Eight Factors for a High Energy Work Environment
One of the major factors I see when entering a company known for high performance is the feeling you get just walking around in the office. There is a definite high energy level found in these companies and their people are leading the charge.
So how do these organizations engage their people enough to cultivate a high energy environment?
It can be as simple as Eight Factors being in-place to provide the high energy work environment and culture. So here are the eight factors…
- A Sense of Urgency
This means that a fast pace in engaged within the organization. Decisions are made quickly – yet always linked to creating satisfaction for the organization’s customers. Productivity is expected to be high and the bar is raised for high performance which includes a high sense of urgency relative to getting things done. - A Challenge
How often do you have to hear this statement – I’m bored – before taking action to correct this with challenges work assignments. Here I’m not talking about telling people what to do, how to do it and when to get it done. I’m talking about setting up stretch assignments which require the learning of new or improved skills in order to execute the assignment successfully. When people are not challenged and all they have is the routine work – well, outcomes and growth fall off the agenda. Challenge yourself and your people. - Achievable Success
When people see success about to happen, they get excited and begin to push harder to get closure on the challenge. When people are allowed to celebrate their successes, the excitement grows for achieving another success. Thus, a success mentality appears to rule the office and people are happy and excited about their work. - Collaboration leading to “Esprit de corps”
Collaboration is one of the hottest new terms for management and teams to master. Collaboration leads to people working together and creating synergistic solutions and outcomes. When people take active roles relative to working well with others then larger and more difficult issues can be handled with relative ease. Think accelerated teamwork for collaboration to lead to higher levels of performance and results. - Pride of Achievement
An interesting side effect of people actually achieving results as a routine function is the impact upon their self-esteem. Achievement leads to higher self-esteem in each individual. The study of high performance has recognized that people are built for success, the key is to engage this success mechanism at he organization level and allow for individuals to feel good about their abilities to succeed. - Lack of Fear of Failure
W. Edward Deming – the father of the quality movement – stated as one of his 14 points for quality – drive out the fear of failure. When people feel they will not be hurt, fired or disciplined for being anything less than perfect – they do not exceed many expectations. When the fear of failure is present most people will play not to lose rather than playing to win. This means people are unwilling to change anything, improve processes (they know are broke), engage in innovation or even be creative regarding their work environment. When this is in play – energy levels are low and results are poor to about average. To raise the bar of outcomes and results, the fear of failure has to be removed or eliminated. - Exciting work
Okay, so entertainment value is out of the question, exciting work can occur. By exciting I’m talking about adding some challenge to a person’s work level, which allows them to stretch leading to excitement in learning and achieving more than a person has achieved in the past – that is exciting stuff. And, it leads to higher energy levels with people actually looking forward to arriving at work each day. - People allowed to experiment
In order for innovation and high energy to prevail within an organization, then the energy zappers like bureaucracy and red tape must be minimized or eliminated. When people are allowed to experiment within their job role, they are more likely to find better ways of achievement, improved processes and in some cases improved technology application for higher levels of performance and productivity. Innovation is the wave of the future success of any organization. Innovation can deal with and minimize the impact of negative change to any organization. Look around your area of the organization. Are people allowed to move boundaries or take some calculated risks for greater success? If not, make it so by helping to reduce or cut through red tape. The fact is most rules or procedures are set up to handle all the exceptions rather than the norm. Reduce the complexity and make the work flow simple.
There you have the big eight factors leading to high energy work environments or cultures. Review the list and determine how many are being actively used in your organization. Then, take on the implementation of a missing element. Monitor the results after you get it started and then determine what else could you put into play.
Always remember, no matter what role or position or title you have in an organization – You can make a significance difference. Be bold and launch a new effort to raise the energy levels of the organization – people do make a difference.
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Voss Graham
CEO / Sr Business Advisor at InnerActive Consulting Group Inc
Voss Graham is an Organizational Architect with 30+ years of experience designing sustainable business growth for organizations of all sizes.
Creating the Strategic Focus with the Executive Leadership Teams, he uses Systems & Process to ensure the Drivers for Business Growth are Executed at the Highest Levels. Voss is available as a Speaker for your conferences or company meetings - contact him at 901-757-4434 or use the LinkedIn or Facebook direct messages.
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Tags: aligning work for high energy, allowing people to experiment, employee engagement, high energy work, high performance processes, higher levels of performance, people allowed to experiment, Voss W Graham
Voss Graham
Voss Graham is an Organizational Architect with 30+ years of experience designing sustainable business growth for organizations of all sizes.
Creating the Strategic Focus with the Executive Leadership Teams, he uses Systems & Process to ensure the Drivers for Business Growth are Executed at the Highest Levels. Voss is available as a Speaker for your conferences or company meetings - contact him at 901-757-4434 or use the LinkedIn or Facebook direct messages.