Spark Passion On Your Team Without Spending Money!

Approximately 88% of employees in America don’t feel like they can give their full potential in their careers because they don’t feel passion for their work. It is, therefore, essential to work on helping your team nurture their passion, as this will enhance their motivation to achieve their goals and improve the company. Although passion and profits go hand-in-hand, how can you get your team passionate about work and start overdelivering?

You can get your team to feel passionate about work and start overdelivering by leading by example and showing your passion, encouraging open communication with your team members, and asking for their opinions on work-related issues. 

In this article, I’ll explore these and other ways to help your team become more passionate and energized to succeed. I’ll also look at common workplace problems that can lower passion and ways to nip them in the bud.

How Do You Build Passion in a Team?

You can build passion in a team by encouraging an environment of connection and communication. When team members feel that they can discuss and solve problems together, they inspire each other to feel passionate about succeeding.

With the above in mind, here are other important ways in which you can build passion in your team: 

• Let your employees work on projects they love. Even if it’s a small job, if your team member loves doing a particular task or project, this will motivate them to want to succeed and feel excited about doing it well. 
• Build a foundation of honesty. It would help to have open and honest communication with your team members, as this will give you insights into what they think and feel. This will also prevent team members from feeling misunderstood while encouraging feelings of connection between you both. 
• Be passionate. Leading your team by example will help members feel your passion. Show your enthusiasm for your work and the new projects on the horizon. When your team members see you have a spirit of adventure and zeal, it will rub off on them. 
• Encourage creative thinking. Your team members could have ideas for tasks and projects but feel uncomfortable sharing them, which can reduce their passion. Asking them questions like “What are your opinions on this?” can help them open up about their thoughts. 
• Focus on “we” instead of “I”. How you speak matters. If you’re always talking about what you want to achieve, this can make it feel like your team members aren’t included. Focusing on how you can achieve your goals together will help make everyone feel connected, increasing their passion and motivation. 
• Appreciate your team members. Studies show that 46% of people leave their jobs because they aren’t being appreciated. You can show your team members appreciation by rewarding and complimenting them for a well-done job. 
• Ask them what they’re passionate about. Everyone is motivated by different things. Ask your team members what they get excited about and what makes them get up in the mornings so you can find ways to help them feel more passionate about their work. For example, if you know a team member is a baseball fanatic, suggest a baseball event fundraiser.  
• Foster a sense of purpose. With a clear understanding of purpose, work can be meaningful instead of passionate. One way to bring everyone in your team on board with the same goal and purpose is to lead group chats in which you explain the purpose and importance of the work. This will help your team members connect to the greater goal. 
• Bring a competitive spirit to the workplace. Some healthy competition in the workplace can make your team feel energetic and passionate. An example of how to do this is to divide your team into smaller groups and provide a bonus or reward for the team that performs best. Remember that monetary incentives only work if the task is simple. 
• Build your team by focusing on skills. What skills do your team members have? Make it a priority to learn about their unique talents so that you can put them to use better. This will make your team members feel more engaged, creating passion and profits. 

Workplace Problems That Are Related to a Lack of Passion 

Now that you know how to help your team feel more passionate, you can improve their performance. Here are some common performance-related problems your team could be displaying and how to correct them: 

• Your team’s productivity is sluggish: Your team members might be showing passion but not getting results. The issue could be that they need direction. To solve the problem, hold check-ins to get updates on their work and milestones. And for Pete’s sake, make sure your communication is on point.
•  Your team needs to communicate with precision: Get into the habit of asking your team for their opinions and ideas. Getting your team members to communicate with specificity is difficult, especially if this wasn’t the status quo. 
•  Some team members are carrying the entire workload: When this happens, it causes imbalances and resentment in your team. It can also cause passionate people to stop feeling enthusiastic. You can fix this situation by communicating with your team about their goals and responsibilities. Helping them to feel passionate about those goals will also help them to get to work. 
•  You’re blaming your team members: Even if you’re unsatisfied with your team’s productivity, it’s never a good idea to blame anyone in front of the team. This will cause resentment and hostility, which are guaranteed to zap passion. If you have an issue with a team member, speak to them privately and approach the problem from the perspective of wanting to move forward together. You must take extreme ownership of your team and your actions.

Even if you’re unsatisfied with your team’s productivity, it’s never a good idea to blame anyone in front of the team.

Here are 5 strategies you can do to make your team feel appreciated, which results in them being motivated and passionate about work.

Final Thoughts

If you’re leading (or managing) a team at work, you can help everyone in your team feel more passionate in various ways. These include:

• Speaking to your team members about what inspires them. 
• Encouraging creative thinking. 
• Focusing on achieving a goal together so everyone feels included.