The M.A.P. Maker

Employee retention keys: Passion and career planning

Companies invest a lot in finding top talent. Unfortunately, they often don't seem to invest as much in keeping them once they're on board. A recent Forbes article offers up the top ten reasons why large companies fail to keep their best talent. 

The two that struck me most (or, more accurately, the two things that fit tongue-in-groove with my focus) were:

#2: Failing to find a project for the talent that ignites their passion:
"Top talent isn’t driven by money and power, but by the opportunity to be a part of something huge, that will change the world, and for which they are really passionate. Big companies usually never spend the time to figure this out with those people."

and...

#4: No discussion around career development:
"Most bosses never engage with their employees about where they want to go in their careers — even the top talent. This represents a huge opportunity for you and your organization if you do bring it up."

Finding the fuel source

When people come to me for career passion coaching, it's typically because their current work doesn't tap into their passions (i.e., #2) and they don't know where to go from here in their career (#4). They typically feel frustrated and stuck, and many feel inclined to jump ship from their current jobs immediately. 

If you're a manager who wants to ensure your employees don't experience those reasons for leaving, try taking a page from the work I do helping my clients create careers that energize and engage them. 

It starts with my definition of passion: "The energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do." It's the result of being who you are and doing the kinds of things that naturally energize you. 

Simple, right? The trouble is that most people have spent their lives so focused on external drivers like goals and achievement that they have no idea how to consciously make choices that bring more of who they are into the picture. 

So here's what I do with my clients (if you'd like to get a deeper picture, here is an article on planning for passion that looks at the process). I have them make a list of things they have loved doing over the course of their lives, work or play. Then they pick one and we start reverse engineering it, looking at why they love it. 

As we do the same thing for multiple items from the list of things that have lit them up, common themes start to emerge. Common characteristics start to show up that are consistently there in the things they find energizing. Some individual examples might be:

• Exploration and discovery
• Problem-solving
• A focus on the details
• Deep connection with people
• Analyzing 
• Creativity

Passion and Planning

As those underlying themes show up, we compile them in one place, so they have a list of characteristics that tend to be in place when they feel energized and engaged.

That becomes a tool (I think of it as an internal compass) they can use to both generate ideas for where to go in their career and evaluate opportunities as they come up. 

Imagine having that same insight into what makes your employees tick. Would it be helpful to understand what kinds of work leaves them feeling most energized? Would that help you design and refine their jobs to help them stay passionate? Would it be helpful to be able to have a career pathing conversation that looks at the possible paths in terms of which ones would leave them feeling most energized and performing at their best?

Sure, those insights take a little investment up front, but the pay-off is worth it.  

--

If you liked this post, be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed.

 --

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

 

Most people's concept of passion is limiting: Lessons from 9 years as a Passion Catalyst - #1

This is a series of lessons learned in my nine years as a Passion Catalyst.

If I asked you what your passion is, what would you say? Most people would give some kind of answer like travel, or cooking, or software programming, or writing, or helping kids, or any of a bazillion things that people feel passionate about.

And while none of those answers would be wrong, they would only represent a limited snapshot of where that feeling of passion could come from. 

As I see it, what we see as our passions are really only vehicles that allow us to experience what I call our Passion Factors - the underlying themes that tend to be present when we feel energized and inspired. And that fact gives us exponentially more opportunity to find work we love than most people realize.  

Definition of passion

To explain what I mean by that, I'll start with my definition of passion: "The energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do." It's being who you are, and doing what you're naturally drawn to. It is, for example, the difference between wearing the soul-sucking mask of my previous career as a marketer and being unabashedly myself in - and unabashedly energized by - the work I do now (nothing inherently wrong with marketing as a career, it was just wrong for me). 

Find your Passion Factors

If that definition of passion makes sense, the big question is, "How do I consciously, purposefully 'bring more of ME into what I do?'" How do you apply that in the real world?

My short answer is this: Find your Passion Factors, then find ways to incorporate them into your career path. To identify your Passion Factors, ask, "What lights me up?" Then ask, "Why?" Reverse engineer the things you love doing - work or play - to identify the underlying reasons why you love them. 

As you do that, you will start to see recurring reasons why, even in things you love that seem completely unrelated (for example, a key reason why I love both my Passion Catalyst coaching and travel photography is a sense of exploration and discovery, which is a theme that shows up again and again for me). 

What will let you experience those Passion Factors?

When you have identified your Passion Factors, you can ask, "What kinds of careers are out there that will allow me to experience these?" And far from being limited to one path, there are probably numerous paths that would let you experience those Passion Factors. That's what I mean when I say that the things you are passionate about are really simply vehicles that let you experience those underlying themes.

And when you shift your perspective from "what is my passion" to "what will allow me to experience those Passion Factors," it blows the doors wide open with potential directions that will let you feel energized by the work you do. 

Think both big picture and small picture

You can use your understanding of your Passion Factors at the big picture level (what career path should I follow?) and the small picture level (how can I experience more of these Passion Factors in the work I'm doing right now?). 

If you want to expand the passion potential in your career, it all starts with awareness. Identify your Passion Factors, then step-by-step, choice-by-choice, start incorporating them into your future. 

[Want to read all the lessons learned? Here's a compilation (at the bottom).]

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Saving the World at Work

There are around 155,000,000 people currently going to work every day in the US alone. What if a big chunk of those people started incorporating one simple question into their career decisions:

What kind of difference do I want to make?

Let's take a reasonably conservative portion, say, 10%. Imagine the ripple effect from 15,000,000 people all asking that question and - more importantly - acting on it! And doing that day-after-day and year-after-year.

That whole idea is a big piece of what lights me up about my work. I'm fond of saying, "I want to change the world - I just don't want to do all the work." It's my tongue-in-cheek way of talking about a part of my work that both energizes and inspires me: being a catalyst for others' positive change efforts. [More of my thoughts on the personal benefits of making a difference here.]

That's why I'm psyched about Tim Sanders' new book, Saving the World at Work. In it, Sanders makes a case for a new paradigm that is unfolding in the business world, one he calls the Responsibility Revolution. He writes:

The Responsibility Revolution has arrived. It demands that companies make a difference to society - not just indirectly, but directly, through their products, through their manufacturing methods and operational systems, through their environmental efforts and community outreach.

In short, people are starting to demand that companies be a force for good, not just a mechanism for creating financial profit.

Consumers, employees, and investors are changing business. They expect the companies with which they do business to join them in taking responsibility for the planet on which we all live, and for giving back to the larger world.

That paradigm shift is opening the door for people to seriously ask the question "what difference do I want to make" and act on it. Sanders describes the focus of the book:

The premise of Saving the World at Work is simple. I want to recruit you, and train you, for the Responsibility Revolution. I want to help you feel good about your company and grow more good within it. I want to help you feel more fulfilled by your job, by helping your company to see the value of giving back to the larger world.

Heady stuff!

Sanders describes what he calls saver soldiers, "a highly motivated individual who leverages work as a platform to help save the world."

After exploring the trends and forces at work in the Responsibility Revolution, Sanders outlines The Six Laws of the Saver Soldier, which he distilled from conversations with many dozens of people successfully using work as a platform for positive change.

The book originally came out just as the financial world imploded last fall. Needless to say, with people up to their eyeballs in fear, it didn't get the attention it deserved. So Sanders decided to embark on a "relaunch campaign."

Want to help spread the word? Read more about it here. 

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Why finding career passion is an unbeatable investment

In my most recent FUEL! newsletter (FUEL = Fully Energized Life^TM), I took a look at why finding passion in your career can be one of the best investments you can make.

Why is passion so important? Here are five big benefits I have seen over and over again in my clients as they move into a career path that is more deeply aligned with who they are. Passion...

• Energizes you and fuels your success
• Strengthens your confidence
• Inspires persistence
• Reduces stress and improves health
• Enhances relationships

Want to know more? Read The Passion Advantage: How work you love helps you thrive in the FUEL! newsletter archive.

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Engaged employees have better moods & more satisfaction at home

One of the indirect benefits of my work helping people find careers that light them up is a positive ripple effect into clients' non-work lives. Over the years, numerous clients have shared that family or friends have told them, "You're so much more enjoyable to be around now" as a result of the work we've done. 

In light of that, this recent study that points to a connection between employee engagement at work and their mood and satisfaction at home didn't surprise me.

K-State psychology researchers studied how positive work experiences extend into family life and facilitate family interactions. They found that employees who are engaged in their work, which includes higher levels of vigor, more dedication and absorption in daily activities, have better moods and more satisfaction at home.

The article goes on to say...

"Our research indicated that individuals who were engaged in positive experiences at work and who shared those experiences with significant others perceived themselves as better able to deal with issues at home, became better companions and became more effective overall in the home environment,"

While we often try to live our lives in silos, the reality is that it's all inter-connected. What happens in one part of our life tends to affect another.

How about you? What kind of ripple effect is your work having on the rest of your life?

--

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Tom Peters tells why employee passion is vital for business success

I just ran across this short clip on Tom Peters' web site about the importance of employee passion. I love how on fire he is about it.

It's only three minutes. Definitely worth a watch.

--

Need to re-energize your career?
Get started with 101 Ways to Get Wild About Work!

--

by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

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?

--

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM