Run or own a business or organization? Why? Passion is why, right?
You may be passionate about making money, you may be passionate about running a business or organization in general and/or you may be passionate about the actual business or organization’s purpose you’re involved in. You have a drive inside of you that motivates and moves you daily, weekly and monthly to do your best for your business and/or organization.
Do you believe that everyone in your organization has passion too? They do, if you didn’t know that already, the question is, are they tapping into their passion and is that benefiting your organization? Do you believe that everyone in your organization has the same passion, as you? The same drivers? Is everyone motivated in the same ways? You may know already, people are unique or you may be realizing this for the first time. This means, people are passionate about different things, for different reasons and are motivated to apply passion in your business in different ways.
Are you tapping into all the potential in the people who you work with in your organization? Notice, I didn’t say work for you. One way to help activate passion in the people you work with is ‘be real’ with them; let them know who you authentically are and what your passion is and what motivates you. Encourage the people you work with to be involved in the organization, be involved in the organization’s goals and align with the organization’s goals. Encourage the people you work with to spend time on other things outside of the organization, for which they are passionate about and encourage them to find ways to bring their passion into your organization.
For example, let’s say your business selling software and one of the people you work with, enjoys art. Encourage them to bring their artwork into the office, buy some of their art and hang it up in the office and encourage them to use their creativity for art and discover a bridge to your organization’s goals, in this example, it’s software. An idea of having this one person work on graphics, designs, work flows, cover art, etc.
Links can be found between someone’s passion and the organization’s goals. Organizations can encourage more passion in the work environment naturally. Time invested into the people you work with can lead to the people you work with staying loyal to the organization, loyal to the customers and increased business and great word of mouth advertising.
When the people you work with feel appreciated, well compensated and have work-life balance, their motivation to be more involved in your organization greatly increases. They are happier and feel more connected to the organization. This connectedness and passion will be transparent to those who do business with the organization and this will create loyalty within the organization and with business partners (clients, guests, customers, vendors, etc.).
The energy we all have inside of us is felt by others. Can you remember a time where you walked into a room and the energy or vibe felt tense? Or when you walk into a place of worship and the energy or vibe feels peaceful and loving? This same energy, when motivated and activated with the people you work with, will be felt by your business partners. Now, the big question for you, in your business, is… Do you want to have a tense energy or loving passionate energy in your business?
As an example, ever call a customer service number and have a long wait, then to get a person who is a robot reading from a manual and could care less what you have to say? They go through the motions without any passion. Did you feel good about doing business with that organization afterwards? How about the same customer service call center experience with someone enthusiastic and upbeat and they authentically listen to you about your situation and really want to assist you? They want to ensure you have a good experience and they go above and beyond. How do you feel about doing business with this organization? When the consumer (business partners) feels understood and heard and taken care of, they will be loyal to your organization. How do you get this experience for your consumers to be positive? Passionate people, you work with, that’s how.
I won’t deny that business leaders can force growth in a business by not paying any attention to the people they work with or caring about their passion and the energy of the people they work with. Though forcing growth is hard work, draining to your energy and your business partners know. There is, most likely, no loyalty with your business partners, because it’s “just business”. When a competitor comes along with a more passionate and authentic interaction, your business partners will soon leave and go to that competitor, because it feels better.
The world we do business in is changing. The people we work with and do business with are more aware of the energy inside of us. People are more aware of building business relationships that are beneficial on more than just a business level, but also on a personal level. More and more consumers are interested in knowing that the organization they do business with and interact with leaves them feeling good about their interaction.
