All thriving businesses have energy flowing through the team structure. Employees are rejuvenated and optimistic, pretty much looking forward to being at work. The CEO brings inspiration and authenticity. The environment facilitates cooperation. If you think the preceding sounds like a Great-Place-to-Work requirement, you are right.
Helping your team find positive energy is key to obtaining and sustaining positive performance. Consistent performance is an uncompromised lever of business resilience, employee creativity and innovation.
Helping your team find positive energy is key to obtaining and sustaining positive performance – Hustle 24
Without positive energy flowing daily through an organisation, team dynamism could be hindered. This is even more reason learning to foster a consistent flow of energy within an organisation or team is a critical subject at the boardroom and shop floor levels.
Brian Grey, an UN-listed social influencer, in his article ‘The Three ‘E’s to High Performance Teams: Energy, Engagement and Exploration’ would want us to believe that energy is finite. He isn’t wrong. Just as energy can be strategically released to permeate through a team structure to stimulate robust activities that result in outstanding outcomes, if it is not properly managed it could fizzle out. No car runs on one fuel injection for its entire lifecycle. Consistent energy top-ups are key to maintaining performance.
Let’s dive quickly into the four ways to release energy in your team members:
- Devolve power smartly – Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave in the ‘New Secrets of CEOs’ explained that energy will freely flow from the frontline rather than being forced from the top if CEOs learn to devolve power by building a culture that empower people to take decisions as close to a problem as possible. The key to activating power devolution within an organisation lies in providing the tools for team members to make business decisions from the bottom. Tying every decision around the strike of the CEOs big gavel will hinder growth and suffocate energy.
- Connect to team members’ purpose – Help team members find meaning in their work. Craft a compelling narrative that help the team members see their work contribution from a larger perspective that connects to a larger-than-life or transformative purpose. If work is seen as working-for-work’s sake and profit is seen as a selfish drive, top talent will disconnect. So, help team members find purpose in their work contribution.
- Enable positive communication – Set up a work environment that expands space for team members communication and support. Where secrecy builds, suspicion grows. Suspicion does breed negative energy that kill team’s morale and create silos. That is not what you want to build. It isn’t hallmark of a business willing to grow.
- Model behaviour – Positive energy is contagious. Interestingly, so is negative energy. Effective culture flows from the top; it is not a masked mantra pasted at the front desk to impress guests. If you talk it without doing it, people won’t take you seriously. Walk the talk. Model energy and positive behaviour if you are leading a team and everyone will fall in line.
- Manage team energy – Instil best practices that pay attention to physical, emotional, and mental health. Don’t let a team member burn out before checking up to see how they are faring. Pay attention to the team. Knowing you are concerned about them, team members will give their best to the team.
