So what do they do off the field that helps them realize their greatness? What helps them move from good to great, from ordinary to extraordinary? And what can this tell us about encouraging championship behavior in the workplace?

Champions first know their talents; their natural aptitudes start them out as “good.” What helps them achieve champion (exceptional) status is an intrinsic passion for what they do; this provides the energy, drive and focus to commit to the extra work, effort and disciplined achievement to move from good to great.

So let’s talk workplace. Good employees are those who can do the job. Great employees are those who have the passion to excel at the job. They do things both in and out of the workplace to improve, grow, learn and achieve. They excitedly go to training programs, watch videos and buy resources, even with their own money. They set goals for themselves that are many times greater than the goals their managers set. Passion drives excellence. Passion creates champions.

Marcus Buckingham presents in his book First Break All the Rules, that 65% of employees do just enough not to get fired. They are good, not great. They are not champions. Core to this is they are either in jobs that don’t play to what they are good at (the don’t feel capable or competent), or they are good at the job but don’t love it (the find it boring).

To learn how to activate your employees’ passion, you must first be able to connect through a regular and recurring dialog – person-to-person. In this dialog you learn about the things that move and inspire your employee. You start to gather critical information to help you realign an employee to a role that he is both good at doing and passionate about doing, or make modifications to an employee’s existing role to include more of what appeals to the employee.

Consider the following questions to connect with your employees and to gather critical information:
1. What do you love most (least) about this job?
2. If you could work in any area of the company, what area would it be and what job would you want? Why?
3. What are you talents, values and interests? What do you love to do outside of work? What matters to you in and out of work? What do you think you are capable of being great at?

These several questions allow you see into your employees to better understand what matters to them and what moves them. And when you know what moves them, you can activate their passionate response – the response that leads them to “championship” performance, because champions are what your customers and business need.

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it and contact me to show you how to activate the “champion” in your employees.

In our industrial age, most employees performed recurring tasks in the manufacturing of products. There was not a lot of formal and creative thinking required; rather, compliance to policy and following procedures generally created a good product. How employees felt, and what they thought, were generally not welcomed into the impersonal production process. We managed people by command and control – dictating and telling. It was effective; that is why we did it.

But that is not today’s workplace. In today’s intellectual age, our employees are face-to-face with customers, not behind machines. They must connect personally and emotionally with customers – they must be thinking and feeling – in order to earn customers’ loyalty. Every customer event must be right, but few customer events are exactly the same. That means employees must be ready, thinking and connecting in order to know how to make the service event right and memorable.

Command-and-control management does not activate this type of performance. Employee performance and loyalty must be inspired, not manipulated. Employees who feel capable, competent, important and valued respond to customers in a loyalty-building way.

Author Simon Sinek presents in his book, Start With Why, that we respond better when our connection is emotional and personal. Employee loyalty is based on management’s ability to win their employees’ hearts, not just their minds. Hearts are connected to our deep emotional side – the side that drives our most significant behaviors. Loyalty is based on heart. “Heart responds to inspiration, not manipulation.” Exceptional performance comes from the heart.

Engage-and-inspire managers:
1. Know their employees and hire them into roles that play to their talents and passions.
2. Customize jobs to play to employees’ strengths and the things they love to do.
3. Provide recurring feedback to build a strong personal rapport and connection.
4. Help employees feel part of the team, important and personally valuable.

Great performance is dependent on committed employees. Employees become committed when they are emotionally invested in their work. Hire the right ones. Help them feel important, capable and valuable. Activate their heart.

Review your management style and assess its impact. Do you manipulate or inspire?

Consider this: Not everybody is great at everything. No kidding, right? But this is important because it explains how to help you identify what your employees’ hooks or “performance activators” are.

The brief explanation, also supported by the new book Drive by Daniel Pink, is our hooks are based on what makes us feel capable and competent in what we do, and like doing it; we must be good at what we do and passionate about doing it. When this happens, we perform. When this does not happen, we are just not that interested in our work.

Picture this: a salesman in an accountant’s role. Death wish. There isn’t any hook – the role does not play to what a salesmen is fundamentally good at and passionate about doing – that is connecting with others, winning others over and making the sale. Okay, reverse the roles – an accountant now in a salesman’s role. Again, no hook – the sales role does not play to the accountant’s love of details, focus on control, order and analysis (more about details than people).

No competence, comfort or passion and performance suffers. When you are good at what you do and love doing it you perform better.

To find your employees’ hooks:
1. Identify what the employee is consistently good at (talents).
2. Identify what the employee’s passions and interests are.

Start a regular conversation with your employees to get to know them. When you know their talents, values and interests you will find their hooks. Then you can realign them to roles that activate their best performance. Your people are your profits.

For more information click on “For Managers” on www.LifeFiredUp.com.

Live Fired Up is your site for great information. How you live and work not only impacts your success, but your health. Much has been written about how working in jobs that you hate or are not good at are stressful environments. The same goes with living lives that are complicated and unhappy. Both create stress, that over time, inactivates your immune system (see work by Dr. Robert Sapolksy and Dr. Esther Sternberg). You can get sick from life and work.

So this year – get smart. Read the articles and blogs on this site. Sign up for the manager, employee/job seeker, and life e-newsletters. Click on our idea centers. Check back regularly because we constantly update the site with meaningful information.

Make 2010 your year to get and stay smart. Work strong and live stronger – that is your key to health, happiness and success.

What do your employees say about you? Are you on the naughty or nice list? And you can believe that if your employees think it, they say it – they text, Tweet, post and e-mail. The world now knows what it is like to work for you. It is now one of your best (or worst) marketing tools.

When an organization builds an employee-focused workplace brand (and to be customer-focused you must first be employee-focused), it creates a workplace that attracts and retains the best employees. Employees who feel cared for, treated fairly, are challenged, developed and appreciated, out-perform others. Once hired these employees stay. And when job seekers know you trust, value and appreciate your employees, they apply – this gives you the choice needed to be able to hire the right employee. The opposite is true for those without a powerful workplace brand.

So how “employee-focused” is your workplace?

Chapter 1 in my book, Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition introduces the 10 components of an employee-focused workplace. I offer this chapter as one of my free chapter downloads so click here to see my list and then assess how well you respond.

Employees talk. Help them become your best marketing by treating them with care, value and dignity, ideally the same way you treat people at home. People are your greatest assets – at work and at home.

We know these two to be talented – but there is more to it. They are talented because they know what they are great at and chose roles that use what they are great at. In other words, they get to do what they are great at every day.

Each of us is great at certain things. The requirement is that we know ourselves well enough to know what our talents and strengths are, then to choose roles at work and in life that allow us to use what we are great at. Those who are exceptional at building and maintaining relationships are more talented in sales and service roles (think how less successful they would be in analytical roles that did not include personal contact). Those who are naturally passionate about and good with details, precision and accuracy are a better fit for technical, accounting and scientific roles.

Fame is not a requirement of being talented. Leslie, who manages my podiatrist’s office, is talented; she can run an exceptionally efficient office and make every patient feel well cared for and important. Amanda at the Phoenix, AZ Vera Bradley store is talented; she is exceptional at listening and interpreting what customers want and need. Jack, my electrician, is talented; his detail focus ensures he is on time, his work is precise, he offers meaningful suggestions, keeps things clean and bills fairly.

Talented people are all around. They work in roles that play to their strengths. Their workplace considers them great. As customers, we love dealing with them. Are you one of them?

What are your talents? (Need help to identify your talents? Use my Talents and Thinking Style Assessment). Does your job let you play to what you are great at?

Build your talent plan to identify your talents and to work in roles that allow you to use what you do best. Start noticing talented people around you – and how they use what they are great at. See how fired up! they are about their work. It is inspiring.

We are almost through all seven steps…today I introduce Step 5.

Find the right job Step 5:
What careers, roles or jobs need what you are great at, passionate about and meet your definition of success? These are opportunities that play to your strengths and activate your passions. These opportunities will allow you to be the most connected and most engaged. This will encourage your greatest energy, performance and impact. You now know yourself well enough to know what are the right jobs for you – the jobs that “fit.” So go ahead and create a list of your “Right” jobs, roles or careers. Consider everything that meets your criteria. You may find that the best job for you does not yet exist and if created would add great value to an organization. Don’t be afraid to invent your ideal job. Be true to yourself – put yourself in a job that will show off what you are great at, and activate your passions.

Two final steps and we’re done. I introduce Step 6 tomorrow. Don’t miss it. And share these with your friends and families who are job hunting…learn a better way of looking for the right job – one that will give you a job you love (and will excel in). For more information see “Stand Out and Get Hired” . Know yourself, what you are great at and what you are passionate about. Then find a job that allows you to use these. That is the “right” job for you.

Today, I continue with my seven steps to finding a job you love because when you love your job, your performance, effort and engagement improves. Today, I introduce Step 4.

Find the right job Step 4:
Review what you listed from steps 1, 2 and 3 (what you are great at, what you love to do and what fits into your definition of success) and identify where any of the items you listed intersect. Where these three areas intersect is called your “MaxImpact Core.” This represents the environment that allows you to connect to your performance both intellectually and emotionally. This is where you have the greatest “fit,” greatest passion and greatest connection. This is critical information needed to identify your dream job – your “right” job. It is worth the effort to go through this process. Most people do not know what they are great at. Fewer know what their definition of success is. Where these, and your passions, intersect is where you will feel empowered and alive in the workplace. Find this. Trust me, you will be so glad you did and you will never take a boring job again. Life is too short to hate your job. It is your choice to have an ordinary or extraordinary job (and life). Learn how to find a job that activates your passions and makes you feel significant. Own your work and your life…you can have the best of each.

Two final steps and we’re done. I introduce Step 5 tomorrow. Don’t miss it. And share these with your friends and families who are job hunting…learn a better way of looking for the right job – one that will give you a job you love (and will excel in). For more information see “Stand Out and Get Hired” . Know yourself, what you are great at and what you are passionate about. Then find a job that allows you to use these. That is the “right” job for you.

Find the right job Step 2:
List what you are passionate about. Passion drives energy; the more you involve your passions in your job, the more engaged and excited you will be in your role. This is the most significant component of performance. Identify what you love to do. You may see this play out in your hobbies and interests.

Step 3 tomorrow. Learn how to find and get hired in to a job that you love. For more information see “Stand Out and Get Hired” . Know yourself, what you are great at and what you are passionate about. Then find a job that allows you to use these. That is the “right” job for you.

Find the right job Step 1:
List what you are great at. Take a talent assessment if you need help or simply list what you are naturally great at. Notice this said “great” not “good” as the focus must be on things that you are the best at to be the most competitive. Don’t be humble. Be accurate and be honest.

Step 2 tomorrow. Learn how to find and get hired in to a job that you love. For more help, click on “Stand Out and Get Hired” above.

In the book, the traveler is introduced to seven historic figures, including Harry Truman, Ann Frank, Abraham Lincoln and others. Each historical person has some particular piece of wisdom to share to help the traveler realign and own his life. Though all seven lessons presented are important, the first lesson is most critical – “the buck stops here” – in other words, you own your life, your decisions, your success or failure. There is no blaming others, no wishing things were different. You have choices and your choices direct your work and life. It is about being fully accountable. It is about owning your life and everything in it.

In today’s blaming world, it always seems to be someone else’s fault. Today, step up and own you life and work. If job seeking, find out what you are good at and apply for jobs in which you are competitive. Take charge of your process and own it. In life, review your choices and be clear about what you want for your life. Live your life, not the life others require or expect of you. Work in roles that activate your passions and talents. Love what you do. Your past does not dictate your future. The buck stops with you. Your life, your work. Own it.

ps – check out the entire book; it is empowering and engaging. Share its lessons with people you care about.

So try this. Identify the things that you love to do – those things that you are passionate about. How can you incorporate some of these in your job? Check with your manager about the other things – the highly engaging things – that you can do to boost your energy level and interest in your job. Don’t just do you job – do a fired up! job. This gets you noticed, valued and remembered.