Can You Teach Passion? I say YES.

I think most organizations do a fine job of finding or creating solid management training for the basic stuff - giving feedback, using 360s, progressive discipline, etc... Where we are less common to see effective training is dealing with matters that help managers create and electric workplace - electric as in engaging, interesting, positively charged etc... An obviously passionate manager will act and think much differently from one who is not feeling passion about his or her work.

So the question is, can you teach a manager or leader how to be passionate?

This might go against your initial instincts, but I think we can. Or rather, I think we can align all the passion making planets and increase its likelihood.

From where does passion come? Some people will be passionate in spite of their work circumstances and others need to be in a particular setting. That's OK, we should not create development programs based on the minority who do not need it. We should expect we need to help people do their best work.

Here are the conditions or elements that foster workplace passion:

Position fit - there is nothing more damaging than having someone in the wrong job. All those involved suffer. If you have people in the wrong jobs, change this, without delay. I had one client who had an unwritten policy that once someone was promoted they could not go backwards - BAD POLICY! We sometimes promoted people into roles for which they are not a good fit and we should be able to correct this with openness, care, and confidence. One of my coaching clients was in this situation. She knew it, I knew it, but her employer preferred to let her fail in her current role than correct their mistake (yes, they made the mistake promoting her, the signs were clear she was not a good fit).

Openness - If your work environment is one where people cannot be themselves, then you are squelching passion. Period. I surveyed one organization where it was obvious that this was a key barrier to their success. The senior leadership bred this environment, but they did not think this was the case (although they felt the same restrictions regarding how they communicated with the HQ). I remember when I worked at Amazon that they had an ad campaign for workers that said something like this, "we love your blue hair..." The blue hair was not the real message, although there were lots of vividly colored people (hair and tats) there, the bigger message was bring us your ideas, even the ones outside the norm. I am working with one client whose CEO is such a strong personality, her staff is obviously not open with her. You can tell this after just one meeting. Imagine what it feels like to be working this way every day.

Clear compelling goals aligned with action - Passion is the outcome of a clear goal that feels right and is on track. When someone says, "I am passionate about music," he or she is saying that music is an important part of their lives and that he or she is fueled by that as long as he or she stays connected with music. You might not think there is a goal in there, but there is, and it might be unspoken but it is clear. Goal: Music plays an important role in my life. I know a lot of managers who are passionate about helping people do their best work but they spend virtually no time doing this. Goal: Helping people plays an important role in my work. If they spend little time helping people, they will be out of whack and their passion will fade - it gets smothered by regret.

BTW - a quick aside about goals. Your stuffy corporate goals might not be enough to get your managers excited. What's in it for them? Make sure you answer this. "Increase shareholder value," might not be enough - for even the most business minded - to keep people excited during tough times. I sat down with a leader a few weeks ago who had no compelling goals or mission. It was so sad and deflating. I want everyone to have goals that are so exciting, that they get chills just thinking about them.

Contribution - Recent studies tell us that we feel intrinsically motivated when we feel we are "making progress." We want to progress. We want to feel like our efforts have meaning and make a difference. We want to see and feel that we make an important contribution. This is why our after work nonprofit work is often so rewarding - we ca see and tell we are making a difference. At work, our passion will increase when we can see the contributions we are making and they may fade when we feel our work does not make a difference. This is the cornerstone of my middle management training approach, BTW, to help reignite the fires of managers who feel like pawns in the middle by helping them see and feel the contributions they make (and increase their contributions).

Position fit, openness, clear compelling goals and aligned actions, and contribution. When these elements of our work are strong, our natural passion for our work will shine through. Can we teach these things? You bet we can, and we should. Thoughts?

One more thing. If you are a leader who wants to ignite passion, focus, and engagement, talk about these elements and make decisions with them in mind. Give it a try at your next one-on-one and see the difference!

One more thing. If you are a coach, consider these elements as important for helping people get zooming toward their goals.

Comments

[Michael Kroth]

Lisa,

Great post. I totally agree. I co-authored a book called "Transforming Work: The Five Keys to Achieving Trust, Commitment, and Passion" a few years ago (http://amzn.to/cK76F9) which is all about creating passionate work environments. We introduce Occupational Intimacy and the Passion Transformation Model. Anyway, I think not only can you create the milieu for managers to have passion for their work, but also for the workforce.