How to boost passion in your company

Jernej Pintar, CEO of Technology Park Ljubljana (Slovenia), and Vera Nunić, head of the Entrepreneurship Department, share their insights on how innovative companies can inspire passion in their employees - ideas that can be as valuable for science park and area of innovation managers as well as for their resident companies!

Have you heard of the expression that the “one who is afraid is already half defeated"? 

Here are two interesting facts:

1. Up to 88 percent of employees have no passion for their work.
2. And even worse: 80 percent of managers have no passion for their work as well. So, how can the leaders ignite passion in their teams, if they themselves don’t have it? 

Passion is a source of surplus in all areas, business included. The team that works with passion doesn't have to be under strict control because they make breakthroughs by themselves and are willing to go the "extra mile". But how do you infuse passion into a team?  

Warning signs  

It is bad sign if the team has passion only when the boss is absent. Let us first look at what are the warning signs of a toxic atmosphere: 

• The employees do not help each other.
• There are ‘local sheriffs’ in the team. They boast while the rest of the team is passive.
• Information is exclusive.
• All the communication happens by e-mail.
• If there's a “fire”, nobody comes to the rescue.
• The employees gossip and talk badly behind each other’s backs.
• Employees are afraid to make mistakes – they are rather passive, do nothing… because it is better than making a mistake.
• Projects and tasks are not completed.     

More than 80 percent of companies are suffering from at least one of these problems. What can we do about it?  

Optical illusions
We can start with simple things which will help us change the atmosphere in the company. 

Bring energy into the room with light and colours. Our brains process light as a source of hope. You can add colours into a team even faster – e.g. by wearing colours, or introducing colourful props, furniture and walls. Entertaining activities for the whole company have the same effect - mind you - they will not facilitate long-term cooperation, but they can create an ‘illusion’ of a community. Such changes will attract the team's attention, energy and optimism for the next set of changes – the real ones. 

Increasing self-esteem 

We can now start with the real fire. Humans are, by nature, programmed to do better when we are appreciated and praised. Watch how your children blossom when they receive approval. We all want to be appreciated, especially those who are average and have been never noticed before. Therefore, praise at least three people a day - whether below, above or below your position. 

It is, however, a Slovenian habit to only show appreciation twice a year, perhaps even less. And usually only by tapping the employee on the shoulder. That is simply not enough – nobody can be happy from just one approval. There has to be many more praise and acknowledgment. And particularly you need more praise than corrections. Only by the time you will give so much praise that you will feel stupid from overdoing it, that’s when it will only start to be enough.Compliments go hand in hand with small gifts and small signs of appreciation. For instance, you can show gratitude by writing or recording compliments on a piece of paper or in a video. You can also allow employees to change their job for a day, or it can also be something for the employee's family - this is especially effective because if you support their families, the families will support you back. The wife or husband will then encourage your employee to be even more active and loyal to the company. This will turn their families into your allies.  

And finally, celebrate everything. Small events, big events, personal good news, even business failures ... You dared and you tried. Just celebrate, even if you failed. 

A culture of errors and full support 

Once you implement these changes, the sparks in the eyes of the employees will start to appear. The flair is on. Now it is time to drop the weights and scale it. Have you heard of the saying "one who is afraid is already half defeated"? People are afraid to make mistakes because they are afraid of sanctions, rebuke and slander. And because they are afraid to make mistakes, they are also afraid to work. Full stop. So, start talking and accepting mistakes and support people to make mistakes. During relaxed coffee breaks you can even compete what have been the biggest mistakes of the past week. At the same time, try not to scold, grumble or correct people. Just accept their mistakes.

Also start to fully support your team. Both in words and deeds, and above all in the public. Help them to overcome obstacles. This way, employees will be able to achieve more and overcome obstacles faster. You can start with a simple method such as "coffee with the CEO", which is both a reward and an opportunity for help. Soon you will be able to extend this culture to “meet-to-give” meetings where employees help each other. 

Harvard Business Review nicely wrote: Don't think about how much value you can squeeze out of your employees, but how much value you can insert into them! Then they too will start to help each other and not sabotage each other.  Now you’ve got a culture – the culture! 

Such an empowered team of employees has more stamina. They are also better at accepting responsibility and have more capacity to support each other. 

A pinch of faith 

We are not talking about god, but rather about the mission. Start communicating very clearly how your company is improving the world around you. Be careful not to destroy these messages by "defocusing" the team – small things and urgent tasks will only scare people away. Passion cannot be sustained if it is constantly interrupted by ASAPs and details.

Also, listen to your colleagues as they might have a different mission of the company in mind. Each person has their own passions. It is their source of energy, a fountain of youth. Different people have different passions. You will have to harness this energy differently by each person. But it will help that person further develop their passions and increase their commitment to the company. Who knows, perhaps you can even find a fountain of youth for the whole company. 

Do what you say

The main generator of passion is a trust in the leader. Leader needs to make and keep promises. This also means that management has to avoid dubious interpretations and ambiguities. Behind every strong general there is an army, and behind every weak one, there is no one – because people run away. Managers have to set a good example in all the above-mentioned areas. If they are not able to do so, a temporary member of the management team should take a prominent position to lead change and become an ambassador (e.g. a Chief Happiness Officer). 

Do not expect immediate results. It takes months to establish a culture where mistakes are desirable, and where people trust each other. You will know it works when employees start helping each other, refuse to participate in gossiping, start praising co-workers, when they’ll keep focus and have the courage to make mistakes.

In the end: the superpower 

If the team is self-supporting and shows passion, the results will also show on the market. The market immediately recognizes energy and rewards it with special attention. And the market’s attention is a drug - it supercharges the passion of the employees - they start believing as if there are no limits. At this point, however, the passion has to be tamed as it can tear the company into pieces.

But there is one beautiful extra effect that happens: employees that are filled with passion, can bring this energy into their homes and boost their families… get boosted themselves and then bring the energy back into the company. A virtuous circle.

At this point, we are almost in a too-perfect, magical world, so let's go back to the basics: building your team. Eighty percent of the market has no passion for work. Eighty percent! Is there a niche for you? YES! And it's not just a niche... It's a whole continent. Get to it!

Share your best practices with us – write to jernej.pintar@tp-lj.si.