3 Tips for Unlocking the Power of Your Employees’ True Passions

Lisa Petrilli, CEO of C-Level Strategies and author of The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and Leadership, provides three tips for inspiring and leveraging your most valuable asset.

In a lot of expansion-stage companies, there’s a common expression that’s often bandied about by CEOs, founders, and management team members: Our people are the only true strategic asset we have.
And they’re right (just ask OpenView’s own George Roberts). Still, many business leaders fail to truly leverage that truism. Yes, they believe their people are important. But as respected author, speaker, consultant, and executive Lisa Petrilli writes on her blog, that doesn’t mean they always lead in a way that extracts the most value from their companies’ “secret sauce.”
“If your people are your most important asset, you’ve got to lead with that in mind,” says Petrilli, the CEO of leadership consulting firm C-Level Strategies and author of “The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and Leadership,” an Amazon Best Seller. “That starts and ends with making sure you get your people right.”
Ultimately, Petrilli says that means continually doing three key things as a business leader to discover how to empower your employees:

1) Find Out What Your People are Truly Passionate About

By asking your employees what they really care about — whether it’s sailing, coding, leading teams, or playing badminton — you encourage them to connect with their inner-self, smile, relax, and connect with you on a deeper level.
But don’t stop there. Delve deeper into what it is about those activities that fulfills them. For example, if you get responses such as “the teamwork involved,” “freedom,” and “the ability to chart my own course,” Petrilli says you’ll be able to put team members in roles that provide them these same benefits and enable them to thrive.
“Taking the time to do this shows you are truly committed to not only getting the people right, but also to empowering them to feel truly alive while at work,” Petrilli explains.

2) Identify Your Employees’ Strengths and Put Them in a Position to Succeed

Everyone you hire will have identifiable strengths and weaknesses. But unless a team member’s flaws are fatal (i.e. harmful to others, the company culture, or the business in general), Petrilli says your focus should be on how to hone and leverage your employees’ best qualities.
“If someone is an exceptional negotiator, put them in roles that provide opportunities for them to negotiate and to hone that skill,” Petrilli says. “Great motivators will take groups of people who have been lacking motivation and turn them into inspired contributors.”
By giving employees opportunities to be passionate about their work and to leverage their strengths, Petrilli says business leaders will be well on their way to setting their team up for success. They can complete that loop by ensuring their teams have the proper resources needed to get their job done, and by providing a clear leadership vision and a values-driven work environment.

3) Let Go of Employees Who Hold You Back

Harsh as it might sound, Petrilli says it’s as simple as that.
“The number one thing CEOs always say they wish they’d done sooner is move faster on talent decisions,” Petrilli explains. “If someone is resisting change, not adhering to organizational values, does not fit with the culture, or is doing anything to hold back their peers or the organization, you simply must let them go.”
By doing that, leaders can free their people of a clear burden and learn how to empower employees to efficiently and effectively perform their jobs.

Are You Really Leveraging Your Most Important Asset?

In order to really get your people right, Petrilli says business leaders must make talent management a continuous priority.
“This is not a one-shot deal,” Petrilli explains. “The organization will change, your industry will evolve, your people will grow, etc. You must be committed to addressing and re-addressing those keys in order to consistently get the most from your team.”
Do you agree that people are your most important strategic asset? How are you tapping into their passions and fully utilizing their strengths?