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

Training & Development, May, 2001 by Richard Chang

PSS/World Medical also operates an internal university, with curriculums on job-related skills and assessments that help people gain a window into themselves. For example, an occasional sales recruit may realize that selling isn't a core personal passion and decide to pursue a different career path. Similarly, someone who enters the university's leadership school may find that despite the initial appeal, a leadership role doesn't tap into his or her core passions or may even be passion draining. Yet, PSS/World Medical doesn't give up on those people. It subscribes instead to right-fit placement, putting people in jobs that best match their passions and abilities. From a passion-management perspective, that's a critical and necessary practice. Sharing or believing in an organization's core passions doesn't guarantee employees' performance success. To excel, they must also be passionate about the roles they fulfill.

When people are excited about their organization and passionate about what they do, the benefits are tremendous. Because they're invested emotionally, they're also loyal. Their relationship goes beyond the transactional to a deeper level of organizational commitment.

Given the right desire and commitment, almost any organization can be transformed into a passion-driven one. Minor adjustments can bring improvement, but major changes aimed at aligning the organization around passion can bring phenomenal success. That success may be measured in dollars, but it can also be measured in more significant terms--in fulfillment of potential and in the value and quality of experience. Passion-driven organizations, and the people that form them, are raising the standard by which we judge goods, services, and employment. Simply put, passion makes things better. Doesn't your organization deserve to enjoy the many benefits of being driven by passion?

Richard Chang is CEO of Richard Chang Associates, a performance improvement consulting, training, and publishing firm headquartered in Irvine, California. He has written more than 20 books on business and personal development, including The Passion Plan at Work, The Passion Plan, and Performance Scorecards;

Richard Chang says that by age 8, he knew he had to create and run his own business. His first entrepreneurial effort was a lemonade stand with multiple locations; he recruited the franchisees and expanded the product line to include candies and snacks.