Energy Hogs
August 17th, 2008 Posted in Leadership, Newsletter, No Complaining Rule, Teamwork, The Energy BusThe numbers don’t lie. Numerous surveys show that 70-80% of employees don’t like their jobs. 42% say they are burned out. Only 15% say they are energized by their jobs. While there are many factors for this, a primary cause is that too many organizations, businesses and workplaces have become Energy Hogs, zapping their employees’ energy instead of Power Generators that fuel them.
If you are wondering where I came up with the term Energy Hog it’s from those “energy efficient” commercials that share ideas on how to save energy and money in your home. Energy Hogs are appliances that can suck the energy out of your home and dollars from your wallet.
I realized that just as a home can act as an Energy Hog or serve as a Power Generator (think solar panels) so could the work place. And in my experience I have found that Power Generators produce happier, more engaged employees who perform at a higher level and deliver superior results while Energy Hogs produce a toxic culture that leads to dysfunction, apathy, disengagement and poor performance.
Therefore, a few questions every leader and manager should ask themselves and their employees, as part of an Energy Audit are: Are we an Energy Hog or a Power Generator? Do we suck the life and energy out of our people or do we encourage, uplift, engage and energize them.
Then the next step, of course, is to take action and become a Power Generator. To accomplish this I believe there are two simple principles leadership, management and employees must follow.
Principle 1 - Positive Leadership and Management
The most significant roles of leadership and management are to create a positive culture, communicate a clear vision and provide a positive work environment where employees can utilize their strengths and energy to contribute to the vision and success of the organization. This will lead to engaged, energized employees who perform at their highest level and who are fueled by their jobs.
Principle 2 - Positive Employees
As leaders and managers work to create an environment that is conducive to success it is then the responsibility of each employee to be positive, share positive energy with their co-workers and customers, and contribute to the overall success of the organization.
If leadership, management and employees apply these principles and focus on the positive and weed out the negative, the result will be a collective group of positive people that fuel each other and ultimately the bottom line.
Is your workplace an Energy Hog or Power Generator? Share the reasons why here. Please don’t share the name of your business.
Stay Positive!
-Jon
www.JonGordon.com
www.NoComplainingRule.com
www.TheEnergyBus.com
Turn Your Workplace into a Power Generator
7 Responses to “Energy Hogs”
By Diane on Aug 18, 2008
My place of employment is an energy hog - not due to management but to one particular employee. I guess it would be mgmt’s error in that they allow it. This employee believes that this office would not run without her. We are a medical office. She is a transcriptionist. She talks about patients as if she personally knows them, and unfortunately she places judgement on each and every one. Her voice carries so other patients easily hear her as well. When I am on the phone talking to someone there are times I can’t hear the patient because she talks so loud. I timed her one day and she talked for nearly two hours, non-stop. Various people have complained about her but nothing gets done. We also have a receptionist who is very rude on the phone but there again, mgmt knows about it but does nothing to rectify the situation. They have meetings and allude to the problems but the people who are actually doing it are totally unaware that it is them that’s causing the problem. I have made comments to the one talking about the patients, such as “Are you related to them? What is this to you? I can’t believe some of the things you talk about” but it goes right over her head. These two people - and their quirks - bother the rest of us alot
By Debbie F. on Aug 18, 2008
I use to work for an energy hog, it was kind of accidental. The hospital I worked for was bought by another Health System. After trying for 4 years to work through it; and even though I had the best of “Bosses” (she & I are still friends) it was time to move on. I found a job minutes from my house, and even though they don’t know it they are a Power Generator. Yes there are employees here who try to be “Energy Hogs”, but I have found more motivation, energy, positive attitudes, than anywere I have ever been. I am truly happy here. In fact Orientation is two days, and the first day is devoted entirely to creating a positive working environment, and creating positive employees, making employees happy, because a happy employee will also treat our “customers” the same way. I have found that this leaks over into my private life as well. Thanks.
By Melissa on Aug 18, 2008
My workplace is an energy hog when my manager focuses only on numbers. Hitting the numbers at any cost. don’t worry about doing things for the right reasons or really changing behaviors, just hit the numbers. Also, I’m a very creative person in a very NON creative industry. I try to find little ways to sneak in my creativity but have been criticized by people who don’t understand its value in the workplace…..
By Sue on Aug 24, 2008
My work place is an energy hog. They have introduced a new micro management system that must be used to log every activity that you do while on the company clock, including if the activity only takes 15 seconds..we spend more energy every day justifying our existance , everyone is feeling the very life sucked out of you at the end of the shift, and feeling that the company has total control of your every movement and thought, so your creative juices and thought processes are handcuffed.
By Jan on Aug 29, 2008
Management here is an energy hog. They think that the way to get things done is to yell at you or blame you when they make a mistake. They consider their star employee a woman who will purposely not say “hello” to anyone in the hall and is nasty all the time to her fellow employees. I’m just waiting for the organization to go under…
By Chuck on Sep 11, 2008
It is not suprising that most of the comments are from people who work for organizations that are energy hogs. Mine is one also. Luckily, I can retire soon and my goal will be to find a job to will energize and motivate my spirit that has been beat down for so long.
By Opal on Sep 22, 2008
I would just like to say to everyone, I have been where you are and what I have learned and what Jon teaches through his book is that if you are letting someone zap your energy you need to make whatever changes are necessary to keep that from happening. You need to be the change you want to see in your workplace. Once you change your thoughts and actions others will notice and want to be more like you. Try it for a week and see.