Valentine’s Day hearts convey feelings of love and passion. It’s a day to celebrate romantic relationships and express our gratitude and affection for loved ones enriching our lives.
February 14 is also a good time to review the powerful impact extraordinary leaders have on their teams and organizations. Exceptional leaders fan the flames of love and passion for high performance. In his Forbes column on “The Productivity Improvement Steering Wheel: 7 Powerful Steps Every Leader Can Take,” Jack Zenger asks and then answers two critical questions at the heart of inspiring and motivating others to peak performance:
1. What is it that leaders do to create a climate in which people go the extra mile and perform at remarkably high levels? and
2. What causes people to put forth extraordinary discretionary effort?
In a follow up column, Jack continues this critical leadership discussion with “The 3 Forces That Drive Improvement Productivity.” He gets deeper into “the how” of productivity improvement by sharing research on three powerful forces:
1. The internal motivation and drive of individuals.
2. The performance norms of teams.
3. The organizational dimensions and overall culture of the company.
Leadership researcher, prolific author, and professor Warren Bennis, once concluded, “a basic ingredient of leadership is passion — the underlying passion for the promises of life, combined with a very particular passion for a vocation, a profession, a course of action. The leader loves what he or she does and loves doing it.”
There are many leadership pathways to building passion and energy leading to higher productivity. At its core, passionate leadership is an inside job. And that passion starts with building on our strengths.
Join my no-charge webinar on March 4 to learn why leaders who magnified their existing strengths showed two – three times more improvement in leadership effectiveness than leaders who worked on fixing their weaknesses. Click on Double Learner Motivation with Revolutionary Strengths-Based Leadership for more information and registration.
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