Ramson is a highly rated professional, 32-year-old partner at a co-operate organization, married with two young children. When we met him two years ago, he was working 12- to 14-hour days, felt perpetually drained, and found it difficult to fully interlace with his family in the evenings, which left him feeling sinful and dissatisfied. He slept poorly, made no point to exercise, and scarcely ate healthy meals, rather grabbing a bite to eat on the run or while working at his desk.
Ramson’s experience is not uncommon. Most of us respond to rising demands in the workplace by planting in longer hours, which inevitably take a toll on us physically, mentally, and emotionally. That leads to diminishing levels of commitment, growing levels of distraction, high turnover rates, and rising medical costs among employees.
The core problem with operating extended hours is that time is a finite resource. Energy is a separate story.
To effectively reenergize their workforces, institutions need to shift their emphasis from seizing more out of people to investing more in them, so that they are motivated—and able—to bring more of themselves to work every day. To recharge themselves, individuals need to understand the costs of energy-depleting behaviors and then take responsibility for changing them, regardless of the situations they’re facing.
The routines and practices Ramson established to better manage his energy changed his life. He went to sleep in early and gave up drinking, which had disrupted his sleep. As a consequence, when he woke up he felt more relaxed and more motivated to exercise, which he now does almost every day. In less than two months he lost 15 pounds. After working out he sits down with his family for breakfast. Ramson still puts in long hours on the job, but he renews himself constantly along the way. He leaves his desk for lunch and usually catches a morning and an afternoon walk outside. When he comes at home in the evening, he’s more relaxed and better able to connect with his wife and children.
Building simple rituals like these can lead to striking results across organizations.
Most large institutions invest in developing employees’ skills, knowledge, and competence. Very few help build and sustain their capacity—their energy—which is typically taken for granted. In fact, greater capacity makes it possible to get more done in less time at a higher level of commitment and with more sustainability.
It is barely news that inadequate nutrition, exercise, sleep, and rest decrease people’s basic energy levels, as well as their capability to maintain their emotions and focus their concentration. Nonetheless, many officials don’t find ways to practice consistently healthy behaviors, given all the distinct demands in their lives.
When people are able to take more command of their emotions, they can improve the quality of their energy, regardless of the external pressures, they’re facing. To do this, they first must become more aware of how they feel at various duration during the workday and of the impact these sentiments have on their effectiveness. Most people realize that they tend to perform best when they’re feeling positive energy. What they find unusual is that they’re not able to perform well or to lead efficiently when they’re feeling any other way.
Confronted with constant demands and unforeseen challenges, people tend to slip into negative emotions—the fight-or-flight mode—often multiple times in a day. They grow irritable and impatient, or anxious and unstable. Such states of mind drain people’s energy and cause discord in their relationships. Fight-or-flight emotions also make it improbable to think clearly, logically, and reflectively. When executives learn to understand what kinds of events trigger their negative emotions, they gain greater ability to take control of their reactions.
One simple but important ritual for defusing negative emotions is what we call “buying time.” Deep abdominal breathing is one way to do that. Exhaling slowly for five or six seconds induces relaxation and recovery, and sets off the fight-or-flight response.
A powerful ritual that stokes positive emotions is expressing appreciation to others, a practice that seems to be as beneficial to the giver as to the receiver. It can take the form of a handwritten note,a call, an e-mail, or a conversation—and the more detailed and specific, the higher the influence. As with all rituals, setting aside a particular time to do it vastly raises the chances of success.
People can develop positive energy by learning to change the stories they tell themselves about the issues in their lives. We teach them to tell the most hopeful stories possible.
Many executives see multitasking as a necessity in the face of all the demands they shuffle, but it actually impairs productivity. Distractions prove to be are more costly: A temporary shift in attention from one task to another—stopping to take a phone call or to answer an e-mail for instance—increases the amount of time necessary to finish the original task by as much as 25%, a phenomenon known as “switching time.” It’s considerably more efficient to fully focus for 90 to 120 minutes, take a true break, and then fully focus on the next task.
This new way of functioning takes hold only to the degree that organizations support their people in choosing new behaviors. We have seen, sometimes painfully, that not all executives and companies are prepared to embrace the notion that personal renewal for employees will lead to better and more sustainable performance. To win, renewal efforts need solid support and commitment from senior management, beginning with the principal decision maker.
Organizations are compelled to settle for employees who are less than fully involved and to regularly hire and train new people to replace those who prefer to leave. We envision a new and explicit contract that profits all parties: Organizations spend in their people across all dimensions of their lives to help them grow and sustain their value. Individuals answer by bringing all their multidimensional energy wholeheartedly to the office every day. Both gain in value as a result.