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Talent Management Perspectives

Published November 2008

Passionate Leadership: Keep Employees Engaged During Tough Times

  Alaina Love

I received a call recently from a former colleague informing me that the organization for which we'd once worked was laying off another 4,000 people. He'd been hearing all week from friends still on the inside, each sharing their concern and fear about the future of the company and what its current troubles might mean for themselves and their families.

The company had once been a haven of lifetime employment but was another casualty of the economic crisis. People watched as longtime friends and co-workers packed their belongings and were walked down the long green mile to the exit door, and the folks left behind were nearly as shaken as those who had lost their jobs.

The most troubling aspect of this massive layoff was the broad-stroke decision management made about which departments would be eliminated. In the process, little correlation was apparent between the quality of an employee's performance and the decision about whether they would stay or leave. Imagine being an employee caught in the crosshairs of this type of downsizing. Further, imagine being the leader who inherits what's left.

These tough economic times have catalyzed some brutal business decisions that will test the mettle of even the best talent leaders and will challenge the skills that may have served them well in the past. Experts are predicting the road to recovery will be a long and tortuous path, so deftly navigating these stormy waters will require much more than skill.

The economic detritus left behind in organizations is prompting individuals to deeply examine who they are, what they stand for and how they want to make an impact through their work. In a world in which employees' previously held beliefs are being scrutinized, an organization's success will require that its leaders exhibit a clear, internal purpose that they express through observable passions. And those leadership passions will need to address the chaos and fear endemic in today's battle-worn workers.

Through our analysis of leaders around the globe, Purpose Linked Consulting has identified specific Passion Archetypes, the deeply rooted behavioral drivers critical to manage in this competitive environment. When using these passions effectively, leaders achieve great results, gain personal fulfillment and assist employees in doing the same. While there are a number of Passion Archetypes that collectively contribute to business success, the most important passions during times of turmoil and fear are the archetypes of the Healer and the Transformer.

Leaders with a Healer passion connect deeply to the pain and fear workers are experiencing. They take personal responsibility for helping employees manage through difficulties and establishing a healing environment — one that allows others to refocus on a more positive future. These leaders face concerns head-on, without discounting employees' fears or underplaying the challenges at hand. Instead, they show empathy and concern, honesty and candor, and create a culture for success. They are the leaders in whom workers confide and on whom organizations depend to keep a finger on the cultural pulse.

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