Staying Passionate About Your Work

As a leader, the challenge every day is to help your employees get the most out of their work - while also keeping your own passion alive.

Famed leadership expert and best-selling author Simon Sinek puts it well in his new book Find Your Why, when he says:

Every one of us has a WHY: a deep-seated purpose, cause or belief that is the source of our passion and inspiration. You may not yet know what yours is or how to express it in words. But we guarantee that you have one.

This is one of the reasons Sinek has achieved such huge success through his books and TED talks in recent years.

They have literally enabled and assisted so many people to find their WHY; and to wake up each day inspired to go to work, and to come home at the end of the day feeling fulfilled by the work they do.

Being a great boss is being passionate about what you do, and fully believing in what you are trying to accomplish, while also having fun doing it.

This passion makes everyone else want to join in the excitement.

By contrast, an uncaring or unmotivated boss is bored with their life and job and will soon drag down the team.

If the boss doesn’t care, why should anyone else?

A great boss knows how to motivate and inspire everyone around them – a recipe that soon produces extraordinary results.

In other words, one of the main aims of a great boss is helping others as well as themselves, achieve their potential.

In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, US leadership expert Jacob Morgan analysed 252 global organisations for his new book, The Employee Experience Advantage: How to Win the War for Talent.

From his research, Morgan found one of the best ways for bosses to motivate their employees was by using the ‘coach and mentor’ mentality.

This way of leading is something employees really appreciate and thrive on.

However, it is also something many senior managers struggle with, as it goes against the traditional ‘command-and-control’ management style adopted by most senior managers.

Fortunately, many managers are now coming to realise the importance of transferring their knowledge and skills to others, and that by adopting this method the results can be extremely gratifying.

In a recent article on the Experteer leadership website, the authors explain how employing a ‘feel-good’ manager is another good way to maintain ‘the passion’ among your employees.

A feel-good manager is one who knows how to inspire their employees to come to work every morning with a smile; while also encouraging them to not only enjoy their work, but also to complete their tasks more efficiently.

In a similar way to Jacob Morgan’s mentoring approach, the feel-good manager is available to staff as someone to bounce ideas off, and also to work with them to find solutions for specific problems.

This type of manager can also be called upon to discuss more delicate issues, such as handling difficult team members in the workplace.

Obviously, in order for this approach to work, employees must truly trust this manager, and understand their work involves much more than just sitting behind a desk all day.

Indeed, a recent German study conducted by the marketing research group Toluna, in conjunction with the Manpowergroup, found the relationship between the manager and their staff was pivotal in producing good working relationships and optimum work output.

Other important issues mentioned in the study were a good working environment and flexible working times.