August 18, 2008

Forward To A Friend

In This Newsletter:

Energy Hogs - Article

Turn Your Workplace into a Power Generator

In the News

Greetings!

The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways

to Deal with Negativity at Work

Click Here to order and access over 35 special bonus gifts that you can download instantly.

"Excuses always come from the losing

locker room. In Jon Gordon's book The No Complaining Rule, he provides the winning edge." - Coach Lou Holtz

Energy Hogs

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 being 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 workplace. 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 that 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 a Power Generator? Share the reasons why on our blog. Please don’t share the name of your business.

Stay Positive!

-Jon

Share this Newsletter with a Co-Worker or Friend.

Turn Your Workplace into

a Power Generator

• Read past newsletters.
• Read articles on creating a positive culture.
• Have your team read The Energy Bus and The No Complaining Rule.
• Bring an Energy Bus or No Complaining Rule workshop to your company (presented by a trained facilitator). Email workshop@jongordon.com for more information.
• Watch Jon's intro video.
  

In the News

Us News & World Report

How to Be Positive During Tough Times
Here's why it's so important to stop complaining

Quiz: Are You a Complainer?
Find out how negative your attitude has gotten and what you should do about it

The Washington Post - Coping With a Workplace Where the Glass Is Always Half Empty

The Salt Lake Tribune - Business Insight: Stamping out negativity

Detroit Free Press - Turn that frown upside down and stop complaining, success guru says

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - "Eliminating negativity can change the culture of a business"

News-Press -‘No Complaining’ looks at negativity