In one of the leadership conferences a senior leader of a large software organisation was asked, “Dear Sir, what do you think is one of the most important qualities that can help an employee rise in the organization and eventually become extremely successful?”

The senior leader heard the question and replied in a calm tone.

He said, “Love”.

Almost all the people seated there were startled at his answer.

The senior leader began to explain.

“If you want to become successful in the organisation then the first thing you must develop and strengthen in yourself is an extremely strong and deep emotion of love.

I am speaking about the love that you must feel for each and every aspect of your work.

Whether a Monday or a Friday or any month of the year your love for your work should be at its highest and deepest.

Love in this context relates to the 3 ‘D’s and these are namely, Devotion; Dedication and Determination!”

The entire audience at the conference was listening in rapt attention as the leader continued.

“Dear people, you may be the most skilled engineer, accountant or even someone with the highest degree such as an MBA or a PHD and yet these qualifications may not guarantee your professional growth and success.

I have seen the best of engineers and accountants performing at their lowest and some of them have even been asked to leave the organisation based upon their poor output.

This drop and deterioration in their work is because of their lack of motivation and also because, fundamentally, these employees had lost their love and passion for their work.

The word ‘love’ that I am talking about is truly the way you become intensely devoted, dedicated and determined towards achieving excellence in each and every aspect of your work despite the challenges and obstacles you may have to face in your journey of professional growth.

I know there will be justifiable reasons for losing interest and inspiration with respect to the work you do, reasons such as a ‘difficult’ boss, challenging targets or budgets, extremely high expectations from your seniors as well as feelings of boredom due to repetitiveness and monotony in work.

Despite this, it is the manner in which you deal with these ‘reasons’ that will deepen your love and passion for your work.

We all experience repetitiveness and boredom in the course of our work and yet that must not make us lose our love and the deep passion for it.

If you are experiencing monotony and boredom then one of the ways to battle it is to become more creative and innovative.

Try doing the same work in a different way.

Try and become open to experimenting with new ideas and innovations related to your work.

Apart from this if you feel that your kind of work has little or no scope for becoming creative then you could and should start developing more knowledge and gaining further expertise with respect to your work.

All I say to you is try your best to not let the love and passion for your work dip even to the slightest.

Try and maintain the same levels of excitement, energy and exuberance that you felt when you had started your job with the organization.

Is it difficult? Yes! But not impossible!

The day you decide to change your attitude from being a disinterested or dispassionate employee towards transforming yourself into someone who is passionate, progressive and proactive you will see yourself steadily rising in your career and this is because you will be loving each and every day at your office and this love will translate into better performance and productivity!

I believe it is time that we fall in love…with our work and make each day at office the most exciting and exuberant”

That day many of the people attending the conference had learnt something new and yet a very simple lesson in their lives.

I am sure we too will ‘fall in love…with our work and make each day at office the most productive one!

Feedback:  maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj