Passion At Work

The Passion at Work Model offers a way to integrate personal passions into professional tasks to enhance motivation, creativity, and job satisfaction. Inspired by Exprovement and The Fifth Discipline/Systems Thinking, this model encourages reflection on work that has become mundane, stagnant, or lacking in creativity. By incorporating elements from your personal interests, this model aims to refresh your professional experience and make routine tasks more engaging.

The model prompts you to identify your passions and explore how the skills and disciplines associated with them can be applied to your professional work. This approach not only revitalizes your motivation but also fosters innovation and opens up new perspectives in your job. By drawing parallels between your passions and your professional responsibilities, the Passion at Work Model helps you find meaningful connections and opportunities for growth, ultimately leading to a more fulfilling and dynamic work life.

Questions to consider...

• What am I passionate about? What am I really passionate about?

• What aspects of my work do I find most mundane or uninspiring?

• How can I bring elements of that passion into my work?

• What skills and disciplines do professionals in my area of passion demonstrate, and how do these relate to the skills and disciplines required in my profession?

• What are the underlying principles of my passion that can be translated to my work?

Examples...

Product Owner's Photography-Inspired Innovation

A Product Owner for an insurance company’s software development team has a passion for photography. They often struggle with finding motivation to present and communicate the product’s vision, roadmap, and progress. To address this, they start leveraging their photography skills to create compelling visual stories about the product’s journey, from conception to launch. They begin taking photos of the team at work, users interacting with the product, and the product itself. These photos are then used in presentations, marketing materials, and social media, creating a more relatable and visually appealing narrative.

This visual storytelling approach not only enhances engagement but also sparks a new idea. Just as a camera lens can be configured to suit different photographic needs, the Product Owner envisions making insurance packages customizable. They propose a new feature that allows users to configure their insurance packages to better suit their individual needs, drawing a parallel between their passion for adjustable camera settings and the flexibility desired by insurance customers. This innovative idea, inspired by their love for photography, adds significant value to the product and resonates well with users.

Media Standards Regulator's Progressive Rock Connection

A Media Standards Regulator is responsible for reviewing and setting media standards. They have a passion for progressive rock music but have recently found the task of reviewing media standards to be monotonous and uninspiring. While performing their duties competently, they sense there is potential for greater innovation and improvement.

Drawing inspiration from their passion, they begin to explore how elements of progressive rock music can be integrated into their work. Initially, they introduce thematic presentations during meetings and workshops, incorporating complex artwork and music-inspired themes. While this approach adds an element of fun for the regulator, it doesn't necessarily enhance the value of the presentations.

However, as they delve deeper, the regulator realizes that the complexity of progressive rock music can offer a valuable perspective on the intricacies of media standards. Just as each instrument in a rock band plays a crucial role in creating a harmonious composition, the various standards need to work together seamlessly to be effective.

By viewing media standards as interdependent components of a complex system, the regulator begins to set and review standards with a greater focus on their interconnections. They use this metaphor to explain the importance of harmony and integration among the standards, making them more transparent and comprehensible for those who must adhere to them. This innovative approach not only revitalizes the regulator's passion for their work but also leads to more cohesive and effective media standards.