Читать книгу Peak Performance Culture - Dave Mitchell - Страница 15

Is your organization led with passion? To achieve peak performance, I believe it should be. To sustain peak performance, I believe it must be.

Passionate leaders are authentic, not superficial. We all know those leaders who appear to be passionate. They talk loudly, move fast, bark orders, give moving speeches, and otherwise behave in a manner that would be labeled as “passionate” by an observer. Many times, however, these are simply the manifestations of desire. At worst, they are merely acting the part, trying to coax others to perform when they themselves are not. I find that these behaviors – the overt and exaggerated displays of energy and enthusiasm—are rarely exhibited by truly passionate leaders.

Passionate leaders are engaged. They attend meetings, not to share directives but to understand the details of the organization's current state. They listen to those who work in the trenches, where the organization touches their clients. They understand that while they may have authority, it is the team members that have impact. They get excited about successes and take failures personally. They are compassionate – exhibiting as much concern for the welfare of their employees as they do their biggest customers. They care. While they may never be completely satisfied with the organizational performance – because passionate people are driven—they always take time to understand the people around them and inspire them in the way they need to be inspired. They appreciate, empower, develop, and relate. They experience joy at work, and that is critical. They work hard and have found a way to manage the stress and time demands associated with being an engaged leader—because passion, with its endless supply of joy, armors them against duress.

Even great leaders burn out if they don't have enough joy in their life. Ultimately, that is the distinction between desire and passion. Leading by desire is burning a finite fuel source. Leading by passion is perpetual.

As we examine the five metrics of peak performance cultures in the chapters that follow, one thing will become abundantly clear: building a peak performance culture is hard. I often joke with my clients as I introduce each metric by saying, “This sounds hard, right? Well, it is. But it's easier than the next one.” It only gets a nervous laugh.

Great organizations don't exist without a foundation of passion. At least, they don't exist long. And passion without joy is just desire that is impossible to maintain without burnout. I know. As I shared earlier in this chapter, I burned out three times in traditional careers before I started the Leadership Difference, Inc. I thought I was passionate about radio and television when I started in broadcasting, but I was done less than five years later. Same with retail and hospitality. Each time I rose quickly up the organizational chart based on high amounts of desire only to find myself exhausted, resentful, and unhappy. It wasn't until I understood my core ideology that I was able to tap into the well of joy necessary to sustain passion for an enduring period.

If you are responsible for an organization, department, team, or even just your own personal contribution to an organization, ask yourself this simple question: “Does my job give me joy?” If it does, then you have a shot at sustaining the passion necessary for the foundation of peak performance. If it does not, I would recommend taking inventory of your core ideology and finding a way to do that for a living. Heck, maybe you should pick up a copy of The Power of Understanding Yourself. I narrate the audible book version. <Wink>