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The 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