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Light Employees’ Passion for Jobs

Written by: James R. Lucas

Article Overview: The door to positive and permanent change opens from the inside rather than being absorbed from the outside. Each of us has a purpose and a challenge, but we must uncover it to bring passion to the surface. Managers who ask workers what they “want” to do instead of what they “can” do are better equipped to put people in the right positions.

Light Employees’ Passion for Jobs

Passion and desire come from your choice to live out what you were put on earth to do. According to James R. Lucas, author of The Passionate Organization: Igniting the Fire of Employee Commitment, (Amacom, 1999), managers who ask workers what they "want" to do instead of what they "can" do are better equipped to put people in the right positions. It's a matter of matching the task to the passion. Lucas says the door to positive and permanent change opens from the inside rather than being absorbed from the outside. Each of us has a purpose and a challenge, but we must uncover it to bring passion to the surface.

To help employees find their passion on the job, Lucas suggests managers start with a meeting. Ask employees what you can do to help restructure their jobs in the company. Unless you have the authority, you won't be able to offer immediate guarantees or promises, but it will give you a starting point to begin a progressive change for the future.

At the meeting, ask:

• What are the three things we can do to change your job to make it more pleasureable?
• Of those things, what do you feel inadequate about?
• Do you feel you'd benefit from additional training in those areas?
• What three components of your job do you either not like or care about?
• How can you help us find a way to restructure your position without causing upheaval or a toll on the business?
• Is there another position within the company that you'd like to learn about?
• Are you willing to try other jobs to see how you like them?

Assure workers you'll do everything within your power to help position them in a job about which they are passionate.

If your meeting is with several workers, be cautious not to categorize individuals into groups. Each person has a unique passion that is unlike anyone else's.

"People don't have the same likes and dislikes," says Lucas. "Instead of lighting fires 'in' people, it lights a fire 'under' them."

By creating an environment where workers see that you're genuinely concerned about helping them do what they like most, you'll also create a major step in better communication.

"The saddest thing is when people die with their music in them," Lucas says. "And there's no good reason why anyone should."

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Article Tags: additional training, benefit from, desire, earth, employee commitment, guarantees, james r lucas, job, jobs, li li, nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp, passion, passionate organization, permanent change, progressive change, promises, ul, upheaval



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