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Leadership is about
Managing Energy: first in yourself and then in others
By Jim Clawson, May
12, 2004
Professor of Graduate Business Administration
here are hundreds of
definitions of leadership out there,
but lately, my favorite one is this: Leadership is about managing
energy—first in yourself, and then in others.
Leadership is all about managing energy. Think about it for
a minute. In your experience, what percentage of ALL the people you’ve
met thus far in your life would you say are actively engaged at work?
What do you think? I’ve asked this question of hundreds of managers in
seminars and the answers are usually between ten and thirty percent.
Occasionally someone will say seventy percent—and then admit that’s only
in their organization. A recent Gallup poll reported that as much as
seventy percent of people at work in North America are not engaged in
their work. In other words, empirical data suggests that less than a
third of working people are energetic about their work. It’s hard to
imagine that these people don’t have energy—but clearly they’re not
bringing it to work. Instead they go through the motions at work, and
save their best energy for some other activities—perhaps golf, perhaps
softball, perhaps shopping, perhaps re-building a ’57 Chevy in the
garage. Business leaders are faced with the challenge of finding ways
to bring out the energy that people have in them. Sadly, non-profit
organizations have a much better track record in this regard.
You may think of
leadership as “motivating” the people around you, but I think that’s a
dysfunctional way to conceive of this problem. It’s not that these
people are unmotivated; it’s that their work doesn’t motivate them.
It’s the job of leadership to create work and to devise organizational
systems that encourage people to bring their energy to work. If you
cannot, if you’ve got an organization where only thirty percent of the
people are engaged, you’ve put yourself in a quagmire of mediocrity.
If you accept the
notion that leadership is about managing energy—then we can think about
why “first in yourself.” I wonder what your level of engagement
is in your work? What percent of your energy do you bring to your
work? One way to explore this is to ask your self this question, “when
I came in to work today, what were the top three thoughts on my mind?”
Think about it for a moment.
The odds are, having
asked again hundreds of managers this question, that you said, “What do
I have to do today?” I will say right now, that if you approach your
work on a daily, habitual basis with an obligatory mindset like
this—you’ve found a great formula for mediocre performance. Research
has shown that people who take an obligatory mindset to their work will
never have the stamina or the persistence to excel demonstrated by those
who choose to go to work with energy and engagement.
Consider this.
There is a psychological concept called “mirroring.” Mirroring,
basically, is the phenomenon that if you put ten to fifteen people in a
room and watch them with a camera, after a short period of time (fifteen
to thirty minutes) the attitude and tone of the group will migrate
toward the strongest personality in the room. This can be good or bad.
If the strongest person in the room is negative, constantly complaining,
a “net energy sucker” if you will, the tone of group will shift in that
direction. If the strongest personality in the room is upbeat,
positive, and engaged, the mood of the group will migrate toward that
person. SO, when you come to work in the morning, odds are, since
you’re the “boss,” the tone of your people will gradually and inexorably
migrate towards your personality. If you’re upbeat and cheerful and
have a can-do attitude, odds are your people will to. If you’re
constantly angry, a little peeved, and in the back of your mind thinking
about how much you “have to” do or that you “have to” be there on any
given day, odds are your group will sense this and reflect it. And as
I’ve said, an obligatory mindset is a formula for mediocre performance.
So, the first
challenge is to manage your own energy level. Are you eager to get to
work in the morning? Have you developed a habitual way of thinking
about work that leaves you in an obligatory mindset? If so, you may be
unintentionally dragging down the possible performance of your people.
My colleague,
Doug Newburg, a performance counselor for heart surgeons at the UVA
medical center often asks does how you feel affect your performance? Please think
twice about your answer. Did you say, “of course?” Many do. In fact,
ninety nine percent of all people I ask this question say, “of course.”
Hmm. Well if that’s the case, how many times in your career has your
boss/supervisor asked you how you wanted to feel on any given day? And
if they did, were they just mouthing a convention of social small talk?
Better yet, how many times in your career have you asked your
subordinates how they want to feel on any given day and asked in
particular because you wanted to help them ramp up their performance? I
thought so. The typical answer is “zero,” “nada,” “never!”
The point is this:
the assumption that “professionals” will simply gut it up and do what
they’re supposed to do is a formula for mediocre performance. It’s only
when a person has found their “sweet spot” in life, when a person
“resonates,” when they are “in the zone” that they are likely to perform
at the world class level. So, if you’re not resonating, if you’re not
eager to get to work, if you don’t think of your life as a series of
positive choices instead of a chain of responsibilities, the odds are
you’re not in the zone—and as the key figure at work, you are the focal
point of the mirroring behavior of your people.
If you want to
“motivate” your people, think about several things: first, are you
“motivated?” Do you anticipate your work on a daily basis or are you
operating at an obligatory level in your conscious thought? What
“vibes” are your people getting from your attitude about your work? Are
you able to say without hesitation, “I love my work, and I don’t think
of it as an obligation?” If not, you need to first think about managing
your own energy. There’s lots of exciting research emerging these days
about this phenomenon.
Second, since the
people around you will mirror your attitude, if you want to manage the
energy of your people, you need first to become a “net energy
contributor.” It’s a key, and oft overlooked role of leadership.
Third, consider the relationship between feelings and performance. Dave
Scott, three time winner of the Ironman Triathlon said recently that he
doesn’t use a stop watch or a speedometer—that when he does, his times
go up. The “split time target” become obligations—and
one’s energy flags. Rather, what Scott does is look inside for a rhythm
that feels strong—and tries to keep it. And when he does this, his
performance improves. The same is probably true for you as a leader—and
for your people.
Comments?
Contact
Jim
Clawson
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