Fire Them Up!
In talking with one of my great personal friends this week he asked me a very important question that I know a lot of people are seeing this year specifically. Jarrid asked me, “How do you get someone to realize their true potential and want to chase after it? Moreover,” he asked, “how do you get someone to realize that they’re in a slump?” These employee stumbling blocks can be a business owner's greatest challenge and it is not always the easiest thing to overcome, but it can be done.
How? Let’s start by talking about fire.
Fire is a chemical reaction that requires three key elements: heat, fuel, and oxygen. If you remove any one of those three elements, there is no fire. Our passion and inner fire require the same elements. However, often our own personal experiences or failures can douse that inner fire. As leaders in the workspace, want our employees’ inner fires to burn in hopes that it will improve the overall performance of the business. We get selfish as business leaders and want them to really thrive as an employee but we tend to not be focused on them thriving as a human.
Employees get burnt out at work when their fuel source is only based off of working success. They spend countless hours trying to further their career by working all the time. As owners, we love seeing it because we call that ‘dedication’. If we are being honest with ourselves, however, is that really the best way to build a never-ending flame?
Today's tidbit!
The Three Elements of Firing Up Your Key Leaders and Employees
If you are really interested in firing up your employees, they need the same three elements that fire does. We already briefly mentioned one element - work development. Successful people want to know that their work matters and that they make an impact on the company to which they give their time and energy. That type of fuel is great but it only burns so long. The other equally as powerful and essential sources of fuel (strange though it may sound) are their physical fitness, physical health, mental health, and spiritual health. Those whose fires burn the brightest typically draw from all of these fuel sources.
2. For a fire to burn, it also needs oxygen. If you pile all of these fuel sources on the fire at once you won't be able to get enough oxygen into the fire and you’ll smother the flame. The oxygen for your teams’ inner fire is time. Once you know that your team is drawing from more fuel sources than just their success in the work place, you as the leader need to understand that a hot internal fire takes time to cultivate. As entrepreneurs, we typically keep our inner fire stoked on our own. That isn't the case for everyone. When your team is searching for those other sources of fuel, giving them time to hone their why-they-do-what-they-do helps to keep the chain reaction going, causing their inner fire to burn even hotter than before.
3. The final element of fire is the heat. That heat comes from no one else but you. Through dedicated mentorship and setting an example of a higher standard of both work and life, you will find little pieces of fuel to ignite their inner fire. Our people need great leaders who are focused on more than just job performance. As leaders, we want to be surrounded by the most stable and balanced individuals so it’s important to be involved in your employees’ lives and goals. Both short-term and long-term. Having a strong mentor makes a difference in all of us - no matter your level on the proverbial business ladder. Be that mentor for your employees and watch their inner fires ignite.
If you have people in your organization who have either lost their fire or people whom you believe have more to give, help them cultivate all their fuel sources, give them some time to dig deeper for those extra fuel sources, and put in the effort to be the heat that moves their life forward. When all of your employees’ inner fires are burning brightly, nothing will be able to stifle the blaze.
Enjoy!
