For the purposes of this post, I will focus on team-building in IT and Knowledge Engineering sector. Technologists exhibit a dominating trait that makes them different. They are driven by intellectual needs. They love to solve challenging problems. Subsequently, they only respect and admire colleagues, superiors, managers and leaders who they believe are intellectually competent in their areas of work. This is an important factor to recognize and it makes a huge difference while choosing right leaders for teams and organizations.
Passion is accepted as the best productivity tool. A team driven by passion exceeds defined goals and creates new standards. True Passion is the ability to maintain intense emotions to positively impact the goal. It is something that happens within the individual. External motivators (like wind and oxygen) definitely helps, but the spark and the fire needs to keep burning within.
How did Mahatma Gandhi move massive populations towards non-cooperation objectives. How did Martin Luther King create passion amoung thousands of people to fight racism? How did Nelson Mandela fight apartheid? They practised what they preached. They walked hand-in-hand with general populace as the compassionate co-human-being. Had they restricted their actions to public speeches from atop a podium, there would not have been the enmasse movement.
Passion is accepted as the best productivity tool. A team driven by passion exceeds defined goals and creates new standards. True Passion is the ability to maintain intense emotions to positively impact the goal. It is something that happens within the individual. External motivators (like wind and oxygen) definitely helps, but the spark and the fire needs to keep burning within.
How did Mahatma Gandhi move massive populations towards non-cooperation objectives. How did Martin Luther King create passion amoung thousands of people to fight racism? How did Nelson Mandela fight apartheid? They practised what they preached. They walked hand-in-hand with general populace as the compassionate co-human-being. Had they restricted their actions to public speeches from atop a podium, there would not have been the enmasse movement.
"Passionate teams" is an abundantly used buzz-word in management today. "Building Passionate teams" is a cliche. Frankly, leaders of most organizations are far away from the tactical workings of their teams. They barely know their team's daily activities. They are shielded and separated from the ground realities that affect a project delivery. They simply cannot empathize with fellow workers since they lack knowledge of the process. Some people also go to the extremity of building hierarchical walls to shield themselves from potential failures that may impact their jobs. However, the same individuals are eager to present successes as their strategic and tactical leadership. A person who cannot make time to interact with his/her employees on a frequent and regular basis is definitely missing the pulse of the organization.
Building Passion is not a one-way street or a one-time event. True and continued passion can only be generated and exhibited by being inside the field of play. No amount of watching and lecturing from the side-lines will sustain this. A leader who believes in the "Hire and Fire" model will never be able to demonstrate or build passion. Passion requires an individual to weather numerous storms. One that jumps ship or passes the buck at the drop of hat, simply is not passionate. True leaders are battle-field tested continually and demonstrate their leadership in the trenches. For those leaders who prefer to preach rather than practice, leadership is only a nominal title. It is critical for Talent Managers to identify and nip such individuals before they create permanent damage to the organization.
