In my previous post, I tried to make the case for how important it is that there be passion for the organization shared among the members of a workplace team. I promised that this time I would try to offer some specific things I’ve found that can can help stoke that that passion. My personal favorite is this: pick a fight!

OK, maybe not an outright fight, but at least get your colleagues to disagree with you. Get them to do it vocally, with feeling. And get them to do it on matters that are important, that you feel strongly about. Get them to argue with you. Really. And it’s not about raised voices, but strong opinions. Get them to debate even though many of them will at first be terribly hesitant and uncomfortable trying to do. Help them grow into it.

Debate is a remarkable tool in a work environment. Done respectfully, it fosters respect among co-workers. Done regularly with wide participation, it cultivates engagement. Done with broad participation, around the truly important issues, it encourages ownership, commitment and loyalty. And when you have a team where the members are engaged, loyal, committed, and feel a sense of ownership, you have the key ingredients of passion. Unless the group simply has terrible chemistry or there is severe dysfunction elsewhere, passion should be ready to emerge and grow.

But debate is hard enough without a language barrier. How do you ensure that it extends to and includes deaf and hard-of-hearing colleagues? It’s not easy. But there are things you can do.

Be vocal and up-front about wanting that debate to occur. There may be situations where there’s an advantage to quietly, invisibly and slowly cultivating a culture of healthy debate. This is not one of them. Come right out and say it – clearly, broadly and repeatedly. A workplace with language and communication gaps is no place to be subtle. Tell all of your colleagues you want them to argue with you, but tell deaf workers they can and should be more firm about it than anyone else. Tell everyone (who has a sense of humor) that if worse comes to worse and something gets a little too firm or harsh sounding, they should blame it on the interpreter! Anything to get deaf colleagues to insert and assert themselves in the debate.

Also, don’t just tell your team what you’re trying to encourage, but ask them to hold each other and you accountable. And, by all means, reward them for doing it – in front of everyone. If every team member feels like he/she is expected, and empowered, to hunt down and eliminate debate-squelching behaviors, you’re halfway home.

If, as a leader, you need to cut off a debate for some reason, or you need to make a decision that goes against the direction the debate pointed, tell everyone that’s what you’re doing. And as best you can, tell them why. And when you do so, make absolutely certain you have a direct conversation with your deaf and hard-of-hearing colleagues about the fact you’ve done it and why.

This may be obvious, but sometimes the obvious is worth restating: if someone on your team is struggling with getting into a debating mindset (deaf or hearing), talk with them about offline and get their permission to actively draw them in when a debate is or should be happening. Then go ahead and start interrupting your debates to seek their thoughts, questions, concerns, etc. Ask them open ended questions. Don’t wait for what feels a natural place in the discussion to do it. As soon as it occurs to you that someone may be having a hard time, you’re probably right. So stop and ask for their input.

There is, of course, more you can do, but this is starting to become too long of a post. So I’ll come back to the topic again in the future to flesh it out more. For now, just remember that workplace passion is the best insurance policy you can have against a tough and unpredictable environment. And that passion is something you can cultivate in your organization. One of the best ways to start is get your co-workers in on the dialog of your organization. Get them into the conversation – into the debate – not as “yes-men,” but rather as “don’t-you-think-we-should-consider-this-too-men.” Make your workplace a place for healthy debate, and you’ll have a healthy – and more passionate – workplace.

Todd D. Wakefield is CEO of NexTalk, Inc. ( http://www.nextalk.com ). He lives in Park City, Utah with his wife of 20 years and four kids.