After all is said and done, the success of your organization will depend on the “Passion Factor”. The passion of its employees to work with enthusiasm and give everything for something they see as more than just a job: a cause. If your organization doesn’t reach this level, you won’t win in today’s competitive marketplace. They will undoubtedly get along and do things as usual. But you will not achieve great ends. This is the power of the passion factor.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, a German philosopher and inventor commented: “Nothing great in the world has been achieved without passion.” He was simply saying that regardless of what an individual or group of people may have painstakingly amassed in the realm of core competency and the like, the proof of their commitment to success lies in passionately supporting all of these wonderful values. Passion remains the key to greatness.
In his timeless work, Good to Great, one of the 3 key values espoused by Jim Collins to which corporate greatness was attributed was the passion factor. And I will be devoting a lot of thought to this topic in the coming weeks.
So what is passion then? Within this context of achievement and performance, passion is the Insatiable Burning Desire to Achieve, over and over and over again… To broaden our horizon on this topic, you will provide us with the following perspectives on passion, but keep in mind the fact that the essence remains the same.
oPassion is a powerful and intense emotion
oPassion is about being a fan
oPassion is electricity in the workplace
oPassion is enthusiasm
oPassion is intensity
oPassion is an obsession
oPassion is possession
oPassion is zeal
From the passion perspectives above, it is very clear that passion is a motivational factor. And just like other motivators for success, passion must be ignited. People should be encouraged to look deep within themselves to find a cause to which they are committed; to find and adhere to a vocation they love; enthusiastically work for organizations that embody your innermost desires; to promote brands that evoke their delight.
If you don’t feel these emotions towards the things you’re currently doing at work, or for the company you currently work for, then it’s time to move on and find something you’re passionate about. Because you will never achieve greatness by working on what you don’t have intense emotion. And no organization will reach its full potential if it has within its facilities a significant number of employees without what I call “Organizational Enthusiasm.” Because people should work in jobs or causes they love and they should work for companies they are passionate about. It works both ways.
Organizational enthusiasm is the love of employees for the company they work for. It is a microcosm of what true patriotism really is. It’s a strong feeling for the company’s name, its values, its brands, its people, and that’s all. HR supervisors must constantly look for this factor in the course of their people screening processes and act accordingly to ensure there are no roadblocks within their facility. And who is dead? The one devoid of passion. See you next week.