The Sunday Mail
“WE look forward to the time when the power of love replaces the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace,” said British statesman William Ewart Gladstone.
Changing Perspectives
Rutendo Gwatidzo
Love is beautiful and it is so strong it can conquer almost anything.
Come to think of it, a woman goes through nine challenging months and the birthing process, all for the love of a child.
The labour of love continues until the child becomes independent, but the love continues.
The power of love causes two strangers to move in and stay together in order to build a life together.
It is easy to achieve great things when you do what you love
Love causes people to sacrifice for one another. Love comes with patience, long suffering, kindness, forgiveness, tolerance and gentleness.
There are many things one can achieve because of the power of love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is instructive.
Interestingly, when many people think of love, they only focus on relational love, yet the subject touches on every aspect of life.
A person can achieve great things if he/she does what he/she loves — the same way someone can endure challenges when they are with a person they love.
It is the same way people endure challenges when doing what they love.
Organisational status
The challenge in many organisations is that they have teams that do not love what they do.
Some are employed by a particular organisation just because they could not find anything else to do.
Some just got attached to organisations because that was the convenient thing to do at the time.
Others are employed by a specific institution because it gives them a good status, while yet others are employed because they want to steal from the organisation.
I can mention many other reasons.
I conducted customer service training with one of the organisations I work with, and asked the participants to write down why they are with the institution.
Of the 150 participants who responded to the question, only 21 mentioned that they loved the organisation and what it stood for.
Some indicated that it was a “stable organisation” and would, therefore, not struggle to pay salaries.
We did further research with two other organisations.
The findings were almost similar.
I realised that lack of love for an organisation is one of the main causes of high staff turnover, regardless of other factors.
This is because team members are quick to give up when they encounter challenges. There is no love and passion in what they do.
I strongly believe that during recruitment, managers should consider employees who love the organisation.
Love for the organisation can also be tried and tested during the induction period.
Such teams are most likely to put their best efforts towards making the organisation a success, because they are driven by love and passion more than any other factors.
I once listened to the story of how Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (Pvt) Limited was started.
One of the shareholders mentioned that he loved the vision so much that he went for many years without pay because the business could not afford to provide salaries for some time.
But the vision was so attractive to him that he decided to push on to make it work.
He was very lucky to receive some allowance at times, otherwise he would just work in faith that one day it will pay off.
The vision finally materialised and today the man is a big shareholder at Econet Wireless.
He can now afford to do other businesses or to invest time into other things because Econet Wireless is a now a stable business that can operate without his daily presence.
I would like to challenge everyone to engage in or do the kind of work they love.
You will realise that it will be easy to achieve great things when you do what you love.
Seemingly difficult targets can be achieved better when love leads the process.
When teams do what they love, they require minimum supervision.
General facts
Love endures.
Some claim they can cross the ocean, reach the moon and stars, forget all the sorrows and hardships, give all they have or follow someone anywhere anytime because of love.
This shows the power of love.
Love is not just about relationships; it should be directed towards everything we put our minds or efforts to.
It is a driving force.
Love can take you out of the comfort zone and push you to achieve great things.
Be challenged, encouraged and inspired to do what you love the most.
Rutendo Gwatidzo is the managing consultant at The HUB HR Consultancy. She is a multi-award winning leader, consultant, speaker and coach. She is also an author of two books: “Born to Fight” and “Breaking the Silence”. Contact detail: 0714575805/ [email protected] / Rutendo Gwatidzo_Official Facebook public page
