Turning Into Organizational Performance - the role of passion in business management and leadership

Training & Development, May, 2001 by Richard Chang

Step 5: Perform with passion. Once a plan is in place, the organization can begin acting on its passions. That will be liberating for leaders and associates alike. People who are aligned around the passions and purpose of the organization and excited about them will begin to perform at a higher level as passion enters their work. The organization will become self-motivated and increasingly capable, with little need for outside guidance or inspiration.

Step 6: Spread excitement. The organization that acts with passion gains notice from the outside world, spreading its excitement to customers, colleagues, potential employees, and even critics. Internal learning and development programs can help employees identify personal passions and put them to work on the job. External communication programs and marketing efforts can expose customers and colleagues to the organization's core passions and give those people an opportunity to build personal enthusiasm around the organization's efforts.

Step 7: Stay the course. Passion based change is exhilarating. Once the organization has cleared the initial hurdles of fear and caution, it discovers that passion-based change is energizing. However, passion-driven organizations also take measures to ensure that they don't lose sight of the passions that made them great. They recognize that if their enthusiasm went unchecked, it might lead them in counterproductive directions.

Passion in the workplace and marketplace

Passion must start with leadership. Surely it can emanate from other sources, but in building a passion-driven organization, it has to come from the top. The leaders must live and breathe the passions they profess. Could Southwest's employees embrace freedom if they weren't allowed to make decisions without the permission of supervisors? Obviously not. If leaders don't exude their organization's core passions, associates will have no reason to believe the passions are real or worth embracing.

Although passion in leaders is essential, it's meaningless if not shared by associates at all levels. Without their support, the goals established in the action plan are mere wishes. Associates' energy and commitment are the foundation of the organization's performance and the key to its progress. To ensure the achievement of desired organizational performance results, leaders must immediately and systematically seek to align associates with the core organizational passions they've identified.

One of the most important and effective practices leaders can adopt in aligning the organization around passion is to establish clear and constant communication. Associates can't be expected to share a passion they aren't aware of or don't understand. Beyond the basic forms of communication, organizations can create programs for the express purpose of educating associates about their core passions. As efforts are made to increase employees' awareness of their organization's core passions, there will be some people who won't share them. In such cases, the people not on board with the organization's passions will usually choose to leave.