Surfing Passion
I recently returned from vacation where I spent one day watching some great waves and young high school kids surfing. What struck me as amazing was how hard they were working at catching as many waves as they could. One of them struck up a conversation with my seven year old, and was as polite as he could be.. but so eager to return to the waves. He kept talking about how these were the best waves they had seen all summer. He was energized by the challenge and worked amazingly hard all afternoon. We sat there and watched them for over two hours without a break. Non-stop.. exhausting. So whats the leadership lesson in surfing.
Well.. I sat there trying to understand the love of surfing this kid had (this poor boy never got to surf) and wondering why all employees can't we have this same passion for their work. Then I realized they do, it just gets lost somewhere along the way. One of the foundation principles in Blanchard's "situational leadership" model is the idea that new employees come to the job motivated and engaged. If you think about it, all of us were excited the first day we started in our job. We all come to our job the first day excited by the task and thrilled to have the opportunity to prove ourselves... The challenge is sustaining that thrill, even when the waves are not the best. And the challenge for leaders is finding what excites our employee's passions! Everyone likes a challenge, and even better, overcoming that challenge. Find your employee's challenges.. help them catch the wave!
Posted at 08:24PM Jul 24, 2006 by mowen in General |