ORGANIZATIONAL
ENERGY
Fuel of High Performance
Christina Krause
@ck4q I ckrause@bcpsqc.ca
Quality Forum 2014
Speed Networking
“When do you feel most
excited and energized
at work?”
@ck4q #QF15
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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High productive energy organizations vs
low productive energy organizations
Commitment
19%
Customer loyalty
Customer
satisfaction
Efficiency
12%
6%
14%
Productivity
Overall
performance
17%
14%
Bruch@ck4q
& Vogel,
2011
#QF15
Motivation …
EXTRINSIC
INTRINSIC
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Level One:
doing
(processes)
Level Two:
thinking/
decision making
Another view:
Quality of …
D. Balestracci. Data Sanity. 2009
“Engine” of quality
Level Three:
information that
influences thinking
Level Four:
information that influences
behavior
“Fuel” of
quality
Level Five:
relationships (information flow)
Level Six:
perceptions and feelings (culture)
Level Seven:
individuals mind-sets (personal beliefs and values)
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Perspectives on Energy …
Organizational
• Stanton Marris
• Bruch & Vogel
• NHS
Individual
• Schwartz (The Energy Project )
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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
Level
of
energy
Direction of energy
© Stanton Marris
Where organisational energy comes from
The level of energy that people bring to their work is shaped by the ‘Four
Cs’ – the energy generators
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
Climate:
how far ‘the way we do things round here’
encourages people to give of their best
© Stanton Marris
What are the enabling and restraining factors?
Connection
Content
Context
Climate
Baseline energy
people bring to work
© Stanton Marris
Connection
Overall Energy Index scores
Content
Context
Climate
This chart reflects and elaborates upon the trends
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significant outliers (Q16, Q21, Q32, Q14)
6.0
5.5
Q16: The HQN recognizes that I have a non work
life too
4.5
1
9
11
26
5.0
Truth
Q12: People respect each
other within in the HQN
35
22
2
618
37
27
15
24
10
29
3638
31
5
3313
17
20
8
3023
28
34
7
19 25
Q4: I am proud of what I do.
3
Q14: I understand what the HQN must do
to succeed
32 Q32: I get regular feedback on how well I am
participating in the HQN
Q21: I feel that my abilities are
stretched within the HQN
14
4.0
3.5
3.0
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
5.5
Importance
© Stanton Marris
11
6.0
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
High
Corrosive Energy
Productive
Energy
Resigned Inertia
Comfortable
energy
Intensity
Low
Negative
Heike Bruch & Bernd Vogel (2011)
Quality
Positive
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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
Positive
Negative
Low
Schwartz, 2010
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EMOTIONAL QUADRANTS
High
Survival
Zone
Performance
Zone
Positive
Negative
Burnout
Zone
Renewal
Zone
Low
Schwartz, 2010
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FOCUS QUADRANTS (mental energy)
Narrow
Absorbed
Distracted
Wide
Schwartz, 2010
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FOCUS QUADRANTS (mental energy)
Narrow
Reactive
Zone
Tactical
Zone
Absorbed
Distracted
Scattered
Zone
Big-Picture
Zone
Wide
Schwartz, 2010
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Why the modern world is bad for
your brain (Daniel Levitan, 2015)
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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:
1:
2:
3:
4:
Excellent energy management skills
Strong energy management skills
Significant deficits
Poor energy management skills
A full-fledged energy crisis
Schwartz & McCarthy, 2007, Harvard Business Review
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
“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
@ck4q #QF15
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,#QF15
2011
@ck4q
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,#QF15
2011
@ck4q
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,#QF15
2011
@ck4q
Benchmark
Productive
Comfortable
Resigned
Corrosive
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
Comfortable Energy
75
Resigned Inertia
12
Corrosive Energy
18
63.5620915
57.5163398
7
32.6797385
6
38.0718954
2
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
NHS Energy for Change
Spiritual
Social
Psychological
Intellectual
Physical
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Energy for change is:
Spiritual
the capacity and
drive of a team,
organisation or
system to act
and make the
difference
necessary to
achieve its
goals
Social
Psychologi
cal
Intellectual
Physical
@ck4q #QF15
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
@helenbevan
@helenbevan #Quality2013
Energy for change profile
Social
5
4
3
Intellectual
2
1
Physical
@helenbevan
@helenbevan #Quality2013
• Are particular
energy domains
more dominant
than others for
Spiritual
our team at the
moment?
• Is this the
optimal energy
profile to help
us achieve our
Psychological
improvement
goals?
Energy for change profile
Social
5
4
3
Intellectual
2
1
Physical
@helenbevan
@helenbevan #Quality2013
• Are particular
energy domains
more dominant
than others for
Spiritual
our team at the
moment?
• Is this the
optimal energy
profile to help
us achieve our
Psychological
improvement
goals?
What’s your assessment of
their energy for change?
Social
5
4
3
Intellectual
2
Spiritual
1
Physical
@helenbevan
Psychological
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
@ck4q #QF15
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
@ck4q #QF15
Thank you!
Christina Krause
ckrause@bcpsqc.ca
@ck4q
@ck4q #QF15