"Leadership is about managing energy, first
in yourself and then in those around you."
- Professor James Clawson,
author of Level
Three Leadership
In a recent UNH Executive Development Program, the instructor, Professor Jim Clawson, challenged a group a senior managers to reflect on how they are managing their personal energy, and as leaders, the impact they are having on their employee’s energy.
He used the following short videos to illustrate the difference between high energy (penguins) and low energy (polar bears) employees (minus the titles on this YouTube version):
How about you? In your individual and team meetings with your employees
and others, are they leaving the meeting as penguins or polar bears? And how are
you showing up?
Great leaders raise the energy level – and bring out the best in those around
them. Their positive outlook and attitude is infectious. You can walk into any
work environment and feel the energy (or lack of).
I can’t help but think of current examples from professional football.
Robert Griffin (RG3) is a penguin quarterback, and you can see the
positive impact he has on his team and the entire city of Washington. Jay Cutler, on the other hand,
while a very talented quarterback, comes across to be as a bit of a polar bear.
No emotions at all – in fact, he often appears to be sulking. See the popular Jay Cutler smoking meme.
So what can a manager do to create more penguins and less polar bears?
It’s unrealistic to expect dramatic changes in the energy level of any employee
– after all, there’s a lot more that comes into play other than the impact of a
manager, even a great leader. However, there are a few important aspects of managing employee energy
that a leader can impact, including:
1. Start with yourself. As a manager, how are you showing up – as a
penguin or polar bear? If you’re more on the polar bear end of the energy
spectrum, perhaps it’s time to get some balance in your life. A few years ago I
learned about the field of positive psychology, and I think it made a
difference for me. If you are not familiar with it, I’d recommend this
23 minute Ted Talk for an overview.2. Give your employees more control over their work. Again, there is science to support this recommendation – see another Ted Talk, Dan Pink’s The Puzzle of Motivation. People are motivated when they have choices, or are empowered. They drag their rear ends when they are told what to do – even when they are “incented” – and it becomes an nothing more than an obligation.
3. Stop sucking the
energy out of your employees through your own annoying behaviors. The BEST
list of “energy draining” (and annoying) manager behaviors comes from Marshall
Goldsmith’s book What Got
You Here Won't Get You There. Here’s
a summary. For example, stop trying to "add too much value" - i.e., feel compelled to add your own two cents to every one of your employee's ideas. Others include not listening, not expressing gratitude, or the need to blame everyone but yourself.
The good news is, any of these behaviors are relatively easy to
correct. You don’t have to learn anything new – you just need to stop
doing each any of them!
Not sure if you’re being annoying? Then get
some feedback and act on it.
Penguins or polar bears? The choice is yours.
