The Difference Between Engaged And Passionate Employees

By Keith Ayers

What is the difference between engagement and passion? The difference that I see, is that there are mentally engaged employees who are switched on to the extent that they are conscientious about their work, do everything that is expected of them, and comply with the policies and procedures.

Then, there are emotionally engaged employees. They don't just stick to the policies and procedures... they do whatever it takes to delight their customer, whether it is an external customer or someone inside the organization - an internal customer.

In his best selling book, Good to Great, Jim Collins described these employees as disciplined people who, "go to extreme lengths to fulfill their responsibilities." These emotionally engaged employees are passionate about their work, and the organization they work for.

You Get What You Expect

What do you expect from your employees? Do you expect them to be totally task oriented, work hard, and produce great results without complaining about their workload or their compensation? Perhaps, you have a more cynical view of people and believe they will do the least amount of work they can get away with ?

Or, do you expect your employees to be passionate about their work and your organization and perform at their best - because they want to ?

Despite the evidence that confronts me every day that many employees and managers are not passionate about their work, I continue to meet those who are. The United Airlines flight attendant who told me she was really passionate about her work because she loved to serve people and she worked with a great group of people... even though her pay and benefits have been reduced in recent years. The waiter who has not only memorized the specials, but describes them in mouth-watering detail because he believes he works for the best restaurant in the area.

You know what I am talking about, because you have experienced it yourself. You gravitate back to the organizations that have passionate employees. You know who the passionate employees are in your organization. The most significant factor that determines whether employees are passionate or not is the leadership they experience.

Leadership Is Not A Soft Skill

The easy way to deal with employees is to control them, keep the pressure on, drive them hard to produce results - and offer financial incentives for those who meet expectations. Or, micro-manage them! Don't give them an inch. Check on everything they do. Monitor every phone call... for quality control! It is time consuming to do all this, but it's easy.

The hard thing to do is to trust your employees... to believe in them and know that if you do, they will perform at their best. It is hard for a leader to create a work environment where every employee wants to perform at their best. So hard, in fact, that very few managers have been able to achieve it. And those who are least skillful at getting the best out of their employees have the gall to call leadership a soft skill! Most managers understand that the people side of their job is the hardest. So, isn't it time we stopped dismissing it as a soft skill and recognize leadership as the toughest part of a manager's job?

There is no short cut to getting employees to be passionate about their work - and your organization. You cannot achieve it by increasing compensation, improving working conditions, or offering incentives, such as share options. Golden handcuffs may prevent people from leaving, but they do not buy passion. The only way to get the best performance out of every employee is to provide them with great leadership... leadership that creates a work environment in which everyone wants to and can perform at their best.

My recently published book, Engagement is Not Enough: You Need Passionate Employees to Achieve Your Dream, outlines the skills and tools leaders at every level of your organization need, to create a work environment that will ignite the fire of passion in all employees. In the back of the book you will find a questionnaire, The Passion Index, which will help you determine just how passionate you are.


Keith Ayers