A team is only as good as its members. If they are passionate, it is able to grow in leaps and bounds. It is the job of the leader to ignite this passion in their team members. It is important to note that you will never find people who are passionate from birth. You have to turn your members into passionate ones through strategic leadership activity. There are ways and means through which you can accomplish this. Read on to discover 8 powerful ways to spark passion in a team.
Give them purpose
Purpose is what gives a team the 'why' to go the extra mile as they work for you. It can be described as something which we can work towards that is bigger than us. Purpose is a psychological need that is basic and pursued by every person who wishes for a brighter tomorrow. Team members desire to have a purpose to keep fighting and working hard every single day and maybe even on the weekends. As a leader, create this purpose and your team members will find a way to make it happen.
Create professional intimacy
If you want to achieve something great, you will need others to help you get there. We all need some help in getting to our professional, business, social, intellectual and spiritual goals. All human beings feel the need to belong. This means that they feel the desire to be part of a group that finds them valuable through intimate connections. In your capacity as a team leader, you can create this intimacy though rituals. Find some activity that you can perform with your team members so as to create a special feeling of togetherness. Examples of these activities are group huddles on Mondays, brunch on Fridays or weekly performance recognition activities. This creates professional intimacy and fans the fire of passion.
Appreciate your team
People are naturally wired to do much more when they feel appreciated. Leaders are aware of this fact. However, not many of them convert this concept into actions. They tend to believe that they appreciate their teams a lot more than their teams think. This is known as the appreciation blind spot. It leads to more thought and less action. Business leaders should overturn the effect of this blindspot and actually show physical appreciation. Whenever you see a team member doing something that is great for the company, appreciate their efforts immediately. Be specific about it, do it often and appreciate all team members. This will make them feel cared for and inspire them to work harder.
It begins with you
If you want your team members to be passionate, you must first be passionate yourself. If you are passionate, you will inspire people to follow you anywhere. Passion breeds confidence. Therefore, you must find a way to be passionate about your company and the work that you do to lead it. This passion can come from a dream, a purpose, a cause or to solve a particular problem. Find what makes you passionate and pursue it relentlessly. Passion is contagious and your team will follow you until you achieve your goal.
Understand the motivations of your team
If you want to inspire passion in your team, it is highly important to know what they are passionate about. People are different and they feel passionate about very unique and different things. Go beyond the information that you get during your job interview. Strive to learn more about your team and what gets each one of them up in the morning. Ask about their personal hobbies, talents and goals. After that, you will learn what ignites the fire of passion in each one of them. This will give you a guide to follow as you foster passion in your team members.
Give your team members some time to develop the passion
Just like anything that is worth having, passion takes time to create. A leader can give the team some time to do this by setting apart some time during the working period for this to happen. In many organizations, this time is known as creativity time. During this period, the team members are free to do anything that they feel can increase their productivity, passion and creativity. This freedom gives them the drive to keep working passionately at their tasks.
Provide unconditional support
Some of your team members might have passions that are not related to the work that you expect them to do. Some are passionate about sports, entertaining others or even cooking. After you identify these unique passions, create a working environment that has some of these passions in it. These could be done through the decorations, some equipment or even props. In this way, your team members feel as though they are living their passions. Thus, they will give 100% in their tasks and promote the growth of the organization as a whole.
Create time for relaxation
It is very difficult to be passionate all the time. It is a conscious attitude which requires some effort. Therefore, you and your team should find some time to recharge and refocus your attention. This can be through impromptu gatherings every day to relax and catch up on matters that are not related to work or even to watch a new movie as a group. This give the brain time to rest and churn out some great ideas. It has been observed that the subconscious brain is able to produce its most brilliant ideas during the downtime. This can be as you sleep or as you engage in a relaxing activity. Find ways to incorporate time for such activities in your team's schedule and you will keep the passion burning.
The Important Take Away
Passion leads to excellent work. It is even observable in the resulting products or services. You can easily identify an item that was made with passion when you compare it with one that was made by an uninspired team. Not only does it lead to much better results, passion allows a team to survive the ruts or downturns that could occur. The tips indicated above can help you to spark passion in your team. By following them, you can transform them and improve the overall performance of your company.
