The M.A.P. Maker

8 factors influencing employee passion

A company's employees are the engine that propels it forward (or, in some unfortunate cases, leaves it coughing and sputtering by the side of the road).

I often describe the process of getting the most from those employees in a way that's a win for everyone involved as tuning the engine. The potential is there. The question is, how do you maximize the employees' experience and energy for their work? It's definitely not going to come from management cheerleading. At best that's short-lived; at worst it's a Dilbert cartoon.

So where does employee passion come from? The Ken Blanchard Company has some ideas. After survey 25,000 employees from around the world, the company identified eight major factors influencing employee passion:

• Meaningful work—Employees perceive the organization’s larger purpose through products or services produced, consider their work to be worthwhile, and are proud of their individual actions and contributions that help the organization serve its customer.
• Collaboration—Employees perceive an organizational environment and culture that enhances collaboration, cooperation, and encouragement between all organizational members.
• Fairness—Employees perceive an environment where pay, benefits, resources and workload are fair and balanced and equitable, people treat each other with respect, and leaders act in an ethical manner.
• Autonomy—Employees perceive an environment where people have the tools, training, support, and authority to make decisions.
• Recognition—Employees perceive an environment where they are praised, recognized, and appreciated by colleagues and their leader for their accomplishments, where they receive monetary compensation for those accomplishments, and where they are contributing to positive relationships with others.
• Growth—Employees perceive an environment where people have opportunities to learn, grow professionally, and develop skills that lead to advancement and career growth.
• Connectedness with leader—Employees perceive an environment where they trust their leader and where the leader makes an effort to form an interpersonal connection with them.
• Connectedness with Colleagues—Employees perceive an environment where they trust their colleagues and where their colleagues make an effort to form an interpersonal connection with them.

How about you? Does that match your experience? Are there any other factors you see as important?

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Kim & Jason say, "Follow your passion!"

If you're reading this blog, odds are good that you have more than a passing interest in creating a career chock full of passion. With that in mind, you should probably zip right over and download a brand spankin' new copy of Kim & Jason's  quarterly newsletter.

This issue focuses on following your passion and includes an article from yours truly. I have a copy of the paper version, and it's a pretty impressive piece of work. 

While you're over there, spend some time on Kim & Jason's blog.  I love what  they're up to (Less stress! More fun!).

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Navigate reality to reach your dreams

When it comes to looking at the future, there seems to be two big ways people get stuck...

Lost in the dream: This one is a pie-in-the-sky wishfulness. Lots of big dreams, but not much happening to make them happen. This is the track that gives dreamers a bad name.

Trapped in reality: The basic message of this one is, "Forget all that dream crap. You're living in reality. Suck it up and accept it - this ain't no dream world." The horizon tends to be full of obstacles that get in the way of anything but the reasonable, pragmatic and dull.

It's probably no great surprise that I'm not a big fan of either of those modes of thinking. Like much black and white thinking, each of those paints you into a corner and keeps you from living a rich, vibrant, meaningful life.

Instead of one or the other, my vote is for both. Would it be nice if you could just snap your fingers and have your dreams fall in your lap? Sure. Is it likely? No. But that doesn't mean they're out of reach.

Navigate your reality

Rather than looking at reality as an impenetrable barrier between you and your dreams, look at it as simply the landscape you have to navigate on the way there. If you're hiking out in the mountains, just because there's a big boulder in the path doesn't mean there's not a beautiful glacial lake to enjoy on the other  side. The existence of one has nothing to do with the existence of the other. It just means you need to find a way around the boulder.

It's the same with your dreams. Just because you encounter obstacles doesn't mean that the dream isn't still possible.

Get off your butt cheeks and onto your feet

On the flip side, sitting on your butt thinking about how nice it would be to someday bask in the sun next to a pristine mountain lake isn't going to get you very far either. You have to actually find the trailhead and start walking. Your butt cheeks will never carry you to your dream destination. You have to use your feet and start taking steps.

Are you navigating reality on the path to your dreams? Are you taking the action you need to make it happen? If not, ask yourself, "What one step can I take today? What one step can I take tomorrow?"

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

World rowing record: 309 days at sea (and counting)

Imagine jumping into a boat six feet wide and twenty-three feet long and aiming it towards the other side of the Pacific. Now imagine that it's not a power boat. Or a sailboat. Now imagine that the only way it is going to get across the ocean is the oars you are going to pull on day after day.

How long do you think you could last? I know my answer is, "Not long." But for my friend Erden Eruc, the answer so far is a record 309 days. Previously, the most consecutive days spent at sea in an ocean rowing boat was 304, so Erden now has the record for longest row.

The original plan was for a much shorter journey, from San Francisco to Brisbane, but winds and currents conspired to keep him north of the equator, and he kept heading west. He finally broke through the equator a few days ago, and now it looks tantalizingly possible that he will be making landfall in Jayapura, Indonesia shortly.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Here's a recent post I wrote about Erden and his efforts.If you want to read more about his row, or see a map charting his progress, you can go to www.around-n-over.org.

www.around-n-over.org

Reading + Meditation = Readitation

The ability to stay grounded and centered is a huge asset on your M.A.P. Making journey. You feel more focused. You waste less energy feeling stressed. You have more clarity. And if you're looking for a way to get grounded and centered, meditation can't be beat.

One of my favorite meditation resources is Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche, Ph.D.  It's easily the most accessible meditation book I've come across, and one many of my clients end up buying. It's also the book that played a key role in my discovering meditation to begin with.

Early in the book, Roche talks about an idea he calls meditative reading (I call it "readitation").

What's a meditative style of reading? It's really simple - just pause at the end of each paragraph or each page and take a couple of conscious breaths. (This pause is actually a mini-meditation, and all you have to do is breathe.)...Enjoy the experience of air flowing in and out as you process the information you've just covered. This will help you translate the information in the book into an internal ability.

Later, he describes part of what happens when you do this.

When you take a few conscious breaths after reading something, you shift your sensory focus from words to feeling your body. When you do this, your body gets to assimilate the learning.

It's a simple idea, but there are so many things I love about it. First, it's a really, really easy way to start dipping your toe into meditation. It's about as easy and non-onerous as you're going to get.

Second, so many of us have a tendency to treat reading (and many other things we do) as a race to the finish. Jump in. Get it done. Move on. The result can be a bit like rain falling on bone-dry soil - the ideas we read just run right off, without a chance to soak in. A meditational approach to reading gives you a chance to really stop and ask, what am I reading here? What am I learning?

Third, it gets you out of your head and more fully into the whole of you (something most of us desperately need).

And finally, it's a way to simply slow down and focus your awareness.

Why not give it a try? Pick a favorite book and try some readitation. Maybe just a couple minutes at first, enough time to play with it, but not so much that it feels like a chore. As you get more comfortable , you can expand the time you spend with it.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Review: How'd You Score That Gig?

One of the steps I take my clients through, after we have identified a handful of paths that align with what energizes and inspires them, is digging in to get a deeper understanding of what each of those paths is really all about. That might involve online research, or informational interviews, reading books, or taking classes.

Or now, it might involve reading Alexandra Levit's new book, "How'd You Score That Gig?" In the book, Alexandra spotlights dozens of jobs, weaving together an overview of what each job is all about and insights from people who are actually doing it.

She starts it all off with a self-assessment test to help you determine of you are...

• An Adventurer
• A Creator
• A Data Head
• An Entrepreneur
• An Investigator
• A Networker
• A Nurturer

Within each of those categories, she examines numerous jobs.

One of the biggest challenges in figuring out "where to from here," is the fact that we don't know what we don't know; we can only explore what we're aware of. With this book, you get a sneak peek at a variety of possibilities, expanding the realm of what you know.

If you're ready for a career change, check this book out. It's a great way to start exploring, "Who am I, and what's out there that fits that?"

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Pictures of Paris

On a completely off-topic note, I just got back from a week in Paris (a quick vacation). I put a few of my photos from the trip up on flickr if you'd like to take a gander at them.

Enjoy!

Career blogging for U.S. News & World Report

Yesterday, U.S. News & World Report launched On Career: Outside Voices, a blog featuring experts with a focus on a variety of career topics. One of those writers is yours truly. Starting this week, I will be writing a weekly post on how to create a career filled with meaning, abundance, and passion.

Zip on over and check it out. Lots of great people with excellent insights and ideas to share!

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

62 questions to ask

If there's one piece of punctuation that has the potential to change the world, it's the question mark.

I'm a huge fan of the power of questions to solve problems, shine a light on opportunities, shift your perspective, spark understanding, and more.

Here's a fabulous list of questions from Scott Ginsberg to help you tap into the possibilities life has to offer. A lot of questions are workplace-related, but you can change them to personal questions if you replace "you" with "I" (i.e., "how can I...").

Check this list out. Bookmark it. And most importantly, use it.

There's magic in them thar questions!

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM