, need to keep work interesting, and this can be done in several ways. The first thought that comes to mind is give challenging assignments to all employees in the group. Try not to have one individual “go to” person, because employees start to feel like they have lost relevance in the group and performance can suffer. As managers identify employees having trouble with individual assignments this can open the door for some coaching and mentoring to try and improve that individuals skills. The next thing that can be done is offer consistent rewards. If a group works hard, make sure they can play hard as well. Incentives can include money, time off, flex time schedules, praise in front of the group, or just a compliment of appreciation. The last thing a manager can do is show their human side. Don’t be robotic when dealing with employees. Show personality and a spark because that goes a long way with people.
Employees need to take ownership of keeping passion alive for their job as well. The best thing I can think of is for individuals to set goals of what they would like to accomplish. Just going to work day in and day out can become monotonous. But keeping a log of short term and long term goals may help alleviate that monotony. Try to become involved with organizational events. If there is a volunteer program, or training offered try to become involved. This may open the door to new networks with in the company and hopefully keep morale up. Those are my thought on keeping the passion alive at work.
Chris
Have you ever worked for someone or with a team that has lost their passion? It reminds me of the office scene from the movie Joe Vs. the Volcano...resembling a gray existence that we trudge thru daily.
With that said; it is easy to become distracted by things out of our control; economics; regulations; or organziational restructuring. When this happens; it is frequently the norm for leaders/managers to become fixated and anxious about the changes; subsequently losing their edge and drive for whatever purpose they had previously set out to do.
I think that if we view these distractions as opportunities, we can use them to motivate us for change, drive and create momentum of greatness for our teams.
The economic struggles we currently face in Michigan are a great example. I think that when we reflect back on this time period ten years from now; we will find a few great examples of leadership in both the business realm and maybe even a few in the political arena.
Demonstrating a passion for your work is a "must" if you want to have success as leaders. We are the "example" to our teams of what they should strive for.
Our state, and subsequently many companies within our state is going through a very difficult economic time.
It is very easy to become too involved with what is going on around us, and not concentrate on what we should be focused on. As leaders, we must be focused on moving our companies forward.
All the circumstances external to our company processes need to be kept at bay. Sometimes we need to become cheerleaders, if you will, for our company vision and the goals at hand.
Team building activities can bring a group of individuals closer. With that, they can become more focused on the company and not the external circumstances, which are out of their control anyway.
Try to get everyone involved so that nobody will feel "out of the loop." When times are tough, there seems to be an increased sensitivity to being left out.
John
In all of our organizations, regardless of the industry, passion differentiates the "players" from the "pretenders". People that are driven are the foundation of great organizations. A leaders ability to cast a positive shadow and take people with them, even in tough times, is magnetic and reinforces to the troops that the vision is worth fighting for.
Leaders with strong communication abilities keep teams involved and aware of the state of the business and what each individuals performance brings to the team. Recognizing the staff for the every day "singles" versus waiting to say thanks when someone hits the "homerun" is necessary in any organization.
Building solid performance reviews that are rich in dialouge and Mid year development plans that address both personal and professional goals also aid in the engagement, passion, of the team.
Jim
As stated, passion for what you do is essential for good leadership, but often difficult to maintain during trying times. This is where a good leader has to find ways to re-energize their organization and their own passion. Take a break from the daily routines, go on a retreat or vacation, go to a seminar or seek out others in your profession that may have ideas to overcome the difficulties your are experiencing. Take a fresh approach by re-analyzing your situation and priorities, then find new ways to re-invigorate yourself with a new prospective. Communicate with others in new and different ways to bring about a new attitude. Communication is the lubricant that allows the gears to turn more freely, fostering new thinking and innovation to tackle old problems.
Gary
I believe passion is inherent....there will always be naysayers or those who are angry and bitter, but generally speaking most folks work ethic and passion for doing a job well remains intact (if they had it to begin with).
I have worked projects where in the early stages there were assumptions that several jobs/roles would be eliminated as the result of new processes/technology....while some folks left anticipating a reduction in force, others ended up in different roles that were identified and developed as a result of changing work processes. Mind you, they had no guarantee, but they each continued to give 100% because they liked what they did and who they did it for.
Passion may at times be easier to sustain in healthcare, as for many of us, we know the patient is ultimately the final recipient of the product.
Having said that...how do you generate passion in the negative employees (the ones you spend most of your time managing) even when they are not facing downsizing and restructuring...:)
Melissa
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