A Leader’s Lost & Found: The 5 Keys Regaining the Passion for Your Position as a Leader

You’ve been there… you’re great at your job, you naturally see things other don’t, address and accomplish things other won’t, and everyone notices! They notice so much that you’re offered a promotion and the confusing paradox of never doing that job again; only to lead a Team of people to do it… sound familiar? Or, you’re already in a Leadership Position and wearing a bunch of hats. However, the duties of the hats you enjoy the least are taking up most of your time and you feel yourself falling into “The Sunken Place”; falling further and further away from the tasks and parts of the job that bring you joy, energy, and naturally fit who you are.

I’ve been there in both instances! My first promotion took me from a Mental Health Therapist to leading a Team of therapist. My higher-ups, explained I’d be responsible for each client’s insurance approvals, summer program planning, and overseeing the quality of Group and Individual therapy sessions… BORING! Therefore, in the interview process, I fought to maintain a few clients. They strongly resisted, but I won… then a couple of years later I lost. I was drowning in paperwork and insurance authorizations (the part of the job I hated) and I was stressed to the max with clients; as the Team and company became used to me maintaining that caseload and I burnt-out HARD!!!

Nowadays, as Founder of You Evolving Now, I have four major parts of my work:

-        Create content: Leadership & Work/Life Harmony Trainings, speaking engagements, books, refresher courses, and products for ongoing Professional development.

-        Preform the material at companies and conferences

-        Lead my Team – maintaining and enhancing Communication, Connection, Culture, & Results!

-        Sales – My Team and I have done a wonderful job in leading our pipeline, but it’s my job (for now) to customize, create, refer, and close deals to best impact companies, Leaders, their Teams, and Frontline Employees!

I love each part of my job, however creating content and performing the content energizes me and every time I get to do it… whether recording in my office, at companies for their Leaders, or on stages in front of thousands of people… I feel RIGHT! However, there are times when the other parts of my job occur more and overshadow everything else.

Perhaps this is where you are. It’s not that you don’t like the other parts of your job… it’s that the parts that bring you to life are happening less and less, you’re feeling less and less alive, and burning out. So, what to do?

Your Leader’s 3

Key 1 is the foundation of your Leadership and your professional GPS! It keeps us on course and from straying too far from our passion and mission. Whether you’re a Leader in an organization, a Solo-Preneur, or an Entrepreneur leading your own Team… “What’s your Vision?” The simpler, the better… “We will be the best cleaning service delivering top-notch white glove service in the state of Wyoming”. GREAT!

The Vision sounds great, but does nothing without the Vision Factors! What are the 3-5 things, that when you and your Team do them consistently, the VISION must come true?

Next, when leading a Team, what are your Expectations? Mine are The 3P’s. I only hire or outsource with those who are Positive, Passionate, and Productive. Prefacing this upfront, displaying it yourself, and mentioning it often allows it to become embedded in your culture and will make it easier to have difficult conversations later when people aren’t displaying it internally with coworkers or externally with customers/clients.

Lastly, what are your Rules? You don’t need many, but you better have some… or you won’t be Leading for very long!

Many times, Leaders lose their passion or cannot do the parts of the job they love because their people or clientele are stomping all over their boundaries and rules. I have a few rules I implement with my team and one for me personally:

For my Team:

1.    Punctuality

2.    After 3-4 emails about the same thing = a mandatory 10-minute phone call

3.    Please accompany your problem with a suggested solution

4.    For me personally – wait for 10 mins for a prospect to show on a call or meeting. At minute 10, click off or leave… no matter the size of the deal to title of the person.

It’s difficult to regain passion for what you’re doing when you don’t know where you’re going, what to say “Yes” and “No” to, and you’re not respecting your time or superpower effectively… Be Mindful!

Organize Around Your Wins!

I often share the importance of being “Better”, not just “Busy”. Ther will always be things to do, tasks that need to be completed, and people who need you. “Busy” keeps things status quo and the lights on; however, it rarely helps you regain passion for your work.

So, what’s your superpower? What do you LOVE doing professionally? Whatever your answer, be sure to scheduling it as “Deep Work” time that’s not to be interrupted. It may also make sense to schedule it at the start of your day or before week’s end, but never on a Friday. You know like I know, anything can happen on a Friday. It can either be the easiest day of the week or BOOM… fires emerge out of nowhere or you simply lose steam. When this happens, your passion gets pushed back another week, month, year, or more!

I get energy from recording Leadership Videos based on my writing. I Schedule my writing on alternating Sunday mornings and video record on Wednesday or Thursdays. If I’m not careful, emergencies, meetings, sales calls, travel, and life can push my passion and “Wins” around… and it’s up to ME to protect it! How will you protect your passion moving forward?

Delegate Based on Superpowers!

Too often, Leaders lose passion for their work because they’re too busy doing EVERYTHING! Think of the Inspired & Motivated Employee who’s worked their way up the corporate ladder. They’re usually a “Zoned-In” work style producing impeccable work, results, and have built a reputation for getting things done. Whether they’re in a company or an entrepreneur, they’ve now moved up the ranks, their business has grown… but they’re still operating the same… doing it all, sound familiar?

This can happen for several reasons; perhaps they’ve always had that do-it-yourself mentality, they don’t trust it will be done correctly, they can do it better and faster, they don’t want their reputation tarnished, they want the credit, and I could go on, but you get the point.

Not only is this poor Leadership, but it also keeps you in the weeds, doing EVERTHING! Eventually, your passion fades, burnout creeps in slowly then all encompassing, work/life harmony suffers, your Team never gets better… and to top it off… you become resentful of your Team, even though you trained them to do very little, over-depend on you, and not to think out of the box.

So, what’s the solution? Delegate to your Team’s superpower! Any time I become consistently overwhelmed with a task, I begin to dread it, AND I’m not great at it… it’s time to delegate it to a Direct Report or look to add a Team Member with that specific superpower and skill set.
 
Of course, it’s not always that simple, but sometimes it is:

-        What tasks are draining you and outside of your best skill set?

-        What tasks are you great at, but given your position, someone else on your Team should be and could be doing it?

-        List your Team Members and what their professional superpowers are?

-        What would you benefit from delegating and why?

-        Who would you delegate it to?

-        What’s their current bandwidth and can you help prioritize or reprioritize their list?

-        Are they proficient at the task or will they need training? If training is needed, who will provide it, when, where, next steps, and deadlines… and how will you manage your patience and stress?

-        Will you add or subtract to your Team?

-        What’s your plan once delegation is complete? What will you do to better lead, do your passion and superpower, and propel the Team and organization forward with your new free time?

Busy vs. Better Reset!

This reset is internal at first and external second. Knowing your Leader’s 3, Organizing Around Your Wins, and Delegating Based on Superpowers is the internal work. However, what comes next is for your Team and your Leadership.

As a Leader, we all go through period of losing your passion as your business changes, grows, and evolves. Every time I experienced this feeling, I immediately think to myself, “If I’m feeling this way, how are my People feeling?”

What a great opportunity to discuss your current state in 1-on-1 Meetings, asking about your Staff’s current state, their thoughts, and brainstorming plans to best move forward! After meeting with each Direct Report, it’s time for a Team meeting to discuss as a group, officially share your Leader’s 3, and share the new look of duties and responsibilities within the group.

You now know A Leader’s Lost & Found! What was your Biggest Takeaway? What homework will you give yourself to implement NOW to enhance your Leadership & Work/Life Harmony and that of those you’re Leading?


“It’s difficult to regain passion for what you’re doing when you don’t know where you’re going, what to say “Yes” and “No” to, and you’re not respecting your time or superpower effectively… Be Mindful!”

– Andre Young

Written by: Andre Young