All the ‘expertise’ around the table at a recent dinner party declared that when passion disappears from a marriage then that is when the seeds of divorce are sown . Indeed some brave males even declared that it may not lead to actual divorce as so many marriages just ‘chug’ along well below their true potential. – Just like many Business Leadership Teams?
So where is the High Performing Management Team discussion here? The answer lies in the question – ‘how many teams are just ‘chugging along’ well below their true potential?’ If yours is or you know some that are then lets take a look at the part Passion plays in making a performance difference and, of course putting a satisfied smile on the faces of the participants as they really start working as a team….
Most business Teams today are ‘squeezed’ with many team players taking on more to be accomplished with less budget than the previous year. Relieving the load and improving the prospects and moral of your put-upon workforce can be achieved by finding the passion in your Team.Passion is the bedrock of the equation 4+4= 9 or more.Ignite the fire that will drive a team onto high performance status and things will become easier.Considerably so.
Someone once said that it is not enough to aim, you also have to ‘hit’. When passion exists then hitting becomes the norm. Passion creates 100% commitment and a cycle of positive thinking becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.It is a fact that Leaders who are looking for the positive attract more that is positive.
We need Passion because…
Without Passion you won’t ever become a high performing management team. The Law of Attraction teaches us that when something is not as it should be, the faster you turn your attention in the direction of a solution, the better, because wasting time on continuing exploration of the problem will simply prevent you finding the solution. Having a passion for something causes the ‘pull’ towards the positive and finding the best solution. We each possess the qualities of thinking positively, expecting the best in others, we all have massive potential .It is Leaderships role to ignite the touch paper of passion.
In my experience of working with high performing teams who have really excelled and made their whole a great deal better than the sum of the parts, the common denominator is the leaders passion for having individual team members excel their previous levels of performance and amaze themselves with what they have achieved.
Passion is not….
Just a word, it’s a term that is bandied about a lot in business.Passionate leaders, in my experience, are down to earth, realistic,innovative and creative.They are all these things because they have the energy and belief that make them so.They don’t ever tell you they are passionate, they just get on with making the important happen
Passion is….
Real- it is not faked. I have heard Managers declare their passion for this brand of chocolate or this brand of whisky only to be using the same words about another brand at the next product launch. No no no, you know that is fake. People will feel your passion without the need to use the word.
Learning Passion…..
Passion can be learned. My experience in Coaching Teams and Individuals is that they often get far too close to the issues and therefore don’t have clarity of the issue in a bigger context.
A short lesson here for us all is to stand back , consider the long term Vision of the Future as you want it to be ( stretch, better, different, bigger etc ) and now look at your current modus operandi and challenge yourselves that you are going about this the best possible way. It is important to see your business differently, sometimes you may need outside help to do this as their questions will shake things around.When you have completed an exercise like this use the outputs to ignite your own passion in the course of doing the same for others. You owe this to yourself and your followers.
Summarising briefly, Teams often need to make fundamental changes in order to ‘win’ in whichever sector they are in.But one of the most important elements is the genuiness of the Team Leaders commitment towards what they are doing and why they are doing it in their particular way. It is a given that we all want to maximize our bonus. Great leaders are doing it because they want to maximize the potential of the individuals and therefore the Team.Getting the most out of everyone so that 4+4= 10.
Passion is what makes the difference.
Key Points
- to make the most of any situation, passion has to be one of the early ingredients
- passion is a mindset – it has to be genuine
- having passion in the culture is predominantly the responsibility of leadership
- surely making your team a high performing team which everyone wants to be a part of is worth getting passionate about in the first place ????