To Inspire Your People

1.       Show passion
2.       Hire passion
3.       Train passion
4.       Empower passion

But realize something:

 

We eventually discover that some people are not passionate and are unlikely to become passionate about organizational development. Their concerns in life are different, and that creates a difficult situation for those who are passionate about the organization, creative growth, and developed excellence. Good is good enough for them. That forces us to think, is that wrong? Perhaps that is the height of their competence and energy given the rest going on in their lives. Perhaps it’s all they’re able to give to the organization given life circumstances outside of the office walls. The organization’s mission can seem a bit unimportant when you’re dealing with newborns, rebelling teens, failing students, medical illness, impending divorce, impending marriage, impending retirement, moving, fertility and virility concerns, etc.,.  Showing passion, therefore, can become irritating if it’s all about the organization or all about the customers. Usually, wise/mature staff can humble themselves for the sake of clients even when their lives are experiencing chaos, but most will have the lingering what about me, my life is just as bad/crazy syndrome. Hiring passion, therefore, can appear the easy solution, except that current unimpassioned employees can be water to the new-hires’ fire. Sometimes, however, the opposite occurs, but that is a rare situation unless the new-hire has a higher status in the organization. A new-hire igniting senior employees is as likely as running on water upstream. Thus, the “passion training” that can be effective must always be led by leaders of those who need it, and must not have other obstacles keeping them from receiving the message (i.e. the employees must respect that leader).  Finally, the empowering of passion is akin to the phrase “don’t quench the spirit.” Fanning flames requires effort and addition – which includes the making the commitment to relationship, giving the freedom to engage but also the oversight to help channel the passion for greater effect, and protecting them from higher level employees who cannot be removed and find the new-hire’s passion threatening.