Sharon Ho-Sang

Setting employees on fire causes great things to happen for the organisation. It raises the level of passion and commitment to enhance performance and increases productivity. When passion pushes creativity, the organisation stays ahead of the competitor.

Benefits
- Passion ignites action and intensifies employees to focus on strategic goals and vision.
- People with passion create an exciting work environment that energizes others and raises the standards of performance.
- Passion protects and promotes the values that drive the organization and creates a sense of urgency which brings change in today’s highly competitive world. In fact, passion is the key to perseverance in the midst of change.
- There is less attrition and absenteeism in a passionate work environment.
- Passion helps people to deal with fear and free their minds to be creative and innovative.

Passionate employees are usually committed to the basic rules of conduct in the organisation and are usually eager to faithfully carry them out. They persistently work towards achieving the defined purpose of the organisation. However, the employer must be able to translate that purpose into meaningful programmes that will ignite the interest of the employees so they can be engaged and fulfil the broader aims and ideals of the organization.

Employers with high energy and an optimistic attitude charge the work environment with a strong and positive feeling, which encourages high productivity. Such inspired workers, on the other hand, are better able to face tough problems with confidence and build teamwork, thereby creating value for the organisation.

Employers should be mindful of obstacles at the workplace such as the lack of recognition and reward, lack of employees’ participation, breach of psychological contract and negative organisational culture, which may quell employees’ passion and disconnect them from the goals of the organisation.

Failure to recognise employees’ contribution to the organisation - and resultant rewards - may result in the employees becoming disgruntled and dissatisfied; reinforcing negative actions and behaviour – all of which can slow down or prevent success. Disgruntled staffers are one of the biggest threats to competitive advantage. They can create havoc in the organisation, or they leave and form new competition.

It is important to involve employees in the decision making process. Lack of involvement can lead to workers misunderstanding the objectives to be achieved. Some employees may withdraw totally, while others may exert minimum effort to get the job done.

There are expectations and obligations that employers and employees have of each other as part of their work experience, which is called psychological contract. It dictates what the parties are required to do in order to meet their side of the bargain and a breach by either party invariably impacts negatively on the contract as a whole. It is usually more influential in affecting behaviour on a day-to-day basis, than the formal contract. So, if workers feel that their employers have reneged on their promise and obligation the staff members may view such action as a violation, resulting in a feeling of being betrayed, deceived or treated unfairly. Such employees can, therefore, become sullen or even leave the organisation; or they might tolerate the ‘discomfort’ they are feeling, but lose enthusiasm for the job.

Culture is the accepted ideals, values and beliefs that give organisations direction. These are norms that govern behaviour, relationship and how work is organised. If the culture does not encourage employers and employees to be respectful, helpful and honest in their dealings with each other, then the workplace could breed the kind of attitude and behaviour that do not auger well for organisational success.

It is important, therefore, for employers to guard against these obstacles by cultivating the kind of environment that will ignite the fire in employees and keep it ablaze.

Sharon Ho-Sang is a Management Consultant and Author of “Mobilising People for Positive Change� Send feedback to: jobsmart@gleanerjm.com