Steve Jobs once said, ‘You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.’
According to INC.com, when you think of “the most desirable qualities an employee can have, your mind might first go to mainstays like solid leadership skills, ambition, or work ethic. Of course, these traits are impressive and undoubtedly contribute to good performance, but having the ability to perform at a certain level is different from having the desire to. That’s what puts passion at the top of the list when it comes to high-performing employees.”
Passion drives performance
There’s a term for employees who want to leave a job but stay and perform poorly. It’s called “dysfunctional retention,” and it could become more commonplace in the wake of recent hiring strategies. In a recent two-year study of 450 employees, researchers concluded that it’s better to retain and hire people who are excited to work at a company rather than keep those who want to leave or are just ambivalent about their job.
“With the current labor shortage, companies are instating sign-on and retention bonuses, increasing base pay, and offering other unprecedented compensation to get people in the door. While these recruitment techniques have certainly helped fill vacant positions, on the whole, they do not prioritize the procurement of dedicated, performance-focused, long-term employees.” It is most important to focus on hiring candidates passionate about their work and your company. Employees enthusiastic about what they do and where they work are critical to organizational productivity and success.
The factors that comprise passion
According to a survey from Deloitte, three characteristics comprise passion:
- A long-term commitment to a specific domain. This describes a person committed to making an increasing difference in one environment over a sustained period of time.
- A questing disposition. When confronted with a challenge, this person becomes excited and wants to pursue that challenge, seeing it as an opportunity to reach the next level of performance.
- A connecting disposition. When confronted with a challenge, a person’s instinct is to actively reach out and connect with others who can help address it together.
When these attributes come together, they strongly reinforce each other.
How to identify passionate employees
One of the most essential practices of a manager is to ask employees how they feel about their work and workplace. It is vital to hear from employees – how they think about their job, the company, and any area they’d like to see improved.
When it comes to job candidates, you’re not likely to find someone who doesn’t appear enthusiastic or passionate during an interview. But how do you know if it’s real? While passion is a soft skill you can’t test for, here are 10 questions Orion Talent suggests asking to identify passionate employees; I think some work for existing staff reviews, as well:
- How do you stay up to date in your field?
- What’s a big question you regularly try to solve?
- How do you connect with other professionals in your industry?
- What makes you most excited about this role?
- What is the most satisfying thing about your job?
- How do you define success?
- Why do you want to work for our company?
- What separates our product/service from others you’ve seen?
- What do you think is our key to success?
- What do you think we can do better?
What sets passionate workers apart is that they are intrinsically motivated. They may be influenced or excited by outside factors such as money or accolades, but they genuinely enjoy what they do. They are motivated by new challenges, constantly looking to improve themselves, have the best interest of the company they work for at heart, and are in it for the long haul.
If you want to read the original article, here’s the link at INC.com.