Why Does Passionate Leadership Matter?

What makes a great leader? Is it their work ethic, their confidence, their attitude, their passion?

In a recent study, the Predictive Index surveyed 5,103 employees across 22 industries about their managers. The report, which can be downloaded in full here, sheds light on what makes a great manager (or a terrible boss). One of the findings states that great leaders are passionate.

It’s easy to see that people who excel in their career have a strong passion for what they do, but why? An employee could have all the ideal boxes ticked on a resume; the knowledge, the experience, the skills and strengths, but if they have no interest or passion in their work, they will eventually become disengaged because their heart just isn’t in it.

It’s the passionate people that are going to step up to the plate and take the biggest leaps to help their team move forward.

Passion inspires others to join and identify with your vision.

Not only are they going to do all it takes to move their team forward, they are going to inspire others to do the same. That’s because people want to follow a passionate leader. They want some of that passion rubbing off on them. Why? Because when you’re truly passionate, you aren’t doing the work just for the sake of doing something. You’re showing up each day, excited, which in turn, motivates and excites those around you as well.

Unfortunately, many people lack passion for their work. They feel trapped in their job, which eventually leads to disengaged employees. Inspiring your employees and having long term engagement and excitement requires intentional inspiration from you as the leader. To do this you need to be vocal and excited about why the organization matters.

Passion about your people matters.

While being passionate about your work is critical, the people that are doing the work with you are the key element in your organization’s success. As a leader, you have the ability to bring out the best in all those around you, but are you? Does your team believe you have their best interest at heart, or do they feel you’re only thinking about yourself? Passion for your people is key. Take an interest in the team around you, get to know them better, hear them, and trust them. This genuine interest translates into passion, which will lead to motivation and inspiration for the team to do more. When that happens, everyone wins.

Create a passionate team and together you will not only be able to achieve the goals you have set, you will create new opportunities as well.

From December 4. 2018