ORGANIZATIONAL ENERGY: THE FUEL OF HIGH PERFORMANCE

Christina Krause I @ck4qJuly 24, 2013

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.

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

“You can’t impose anything on anyone and expect them

to be committed to it”Edgar Schein, Professor Emeritus

MIT Sloan School

Source: Helen Bevan, 2012

Building advanced improvement capability for BC

Another view:

Quality of …

“Engine” of quality

D. Balestracci. Data Sanity. 2009

“Fuel” of quality

Perspectives on Energy …

Organizational•Stanton Marris•Bruch & Vogel

Individual•Schwartz (The Energy Project )

© Stanton Marris

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

Purpose

ful

Iner

t

Chaotic

Compliant

Direction of energy

Level of energy

Loosely Highly

Low

High

© Stanton Marris

Where organisational energy comes fromThe level of energy that people bring to their work is shaped by the ‘Four Cs’ – the energy generators

Climate: how far ‘the way we do things round here’ encourages people to give of their best

Connection: how far people see and feel a link between what matters to them and what matters to the organisation

Context: how far the way the organisation operates and the physical environment in which people work make

them feel supported

© Stanton Marris

What are the enabling and restraining factors?

Baseline energy people bring to work

Connection

Content

Context

Climate

Enablers

Restrainers

© Stanton Marris

Overall Energy Index scores

10

1

5

9

14

18

19

24 29

34

37

2

Q4: I am proud of what I do.

7

1011

1317

Q21: I feel that my abilities are stretched within the HQN

2635

15

23

27

28

31

32

333638

3

6

8

Q12: People respect eachother within in the HQN

Q16: The HQN recognizes that I have a non worklife too

2022

25

30

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0

Importance

Text box to describe the results. You can drag this box around the chart so it does not clash it the data.

This chart reflects and elaborates upon the trends identified in the summary chart. The Context, Climate and Connection scores are fairly tightly clustered. The Content scores are further apart. There are some significant outliers (Q16, Q21, Q32, Q14)

Q32: I get regular feedback on how well I am participating in the HQN

Q14: I understand what the HQN must doto succeed

Tru

th

Connection

Content

Context

Climate

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.

Attributes of organizational energy:

1. Organizations activated emotional, cognitive and behavioural potential

2. Collective attribute – shared human potential of a unit or team

3. Malleable

Energy Matrix

Corrosive Energy Productive Energy

Resigned Inertia Comfortable energy

High

Intensity

Low

Negative Quality Positive

Heike Bruch & Bernd Vogel (2011)

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?

“Leadership is not about making clever decisions and doing bigger deals. It is about helping

release the positive energy that exists naturally within people”

Henry Mintzberg

“There has never been a time in the history of healthcare when this perspective has been more pertinent”

Helen Bevan

“Leadership is not about making clever decisions and doing bigger deals. It is about helping

release the positive energy that exists naturally within people”

Henry Mintzberg

Individual Perspective

Four key energy needs:1. Physical2. Emotional3. Mental 4. Sense of purpose

Schwartz, 2010

Survival Zone

PerformanceZone

Burnout Zone

Renewal Zone

Schwartz, 2010

EMOTIONAL QUADRANTS

High

Low

PositiveNegative

Reactive Zone

Tactical Zone

Scattered Zone

Big-Picture Zone

Schwartz, 2010

FOCUS QUADRANTS (mental energy)

Narrow

Wide

AbsorbedDistracted

Reflections on practice …

• Multi-tasking• Calendar management• Breaks• Physical Activity

Back to Organizational Perspective …

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

Productive Energy • High emotional engagement/involvement

• 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

Comfortable Energy

• Strong shared satisfaction and identification • Inertia/low activity (low level of energy) • Characteristics:

– Satisfaction with status quo

– Long and slow decision making processes

– Culture of slowing/stopping innovation

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

“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

Resigned Inertia

• Strong frustration, mental withdrawal, or cynicism • Low collective engagement • Characteristics:

– People appear not to care– Expressed negativity about new initiatives– Open signs of fatigue/burnout– Communicate only when necessary

Bruch & Vogel, 2011

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, 2011

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, 2011

Productive Comfortable Resigned Corrosive

Benchmark 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 63.5620915

Comfortable Energy 75 57.51633987

Resigned Inertia 12 32.67973856

Corrosive Energy 18 38.07189542

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Resources for change at scale

Economic resourcesdiminish with use•money•materials•technology

Natural resourcesgrow with use•relationships•commitment•discretionary effort

Based on principles from Albert Hirschman, Against Parsimony

diminish grow

Source: Helen Bevan, 2010

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

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

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

Sustaining Energy for the Long Haul• Proactively manage energy

– Assess and benchmark energy

– 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