Getting Passionate About Responsibility for Passion

Relationships are, by definition, a two-way street.

So why would relationships at work between managers and their reports be any different?

They aren't.

Which means that the ongoing discussion about Passion and Work brings us back to a fundamental fact of all healthy relationships: both parties are responsible for success.

Chris Bailey of Bailey WorkPlay offers up an honest assessment of his work life at this moment and how he sees the responsibility for changing it:

Currently, I'm feeling run down by work that increasingly feels like a J-O-B. I'm losing my passion for it. I can actually feel it receding away like the ocean tide. I know what my strengths are and what I love to do...and I feel that I don't have a chance to utilize these in my work with my organization. Now, does my manager read All Things Workplace? Probably not, but yeah, he should. In this case, it's me who needs to take the first step to guide the passion along. More generally, sometimes it's the employee (or the even manager) who needs to bring her or his own manager to the table for this dialogue.

It would be great if all managers got the memo suggesting that they can perpetuate passion. That may not be entirely fair to lay this all at their feet, though. The employee has to be there, too. The employee needs to know what they love, what they want to do, what will connect into their purpose...and they must be willing to share this.

And who knows...maybe the employee might lead the manager to a new understanding of how to connect their passion and purpose to the work they do.

A Good Place to Use Some Passion

Managers don't have easy jobs. They're trying to pay attention to you and everyone else in their group.

Why not get passionate about taking some of the burden from your manager's shoulders and simply start a conversation about what's on your mind?

If you want a good shot at using your talents where you are now, then take the responsibility for making it happen. Nothing warms a manager's heart more than seeing someone who is passionate about responsibility.

Comments

[Wally Bock]

There are a couple of things that work against a team member simply opening up about what's on his or her mind. One is the "welcoming" attitude or lack of it of the manager, as shown in all prior behavior. There's also the team member's experience with other managers at any time. There may be other inhibitory factors, too.

That means that team members may have good reasons for not opening up. So at the end of the day we're back to the fact, fair or not, that that manager's job is to accomplish the mission and care for the people and the latter includes encouraging good and modeling good communication.

[Joe Raasch]

Soooo.....'be the change you want to see in the world"...?

[Steve Roesler]

Wally,

No argument at this end on the ideal.

But what happens if a manager is one of those who, for whatever reason, is really good at just about everything but this?

[Steve Roesler]

Aaaargggh, Joe,

Well, that's surely true. I've always tried never to actually say it:-)

[Chris Bailey]

I never thought I'd be such a defender of managers (guess it harks back to when I actually was one).

I understand what you're saying Wally...but here's the thing: if the team member doesn't open up for whatever reason, doesn't take that risk, then they're only part of the problem. And if the team member is in a position where their manager doesn't create a welcoming attitude, they don't say anything, and then wonder when the passion's going to magically arrive...well, that's just surrendering their potential to mediocrity. Either make a move or move on. As I mentioned in my comment to one of Steve's previous posts, both manager and employee share responsibility to bringing a sense of passion and purpose to any organizational work.

[morocco property]

Your suggestion about to use passion at some goog place works best. It help to explode creativity and pop up the chances of promotions.