Gimme a 'P'!!!

When teaching graduate classes at Drake University, I feel it's my responsibility as a professor to demonstrate to my students that passion is a key ingredient to approaching their work.  As I constantly tell them (and remind myself), "If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right."

Yes, this even applies in project management.  About ten years ago, Tom Peters released an article in Fast Company, which has become a cornerstone of the project management class I teach.  It was called "The WOW Project" and talked about how even the most seemingly mundane projects have a WOW factor to them; we just have to find it.  Recently, Fast Company republished the article on their site.

Even more recently, The Duct Tape Marketing Blog had a great post about building excitement.  The author, Don The Idea Guy, states:

First, you have to feel excited about an idea if you're going to work passionately toward making it a reality. 

But he goes on to say,

It is only through an exchange of excitement (causing others to feel the same excitement that you feel) will get others to provide the buy-in necessary to move your idea forward.

He goes on to give specific tips on maintaining excitement.  This is great stuff!  I've seen far too many "I see dead people" cubicle dwellers on projects.  Yet many project managers accept these zombies as a fact of life (no ironic pun intended) and allow them to suck any potential morale out of those who could be potentially excited.

In this tough economy, more people are worried about keeping their jobs than they are about building excitement for those same jobs.  But there is a direct correlation.  People who are excited about their work probably will have a better chance of keeping it.

Ask yourself this:

1. As you are recruiting project resources, are you looking at passion and personality fit as much as you're looking at skill sets?  Skills can be taught; it's harder to teach passion.

2. Do you have people who are "sucking the life" out of your project?  Can you get rid of them or try to coach them?

3. Does your team understand why the project warrants passion?  Do you?

4. Are there hidden gems within your project where passionate elements can be uncovered?  Are there diamonds in the rough of the seemingly mundane?

It's been fun hearing from my students about their passion for working with these small businesses around town.  One of the key elements for building passion is the feeling that they're truly making a difference.  That alone will build more passion and excitement than you as a project manager can generate.

Carpe Factum!