This text is taken from the original draft manuscript of Influential Leadership: A Leader’s Guide to Getting Things Done and is provided here to enrich your learning on the Strategic Influencer Programme.
Since Influential Leaders need to be passionate about their purpose in order to make swift progress, you need to do everything you can to cultivate the passion you feel about what you are aiming to achieve. When you have developed your passion, it will show and it will help you to become more influential.
In a work context, passion is an intensive emotion compelling unusual levels of excitement for a particular subject, cause or purpose. It goes beyond simple motivation and enthusiasm for a subject. It stands out because of the exceptional activity it creates. Passionate leaders tend to have an almost obsessional interest in their purpose. It seems to be the only thing which matters.
The root cause of the passion usually defies rational explanation, however the effects are profound. If you have an extremely high level of passion for your purpose, what could possibly stand in your way? Objections and reason are swept aside and people get pulled along in the wake of the passionate leader. Certainty begins to set in and people believe your vision will be realised. This can then become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Passion can be cultivated to deliver this level of success by making sure that you:
Attain high levels of passion: If you accept that passion is a higher level of enthusiasm, and that enthusiasm is a higher level of interest, you can devise a route plan for progressively increasing the level of emotion for a given subject. Beginning with the ideas above on motivation you can proceed to make it more and more prominent in your working life. The more often you are thinking about what your purpose is and noticing the benefits which will accrue, the higher your levels of emotion will become.
Don’t fake it: People will be able to tell if you are not really feeling passionate. Building it gradually and robustly for your own benefit first is a good way of making sure that you only display what you are really feeling. And it is far more convincing if people have seen your passion for your purpose grow and develop naturally.
Maintain high levels of passion: In the cut and thrust of organisational life there are many enemies to passion, especially in large cumbersome organisations where the weight of bureaucracy, processes and governance is a real passion killer. Maintaining passion requires daily if not hourly reinforcement, ideally through activity to deliver your purpose. This persistent attention will automatically increase your positive feelings towards your purpose and will ultimately lead you to the conviction that your purpose absolutely must be achieved.
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Keep your passion focused: Some people are naturally passionate and get excited easily. One of the challenges these people need to overcome is dissipating their passion in lots of different directions. For passion to yield maximum results it has to be consistently applied to a specific purpose in a single-minded manner.
Remain alert for risks: As your passion begins to take effect, you will be destabilising the powers that be. This could bring forward political moves and you should not let your passion override careful consideration of the political effects of your influence.
Be sensitive to the culture: Before you unleash your passion, make sure you know how it will be received. The skill of demonstrating passion involves injecting enough to get noticed and pull people forward. Too much, too soon, and you could alienate rather than influence. As the right people begin to respond you can raise the levels again.
Keep control of your passion: For the reason mentioned above, it is not always wise to show the full extent or strength of your feelings. Learning to manage your displays of passion will reduce the risk that you will over or under shoot.
The last point is really important. Some would argue that unbridled enthusiasm and passion for a purpose is the only way to keep going when the going gets really tough. I agree, however, displaying uncontrolled passion is likely to unsettle stakeholders and make you look unprofessional and flawed in your approach.
The Gautrey Influence Blog
Ever felt overlooked, unheard, or stuck in office politics? You’re not alone. The Gautrey Influence Blog breaks down the real-world strategies behind leadership, influence, and power—giving you the tools to be heard, respected, and successful. Join 35,000+ professionals getting ahead the smart way—subscribe now..
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