Organizational Energy

ORGANIZATIONAL

ENERGYFuel of High Performance

Christina Krause

@ck4q I [email protected]

Quality Forum 2014

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Speed Networking

“When do you feel most

excited and energized

at work?”

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Organizational Energy …

“Extent to which the leaders of an organisation

(or division or team) has mobilized its

emotional, cognitive and behaviour potential to

pursue its goals.”

Bruch & Vogel (2011). Fully charged: how great leaders boost their

organisation’s energy and ignite high performance.

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14%

17%

14%

6%

12%

19%

Overallperformance

Productivity

Efficiency

Customersatisfaction

Customer loyalty

Commitment

High productive energy organizations vs low productive energy organizations

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Motivation …

EXTRINSIC INTRINSIC

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Another view:

Quality of …

Level One: doing

(processes)

Level Two: thinking/

decision making

Level Three: information that

influences thinking

Level Four: information that influences

behavior

Level Five: relationships (information flow)

Level Six: perceptions and feelings (culture)

Level Seven: individuals mind-sets (personal beliefs and values)

“Engine” of quality

D. Balestracci. Data Sanity. 2009

“Fuel” of quality

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Perspectives on Energy …

Organizational

• Stanton Marris

• Bruch & Vogel

• NHS

Individual

• Schwartz (The Energy Project )

© Stanton Marris

What We Mean By Organisational Energy?

The extent to which

an organisation has

mobilised the full

available effort of its

people in pursuit of

its goals

Direction of energy

Level

of

energy

© Stanton Marris

Where organisational energy comes fromThe level of energy that people bring to their work is shaped by the ‘Four

Cs’ – the energy generators

Climate: how far ‘the way we do things round here’

encourages people to give of their best

Connection: how far people see and feel a link between what

matters to them and what matters to the organisation

Content: how far the actual tasks people do are enjoyable

in themselves and challenge them

Context: how far the way the organisation operates and

the physical environment in which people work make

them feel supported

© Stanton Marris

What are the enabling and restraining factors?

Baseline energy

people bring to work

Connection

Content

Context

Climate

© Stanton Marris

Overall Energy Index scores

11

1

5

9

14

18

19

2429

34

37

2

Q4: I am proud of what I do.

7

1011

1317

Q21: I feel that my abilities are

stretched within the HQN

2635

15

23

27

28

31

32

333638

3

6

8

Q12: People respect each

other within in the HQN

Q16: The HQN recognizes that I have a non work

life too

2022

25

30

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0

Importance

Text box to describe the results. You can drag this box around the chart so it does not clash it the data.

This chart reflects and elaborates upon the trends

identified in the summary chart. The Context, Climate

and Connection scores are fairly tightly clustered. The

Content scores are further apart. There are some

significant outliers (Q16, Q21, Q32, Q14)

Q32: I get regular feedback on how well I am

participating in the HQN

Q14: I understand what the HQN must do

to succeed

Tru

th

Connection

Content

Context

Climate

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Another view on organizational energy

Intensity – the degree to which the organization has

activated its emotional, cognitive and behavioural

potential.

Quality – extent to which emotional, cognitive and

behavioural forces align with organizational goals.

Heike Bruch and Bernd Vogel (2011) Fully charged: how great

leaders boost their organization’s energy and ignite high

performance. Harvard Business Review Press.

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Attributes of organizational energy:

1. Extent to which emotional, cognitive and

behavioural potential activated

2. Collective attribute – shared potential of a

unit or team

3. Malleable

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Energy Matrix

Corrosive Energy Productive

Energy

Resigned InertiaComfortable

energy

High

Intensity

Low

Negative Quality Positive

Heike Bruch & Bernd Vogel (2011)

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Question to ask …

NOT: Which energy state describes my organization?

RATHER: How strong is each different energy state in my

organization?

Which one is dominant today?

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Individual Perspective

Four key energy needs:

1. Physical

2. Emotional

3. Mental

4. Sense of purpose

Schwartz, 2010

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EMOTIONAL QUADRANTS

High

Low

PositiveNegative

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Survival

Zone

Performance

Zone

Burnout

Zone

Renewal

Zone

Schwartz, 2010

EMOTIONAL QUADRANTS

High

Low

PositiveNegative

@ck4q #QF15Schwartz, 2010

FOCUS QUADRANTS (mental energy)

Narrow

Wide

AbsorbedDistracted

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Reactive

Zone

Tactical

Zone

Scattered

Zone

Big-Picture

Zone

Schwartz, 2010

FOCUS QUADRANTS (mental energy)

Narrow

Wide

AbsorbedDistracted

Why the modern world is bad for

your brain (Daniel Levitan, 2015)

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Reflections on practice …

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Are You Heading for an Energy Crisis?BODY

_____ I don’t regularly get at least 7 – 8 hours of sleep, and I often wake up feeling tired.

_____ I frequently skip breakfast, or I settle for something that isn’t nutritious

_____ I don’t work out enough (meaning cardio-vascular training at least three times a week and strength training at least once a week)

_____ I don’t take regular breaks during the day to truly renew and recharge, or I often eat lunch at my desk, if I eat at all.

Schwartz & McCarthy, 2007, Harvard Business Review

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Are You Heading for an Energy Crisis?EMOTIONS

_____ I frequently find myself feeling irritable, impatient, or anxious at work, especially when work is demanding.

_____ I don’t have enough time with my family and loved ones, and when I’m with them, I’m not always really with them.

_____ I have too little time for the activities that I most deeply enjoy.

_____ I don’t stop frequently enough to express my appreciation to others or to savor my accomplishments and blessings.

Schwartz & McCarthy, 2007, Harvard Business Review

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Are You Heading for an Energy Crisis?MIND

_____ I have difficultly focusing on one thing at a time, and I am easily distracted during the day, especially by email.

_____ I spend much of my day reacting to immediate crises and demands rather than focusing on activities with longer-term value and high leverage.

_____ I don’t take enough time for reflection, strategizing, and creative thinking.

_____ I work in the evenings or on weekends, and I almost never take an email-free vacation.

Schwartz & McCarthy, 2007, Harvard Business Review

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Are You Heading for an Energy Crisis?SPIRIT

_____ I don’t spend enough time at work doing what I do best and enjoy most.

_____ There are significant gaps between what I say is most important to me in my life and how I actually allocate my time and energy.

_____ My decision at work are more often influenced by external demands than by a strong, clear sense of my own purpose.

_____ I don’t invest enough time and energy making a positive difference to others or to the world.

Schwartz & McCarthy, 2007, Harvard Business Review

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Are You Heading for an Energy Crisis?GUIDE TO SCORES

Overall scores:0 – 3: Excellent energy management skills

4 – 6: Reasonable energy management skills

7 – 10: Significant energy management deficits.

11 – 16: A full-fledged energy management crisis.

Guide to category scores:0: Excellent energy management skills

1: Strong energy management skills

2: Significant deficits

3: Poor energy management skills

4: A full-fledged energy crisis

Schwartz & McCarthy, 2007, Harvard Business Review

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Productive Energy • Intense, positive emotion

• High activity, stamina, speed, productivity

• Characteristics:

– Regularly challenge status quo

– Healthy passion

– Pushes limits to drive to success

– Discretionary effort

– Quick, efficient approach and accomplishments

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Comfortable Energy

• Satisfaction with status quo

• Long and slow decision making processes

• Culture of slowing/stopping innovation

• Weak, but positive emotions

• Lacks interest and excitement needed for positive change

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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“A company’s ideal energy state combines

high levels of productive and comfortable

energy – that is when the organization is at its

most dynamic, responsive, and innovative but

on a healthy and stable basis.”

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Resigned Inertia

• Frustration, mental withdrawal or disappointment

• Low collective engagement

• Characteristics:

– People appear not to care

– Expressed negativity about new initiatives

– Open signs of fatigue/burnout

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Corrosive Energy

• Collective aggression and destructive behaviours

– Internal politics, resistance to change, resource competition, maximizing personal gains

• Low collective engagement

• Characteristics:

– Prevalent silo thinking

– Questions about management integrity, not “walking the talk”

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Organizational Energy Questionnaire (OEQ12)

• Measures and analyses an organizations’ energy profile

• 3 questions for each of the four energy states

• Uses:

Employee survey

Organizational energy pulse-check

Instant energy check

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

Productive Comfortable Resigned Corrosive

Benchmark 81% 75% 12% 18%

Taken from top 10% of companies –

24,000 responses in 187 companies.

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

Results: Benchmark Team Score

Productive Energy 81 63.5620915

Comfortable Energy 75

57.5163398

7

Resigned Inertia 12

32.6797385

6

Corrosive Energy 18

38.0718954

2

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Three Energy Traps

1. Acceleration

– High productive energy, pushed too long

2. Complacency

– Low energy zone (resigned inertia & comfortable

energy)

3. Corrosion

– High negative energy (corrosive energy)

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Acceleration Trap

High productive energy … leading to:– Increased number and speed of activities

– Raised performance goals

– Shorten innovation cycles

– Introduction of new management or organizational systems

Making this pace the “new normal” … becomes chronic overloading

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Acceleration Trap

• Local projects are not sufficiently connected to

corporate goals

• Staff don’t feel conviction about, or meaning in,

the change process

• Characterized by exhaustion and high stress

about change

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Acceleration Trap

• Exhausted staff

• Resignation increases by 50%

• Emotional exhaustion increases by 70%

• Corrosive energy and aggression doubles (increase by

100%)

• Turnover intention triples (increase by 200%)

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Escaping the Acceleration Trap

Detect acceleration

• Overloading (too many activities of the same

kind, without sufficient resources)

• Multi-loading (too many different things to do)

• Perpetual loading (monotonous, continuous

work)

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Escaping the Acceleration Trap

Stop the action• Ask teams “what we can stop doing?” (reverse innovation)

• Initiate “spring cleaning”

• Create new systems for prioritising and managing projects

• Take time-outs

• Slow down to speed up

• Build feedback systems

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Complacency Trap

• Dominance of comfortable energy

• Focus on mobilizing higher level of productive energy

• Slaying the dragon and winning the princess

Identify the major threat or challenge (dragon)

OR

Promising opportunity (the princess)

• Help the organization to overcome or take advantage

• Requires a level of intensity in both engagement and

commitment that routine activities do not ignite

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Slaying the Dragon – team actions

1. Identify and define the “threat” or “challenge”

2. Create a common sense of urgency

– Burning ambition (vs burning platform)

– Value based (fuel of change)

3. Strengthen team confidence that you can address the threat/overcome the challenge

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Winning the Princess – team actions

1. Identify and define the “opportunity”

2. Communicate the opportunity so others can see

the value/want to commit to action

• Burning ambition (vs burning platform)

• Value based (fuel of change)

3. Strengthen team confidence that you are

committed to success

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Corrosion Trap

• Appearance of high emotional involvement, creativity

and action – but for the wrong reasons

Interpersonal aggression, infighting and internal

rivalries

• Risk – this trap can destroy trust and put future

collaboration at risk

• Corrosive energy makes problems grow rather than

diminish over time – highly contagious nature

• Can be trapped in corrosion without even realizing it

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Escaping the Corrosion Trap ~ Energetic Refocusing

Phase one: phase down negativity– Name the “elephant in the room”

– Destructive brainstorming / TRIZ

– Identify and support “toxic handlers”

Phase two: build a strong organisational identity– Refocus joint goals

– Create collective commitment

– Build and rebuild pride

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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NHS Energy for Change

Psychological

Physical

Spiritual

Social Intellectual

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the capacity and drive of a team, organisation or system to act and make the

difference necessary to achieve its

goals

Psychological

Physical

Spiritual

Social Intellectual

Energy for change is:

@helenbevan@helenbevan #Quality2013

The five energies for change Energy Definitions

Social energy of personal engagement, relationships and connections between people. It reflects a “sense of us”, where people are drawn into an innovation or change because they feel a connection to it as part of the collective group

Spiritual energy of commitment to a common vision for the future, driven by shared values and a higher purpose. It involves giving people the confidence to move towards a different future that is more compelling than the status quo

Psychological energy of courage, trust and feeling safe to do things differently. It involves feeling supported to make a change as well as belief in self and the team, organisation or system, and trust in leadership and direction

Physical energy of action, getting things done and making progress. It is the flexible, responsive drive to make things happen

Intellectual energy of curiosity, analysis and thinking. It involves gaining insight as well as planning and supporting processes, evaluation, and arguing a case on the basis of logic/ evidence

@helenbevan@helenbevan #Quality2013

High and low ends of each energy domain

Low High

Social isolated solidarity

Spiritual uncommitted higher purpose

Psychological risky safe

Physical fatigue vitality

Intellectual Illogical reason

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• Are particular energy domains more dominant than others for our team at the moment?

• Is this the optimal energy profile to help us achieve our improvement goals?

Energy for change profile

1

2

3

4

5Social

Spiritual

PsychologicalPhysical

Intellectual

@helenbevan@helenbevan #Quality2013

• Are particular energy domains more dominant than others for our team at the moment?

• Is this the optimal energy profile to help us achieve our improvement goals?

Energy for change profile

1

2

3

4

5Social

Spiritual

PsychologicalPhysical

Intellectual

@helenbevan

1

2

3

4

5Social

Spiritual

PsychologicalPhysical

Intellectual

What’s your assessment of

their energy for change?

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TRIZ

• Make it possible to speak the unspeakable, expose

the taboos, get skeletons out of the closet

• Make space for innovation or change

• Lay the ground for creative destruction by doing the

hard work in a fun way

• Begin with a VERY unwanted result, quickly confirm

your suggestion with the group

• Take time with similarities to what you are doing now

and how this harms you

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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Sustaining Energy for the Long Haul

• Proactively manage energy

– Assess and benchmark

– Set goals around leveraging the energy

– Role model within your own team

– Show that you value the overall organisational purpose above your

own agenda

• Mobilise around distinctive challenges and opportunities

• Forcefully cut corrosion

• Decelerate energy when needed

• Build energised leaders

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Thank you!

Christina Krause

[email protected]

@ck4q