What’s happened to the passion in our workplaces?
Leaders are less passionate about what they do and the same can be said of employees in general - fortunately with exceptions here and there. Simple passion for one’s job seems to be disappearing quickly in the modern workplace, and as this happens the passion for excellence is also severely impacted in a negative way. Why is this? How can we turn this situation around?
There may be many reasons for this. Clem Sunter recently touched on this when he wrote: "Where people are employed, many of them are working much longer hours than their parents. Stress-related illnesses are multiplying and the work/life balance has gone straight out of the window.”
Against this backdrop, in today's fast-paced, ever-moving environment, people have to be on top of their game like never before - and I would hasten to add that they’d better have bundles of passion if they’re going to succeed. But it’s difficult to be on top of your game when the situation you lead seem to fluctuate and change in the blink of an eye. Many leaders struggle to have sufficient insight into their environment to see how dynamic changes around them impact the facts of their own situation.
On the positive side, as challenges and obstacles come up so do innumerable opportunities, options and possibilities. This is the nature of life and amid the persistent change of facts and constant wave of obstacles a leader needs to be fully aware of the changing tides. If he isn’t, and allows himself to be consumed solely by challenges, he’s on a losing streak.
Many leaders and their team members struggle to keep focused
As a result, they easily divert from what they agreed on to get a handle on the changing facts and deal with the never-ending challenges. As this happens and performance is negatively affected, they panic and seek answers or even quick fixes by unnecessarily changing direction and relevant structures, implementing new systems and procedures in a desperate attempt to impact performance indicators and accommodate or correct the course that they’re on. And then their organisation moves towards becoming a compliance institution rather than a value-adding institution. This is a dangerous place to be.
What to do about this? As is always the case the answer is simple but difficult: a leader must implement a process, system or way of always remaining in tune to:
1. The changing facts of their responsibilities - not only as they see it but as their team sees it. They have to keep listening,
2. The constraints, obstacles, challenges of their responsibilities, together with the negative perceptions their people may have at any given moment because these impact directly on their attitude, which has a direct correlation with their performance,
3. The positive opportunities, options, strengths at their disposal, together with the positive perceptions that exist,
4. Exactly where they are leading their people to - the destiny,
5. The clear and relevant plan or strategy that will take them there and continually tell their followers they can get there, and
6. The relevant resources, structures needed to follow the plan towards the destiny.
