4 Truths for Managing Multiple Passions

For the majority of my career, I’ve balanced working for multiple organizations. After a long day at the office, a handful of mocha lattes and a blanket of Post-It notes swaddling my desk are often the only things keeping me from developing a multiple personality disorder.

It comes as no surprise to me that when people find out about the involvement I have within each organization, their first question is always, “Why?” shortly followed by, “How?” To answer both, here are five rules that make multiple roles easier to manage for you and employees:

Skip the Roles You’re Not Passionate for: I’m completely and utterly passionate about the success of each one. If you going to fill multiple roles, you can’t dabble in ones that you’re not passionate about.

Keep it All Under the Same Umbrella: Though my day certainly gets hectic on a regular basis, I find it relatively easy to wear all of these different “hats.” Why? All three of these companies—though they reside in completely different industries—fall under the same umbrella of company culture and core values. Not only do I whole-heartedly embody and live out these values, I was a major part in creating them, and that has done more for my commitment than any paycheck ever could.

Grow New Initiatives from Solid Roots: Tasty Catering acted as a guiding parent, breeding (and funding) several other businesses coming from within the Tasty family. That’s Caring and nuphorIQ—both organizations I work for—followed in their parent’s footsteps, using the values and beliefs their parent company instilled in them and shaped their own cultures and values based on their own employees and goals. Don’t go chasing roles that aren’t grounded in your roots.

Be Clear on Purpose: All of my organizations have a clearly stated Values, Vision and Mission. By putting Values first, it makes it easy for an organization to see the big picture of where it is and where it is heading (our Values created our Vision which created our Mission). Putting values first allows me to clearly outline not only where I fit into each company but also where all of our employees fit into each company.

While it may be hard to remember which task to focus on or which company hat I’m wearing at any given moment, it’s not hard to remember why I am at work and why I strive to be great every day for all of my organizations. Knowing that I get to contribute to the outcomes of each company fulfills my sense of purpose, and that is a feeling I share with every member of our professional family.

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