Have you ever witnessed a sports team fall apart in the first half of a game, but after walking dejectedly into the locker room at halftime, they emerge back on the field, whooping and hollering, ready for a fresh start and a new chance to score?
Only one person has the power to turn an entire team’s energy from negative to positive. In sports, it’s the coach and in business, it’s you!
Energizing your team is imperative to engagement, productivity and positivity. When you infuse energy in the workplace, it creates positive outcomes.
And what better way to model energetic leadership for your team than bringing in a leadership keynote speaker to share their real-life insights? By hiring a leadership keynote speaker, your team will discover ways to feel more energetic, introduce positive energy in the workplace and invest in employees.
Everything in business starts at the top and trickles down. That means when you are committed to creating positive energy in the workplace, your team will be too.
Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time – Tony Schwartz
In one of his books, New York Times best-selling author and Founder & CEO of The Energy Project, Tony Schwartz, tells readers that too many people are chasing the wrong resource — hours in the day. Rather, he explains that we should focus on our energy.
Energy can be broken down into four elements:
- Physical Energy. How healthy are you?
- Emotional Energy. How happy are you?
- Mental Energy. How well can you focus on something?
- Spiritual Energy. Why are you doing all of this? What is your purpose?
Not only is this perspective valuable in life, it’s vital to creating a happy workplace. When you model energetic leadership and ensure your organization has resources to fuel your team’s energy, you will be supporting their personal and professional success.
Why Embracing Positive Energy in Leadership is Important in the Workplace
Like Schwartz mentioned, our focus is often misplaced. Especially in the workplace, the profound importance of our energy is incredibly underestimated.
As a leader, you have a significant impact on the energy around you. The energy you bring to your work can be either positive or negative, and it’s up to you to choose which kind of energy you want to create.
But whether you like it or not, your energy at work is contagious. You’re either generating enthusiasm and passion or you’re sucking the life out of the room. Your team is constantly taking their cues from you, so it’s important to be aware of the kind of energy you’re putting out there.
By harnessing the four elements above and incorporating the following ideas into your leadership strategy, you will create positive energy in the workplace and achieve success for your organization.
Provide a Fulfilling and Motivating Work Environment
Our lives are an expression of our energy. When we are productive, it is a direct reflection of energy flowing through us. To foster a fulfilling and positive work environment that motivates employees, you need to incorporate work activities that match each individual’s energy.
When you invest in employees by encouraging them to focus on their energy rather than managing their time, you instill positive energy in the workplace. Your team will become more productive and feel more fulfilled by their work.
And when you convert your energetic leadership into attainable and measurable goals, you will guide your team’s actions and application of their energy. Discuss the challenges they need to overcome to achieve these goals and show them how this leads to improved skill sets. By emphasizing the process to acquire new skills and ensure they understand what the end results will be, your team will feel motivated and empowered to express their energy.
Create More Productive Teams through Energetic Leadership
Energy is what gets us out of bed each morning, assists in regulating our moods, supports the completion of our day-to-day tasks and enables us to stay focused and engaged.
Energy is everything.
When your team understands the reason and benefits behind tasks, they will feel energized, think clearly and have higher productivity. We’ve all learned that working longer to finish tasks when our energy is depleted is ineffective. When you notice employees struggling with their workload, have them take a break and engage in dialogue about how to better manage their energy. Not only does this create greater efficiency, but they will also feel supported.
The energy you put into your employees will pay off tenfold for your business.
When your team is positive and productive, they will collaborate toward a common goal and enjoy themselves in the process. This creates a passionate work environment where everybody wins.
Increase Business Efficiency
When you model energy in leadership and invest resources into creating energy at work, not only will your team be more productive, but you will have built a space where innovation thrives and fresh ideas are encouraged and celebrated. Energy in the workplace results in increased business efficiency.
How to Cultivate Energy to Accelerate Business Growth
It’s clear why positive energy is important in the workplace to keep your team productive and your business successful, but did you know it can also help accelerate growth?
An Extreme Leader doubles down on energy at work to take their business to the next level.
When you direct and focus your team’s energies, you tap into endless amounts of power and creativity, which leads to growth for your organization. There are many ways to increase energy, but the methods below are the ones that I’m sharing with the most successful leaders in the industry.
Provide a Comfortable and Conducive Workplace
When people feel comfortable in their environment, they are naturally relaxed, refreshed and ready to work. By ensuring your workplace is clean and organized with adequate ventilation and plenty of natural light, lush plants and thought-provoking art, you are providing your team with a space that is optimized for productivity and happiness.
Incorporating comfort into the workplace and reducing distractions that lead to feeling overwhelmed or stressed, will help employees set intentions, focus on their work and increase productivity.
In addition to providing a comfortable environment, a great way to cultivate energy is to recognize your team’s accomplishments and offer tangible rewards for milestones. This will keep energy levels high as the initial excitement of a new project wears off.
Foster Open Communication and Team Collaboration
You can foster a positive social atmosphere by encouraging open communication and collaboration between your team members and leadership team.
Even in a remote or hybrid work environment, it is critical to stay connected.
I recently spoke with Lisa Anna Palmer, Founder & CEO at Light Your Leadership, Inc. We explored the idea that leaders should establish more meaningful connections with their team, even through a screen. We also discussed 5 tips on how to improve communication with your hybrid team in order to improve connections and engagement in any work environment.
Energy is a vibe, and the more you socialize and spread positivity, the more your team will match your energy. Positivity is contagious and will spread quickly around the office.
Recognize and Reward Your Team
As I mentioned earlier, one remarkably effective way to keep your team’s spirit high is through recognition and reward.
Set milestones so that when your team’s energy begins to lag as tasks become tedious or repetitive, you will have a built-in opportunity to hype them up with sincere acknowledgment. This can be as simple as an email congratulating them and letting them know how much you appreciate their contributions to the successful completion of the milestone or treating the team to coffee or lunch.
When you show your team they are valued with words or small gestures, it boosts morale. This kind of appreciation is an example of how you can lead with love. By building up your team, you encourage them and motivate growth, which positively affects not only your business, but also their lives.
Encourage a Healthy Diet
As a leader, thinking about what your team eats may not seem important, but what we eat is vital to our energy. Providing healthy meal alternatives for your employees is an important part of modeling energy in leadership.
It’s too easy for your team to grab heavy fast food, unhealthy snacks or sugar-filled sodas when they are busy. While this provides a quick zap of energy, it will quickly fade, leaving them feeling sluggish and fatigued.
Encourage your team to select healthy meals and snacks instead, because what we put into our bodies affects our energy levels. Nutritious foods provide natural, lasting energy which allows for greater productivity, increased focus and the ability to handle whatever comes along.
You can further support healthy habits by offering a free, healthy lunch if your company budget allows and encouraging employees to take breaks to enjoy their meals and socialize.
Take Regular Breaks
In addition to encouraging healthy nutrition, allow employees the time to step away from work to enjoy a short work break, to take a walk or go outside for fresh air. As the leader, model this behavior by taking your own breaks in areas visible to your employees.
It is also important to allow employees to take days off and unplug from work-related matters so they can reset, refresh and reenergize. Encouraging breaks and time off is important toward building a positive and productive work environment.
Encourage Your Team to Exercise
According to a Harvard Study, physical movement is an excellent way to increase energy. During exercise our bodies produce more mitochondria, otherwise known as the powerhouses of cells. These create fuel from the food we eat and oxygen from the air we breathe. The extra oxygen allows our bodies to function and use energy more efficiently, and we get an extra energy boost from the exercise-induced increase in hormone levels.
Provide your team with opportunities for physical movement throughout the day by providing standing desks and encouraging walks or stretches during break time to increase the energy in the office.
Facilitate Opportunities for Learning
Not only is it essential to exercise our bodies, we need to exercise our minds as well. When you invest in your team by facilitating opportunities for them to learn new skills, you motivate their career growth. When employees focus on learning, they stay up to date on trends and developments which could increase business productivity. They acquire the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in their roles and help your business stay ahead of the competition.
Let’s Foster Positive Energy in the Workplace Together
Hiring a leadership keynote speaker is the best way to incorporate ways to feel more energetic into the workplace. By doing this, you will show your employees you value them and in turn, they will be loyal and productive.
Harnessing the power of energy in the workplace is impactful for you, your employees and your business. Energy is at the root of everything we do, and by focusing on how to incorporate it into your employee’s best practices, you are maximizing potential in the workplace.
When you focus on your human capital, growth and success will follow.
