Comments on: Measuring Passion

By: Zachary Royce

Zachary Royce — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:56:08 +0000

You HR people need to get over yourselves and stop using this word “passion”, as if you’re all judges on America’s Got Talent. I have passion for my wife, for life, for living it with integrity. If I ever have a passion for working in a call center, or selling whatever it is my job to sell, or waking up at ungodly hours and driving an hour each way to get my ass kicked all day for subsistence wages and no health benefits, please shoot me.

For any job that requires a human resources department to do the hiring, passion does not apply. This is yet another perfectly good word from the English language that has been abused and rendered meaningless by people trying to impress their boss or sell product. If you are a pastor or a soldier or a teacher or an investigative journalist or a great musician, maybe it ought to be a job requirement. But otherwise, by demanding it and selecting for it you are only engineering a process that favors artificiality, dishonesty and empty speech. One need not exhibit any passion at all to do their job well and energetically and with due concern for company and coworkers.

By: chirag

chirag — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 06:41:36 +0000

Passion is hard to fake just like love… Essentially people have to love their work–maybe not their bosses or teammates or even the industry, but at least they love what they do around those elements…

By: DKS

DKS — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:36:38 +0000

There are ways to measure just about any emotion, including passion.

And you did it the last time you were disappointed with your husband, wife, lover, child, father, mother.

The measurement of an emotion is a judgment.

Funny thing about being judgmental; you can’t influence somebody else when you are judgmental. Sure, you can control them, for a while, but never influence them.

Know what: If you are a leader – your job is to influence, not control. Control things, but influence people. Influence is another one of those areas where people say “it can’t be measured”, but it can.

The world, inside and outside of business, is a place filled by people who walk around with a big pair of big judgment glasses on, attempting to alter the behavior and beliefs of others. Those people get frustrated when they don’t get their way. And we all do it. As I listened to the State of the Union address the president, while attempting to influence, came down and was judgmental about those who did not agree. And after the speech he was by who he shook hands with, and who he didn’t.

To close – do I want passion in the work place? Yes I do. I want to be surrounded by people who love what they do, not do what they love. I want to see the passion that drives respect of the co-worker, the subordinate, the boss and the customer. We are human beings, and human being have emotions. I want to work with human beings, and I choose to work with human beings, because those human beings enrich my life, bring value to my life, bring joy to my life. I have passion for everything that I do, even if it is not something that I like, because with the passion of making sure I get every ounce of joy from it I can I can do anything.

By: Whose Job is it to Define Your Passion for Your Work? | CareerSolvers

Whose Job is it to Define Your Passion for Your Work? | CareerSolvers — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:17:02 +0000

[...] is a great conversation going on over on the Punk Rock HR blog about passion and whether or not passion can be or should be measured as part of employee [...]

By: Pharma Giles

Pharma Giles — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:16:49 +0000

Being “passionate” about your work really only means taking an interest in the quality of outcomes. That puts you at odds with those who don’t. And often (in large companies, at least) this means being at odds with senior management, who are more interested in conformity or career progression rather than in what is actually best for the organisation.

Being “passionate” at work is simply a great way of saying “downsize me”…

By: cindy Beresh-Bryant

cindy Beresh-Bryant — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:43:18 +0000

Laurie, thanks for such a stimulating post. It has generated quite a buzz. While you may not be able to specifically measure Passion, passion many times manifests itself in employee engagement (an employee’s willingness to go above and beyond normal expectations) – which is measurable. Engagement has been shown to directly impact business results including stock price, so it shouldn’t be arbitrarily dismissed. Employers should carefully consider the culture they’re creating and ensure its one that inspires both passion and engagement – otherwise they simply employ workers, not business partners. Ignoring both is likely to result in a giant sucking sound as top talent migrates once the economy begins to turn. I recently wrote a related post on the dangers of talent loss you might be interested in at http://bit.ly/ctxa5H.

By: Pyrblue

Pyrblue — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:55:09 +0000

As an employee, of an organization. I am not in management nor HR therefore, I am not privy to this side of the discussion until now. Thank you for having it, I am enlighten.
When reviews are performed and I’m rated or coworkers are rated on numbers- production numbers…in the back of our heads (at least my head) I do wonder if my boss or the HR department considers how “passionate” I am about my job. How I care about my clients. How I treat my clients with respect and sometimes have “hand-hold” them through the entire process.
Moreover, I am not the employee who believes “trash in…trash out”. My desk may not be clean at the end of the day (in fact it is organized chaos)…unlike my fellow co-workers who have spotless desks, and no passion, and do not care or empathize with their clients.
None of the above counts or is counted in my reviews. I am a cubicle rat that has to produce numbers with or without passion…just produce. No questions asked, reach the magic number and everybody is happy (expect me because I short changed somebody, somewhere–including myself and my personal standard).

By: Mark Jacinto

Mark Jacinto — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:29:43 +0000

ok, dint bother reading through everything.

1) you cant measure passion
2) you can define “passion indicators” and observe and measure that

so what are examples of passion indicators? hmmm that i havent figured out..

By: JP

JP — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:49:01 +0000

Sorry, but I don’t think my company has any right to ask employees for their passion, and they will never get mine again. I was impacted by a reduction in force and hired back into the same function it in a different role two months later. The entire experience made me think about what organization truly deserves my loyalty and my passion. I enjoy the work I do and I know that it does make a difference. I am grateful to be gainfully employed by a company that encourages learning gives me work that challenges me, but most of all it affords me the salary and time away to do the things that I am actually passionate about.

BTW – I work in HR.

By: Just Vikki

Just Vikki — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:45:11 +0000

I don’t want my passion measured.

Maybe that’s because my real passions have very little to with my work. My work is interesting, I like it and am good at it, but it will not ever take the place of cooking, talking politics or any of the other things that *actually* give my life joy. And I don’t want it to.

I agree with other posters that passion is part of the secret sauce but…
Well, with some much nonsense going on in workplaces today, do we need this? To get a job now one must not only be skilled and willing, but lucky with good timing and connections in this economy. And now we are going to have to be passionate about it too?

Couldn’t we just focus on making sure that everybody is competent and plays well with others? Please?