The best entrepreneurs, the most successful sports stars and the most talented artists all share one thing in common; they love what they do.
But there is a love which transcends ‘normal’ boundaries. It’s a love that flirts with obsession, dances with crazy and becomes, at times, all consuming. This is what passion is. It’s the dialling up of emotion to a level where our passion becomes and extension of who we are. It’s a trait the most successful individuals share and one that businesses are increasingly trying to emulate.
Successful businesses have passionate employees. These are the kind of employees who love their work, the company they do it for and the people they do it with. This is what business passion looks like. A group of people with a shared belief, a desire to make a change and a will to succeed.
Passion creates confidence, enthusiasm, excitement and is infectious; passionate people like to be surrounded by likeminded souls. Creating this isn’t something that can happen overnight yet the simple fact of the matter is passionate employees perform better so we should all strive to achieve it. It takes time and work to get right. First and foremost is being able to create an environment where passion can thrive and be let loose.
Here’s where to start when it comes to unleashing passion throughout your company:
Find the right people
As we’ve said already, passionate people like to be surrounded by other passionate people. This is because it not only makes work much more enjoyable, it also improves the quality of the work being produced. As well as wanting to work for a business with purpose and a strong social conscience, Millennials (soon to be the biggest demographic in the workforce) want to be surrounded by colleagues who excite, enthuse and challenge them.
Express yourself!
Or more to the point, give your employees the freedom to express themselves. This comes in two parts; firstly, give them the autonomy to pursue areas that interest them and where they excel. Secondly, create an environment where people are heard, listened to and where sharing emotions is encouraged. These conditions make it much easier for employees to be passionate about what they do.
Be more than the sum of your parts
Building a great culture, having an awesome product, hiring amazing people and giving back to society will all help when it comes to unleashing the passion in your employees. To take it to the next level, raise the bar and have aspirations that inspire people and can only be reached when everyone works in unison. Aim to change the world, to do something no company has achieved before and to change people’s lives for the better. Do this, and your employees will love you and love their work with an unmatched passion.
Improving employee engagement and seeing the benefits this brings is much more than having happy employees. Engagement comes from passion, from truly enjoying work and from believing the work you do can make a lasting impact to the lives of others.
