Stress in the workplace has become a burning issue for many organizations today. Employees everywhere are faced with greater demands brought about by many different factors: accelerating organizational change, introduction of new technologies and the associated need to train and retrain constantly, ever-increasing changes of customer expectations, realignment or redesign of corporate strategy to adapt to globalization, implementation of customer-focused matrix organizations with fuzzy reporting and decision-making processes, unclear roles and responsibilities, leaner organizations imposing greater individual workloads, etc. The world of work has become much more complex and challenging at all levels and employees the world over find themselves having to deal with complex issues in less and less time with greater potential for failure and/or conflict. Factor in all the other many stressors linked to the outside environment facing employees: family issues, health issues, the global economic and geo-political environment and it is not surprising therefore that stress has become a key issue impacting on productivity and effectiveness in the work place.
Organizations are of course not responsible for all of the major stressors contributing to higher levels of stress in the workplace. Poor transport, traffic congestion, personal health issues or family issues, political instability, the global economic crisis, etc. are of course dependent on factors external to any one organization. Having said that, it would seem obvious that organizations do have a lot of responsibility for those stressors which result from poor leadership and management, poor organizational design, poor job design, disregard for all the different elements which are within their realm but which are so often neglected due to poor HR strategy(ineffective training and development, absence of career development, lack of objective and factual performance appraisals, preference for command-and-control management techniques instead of effective empowerment of individuals, poor leadership, etc.). All such factors are detrimental to employee engagement and consequently feed the fires of stress, which in turn leads to lower productivity and employee effectiveness. And a vicious circle sets in
More and more organizations of course are conscious that the way they design and implement their HR strategy impacts on employee engagement and effectiveness and are deploying appropriate policies and actions plans to tackle the problem. One such element is of course corporate wellness programs which focus on alerting employees at an individual level to how each of us can at our own level adopt strategies to reduce the impact of those stressors which affect our performance not only at work but in our day-to-day lives. Quite often, and rightly so, employee organizations criticize such approaches because they fear they “individualize” approaches to the causes of stress and of course, such programs should not serve to deflect the responsibility of organizations to develop the HR strategy required to build engaging organizations.
Having said that, and with all the necessary precautions, there is obviously a lot to be gained for all employees in high-pressure environments (and that means practically everyone at all levels of the organization) to reflect on what actions we can take to make life easier for ourselves by more effective management of those stressors within our own control.
This is why Tony Schwartz’s presentation to Google employees on the subject of “managing your energy to optimize your performance” as part of the Leading@Google series is so interesting and valuable.
Tony Schwartz begins where many organizations don’t by stating the obvious: demands on employees will grow and grow and no matter how we scope the organization and our lifestyle, we will all be faced with the challenge of meeting higher and higher demand with a capacity to meet that demand which is inevitably limited. For our time as a resource is finite. Tony states the obvious: there are only 168 hours in the week and when we factor in the time we need to do our work, the time we need to get to and from work, the time we need for our families and friends, the time we need for our different activities, we very quickly hit a ceiling and we have no more resource to meet the demand that is nevertheless continuing to increase on all fronts Faced with this increased demand, our reflex is to increase our capacity by working longer hours, by working at home or at the weekends, by not taking our holidays when we should, by having lunch at our desks or by even skipping lunch, by taking all sorts of shortcuts which lead to “burning the candle at both ends”. But as Tony says, this approach soon hits a brick wall because it comes at a high psychological and physiological cost to ourselves and our families and friends. Very often, our energy runs out and we enter the burn out zone. Trees don’t grow up to touch the sky and this is all the more true for people in terms of our limited resource of time. We often think we can continuously increase our capacity to meet increased demand but as Tony points out, we reach our peak in terms of capacity to meet demand at the age of thirty. After that milestone, the very natural ageing process means that gradually and inexorably, our body loses its physical capacity to accelerate constantly to meet increased demand.
So what can we do to deal with this situation? If we are going to make it possible to meet increased demand with the same time in a more complex and challenging world, this means as Tony points out getting more done in the same or even less time. This means going after a different resource than time. This means going after our energy because energy can be expanded and renewed, unlike time, which is finite. As Tony points out, in a human being, there are fours types of energy:
1) Physical (the quantity of energy we have): this is the bedrock of all the other energies because we need physical energy to be able to show up and perform. This physical energy is comprised of 4 different elements:
- Nutrition: how well we sustain ourselves in a healthy way
- Fitness: how well do we maintain our fitness levels so that we remain physically able to perform
- Sleep: how we value sleep as a means of renewing our energy
- Recovery/Renewal: how during the day we actively seek to renew our energy supplies by taking intermittent breaks and rest
2) Emotional (quality of energy we have): how well do we manage our emotional states and focus on positive emotions while steering clear of negative attitudes
3) Mental (Focus): Contrary to many preconceptions, we are most effective when we focus on one thing at a time. We all multi-task and fall into the trap of trying to do several things at the same time (for example, write an email while speaking on the phone) but human beings are most effective when we focus on one thing at a time. However, as Tony points out, all the most modern means of communication (emails, blackberries, etc) mean that we are constantly being interrupted and these interruptions have an inevitable impact on our productivity and on the quality of our work. Organizations have all forgotten this principle that doing something well means taking time to do it and if we want to manage our energy effectively from this point of view, we need to follow a discipline where we dedicate sufficient time to doing important things (and this may mean closing the door, not replying to the phone, not reading one’s emails, etc.);
4) The Human Spirit (Purpose): this for Tony is the most fundamental of the 4 types of energy because it is derived from our experience of purpose and from our alignment between our own personal values and how we live and work. The energy we derive from our sense of purpose drives the behaviors at the three other levels. And indeed, how could it be otherwise so? We all need a sense of purpose and our effectiveness is fed by how we believe what we do serves a purpose. The more we feel what we do serves a purpose, the more our human spirit will be fed and our motivation will be increased.
So obviously, for Tony Schwartz, we need to be sensitive to and act on these 4 types of energy if we want “to fire on all cylinders”. We may be good on one or more levels but how can be identify where we are weak and define and implement an effective action plan to help us optimize our energy at these four levels?
For this purpose, Tony Schwartz has defined an effective, simple but though-provoking “energy audit” which allows us to measure our levels of energy:
| N° | Question | Yes | No |
| 1 | I don’t regularly get 7 to 8 hours sleep and I often wake up feeling tired | ||
| 2 | I frequently skip breakfast or I settle for something that isn’t particularly healthy | ||
| 3 | I don’t work out enough, meaning cardio-vascular training at least 3 times a week and strength training at least once a week | ||
| 4 | I don’t take regular breaks during the day to renew and recharge and I often eat lunch at my desk | ||
| 5 | I frequently find myself feeling irritable, impatient or anxious at work, especially when demand is high | ||
| 6 | I don’t have enough time with my family and loved ones and when I’m with them, I not always with them | ||
| 7 | I take too little time for the activities I most deeply enjoy | ||
| 8 | I rarely stop to express my appreciation to others or to savour and celebrate my accomplishments and blessings | ||
| 9 | I have difficulty focusing on one thing at a time and I am easily distracted during the day especially by email | ||
| 10 | I spend much of my time reacting to immediate demands, rather than focusing on activities with long-term value and higher leverage | ||
| 11 | I don’t take enough time for reflection, strategizing and thinking creatively | ||
| 12 | I work in the evening and/or weekends and I rarely take a vacation free of work | ||
| 13 | I spend too little time doing what I do best and enjoy most | ||
| 14 | There are significant gaps between what I say is important in life and how I actually live | ||
| 15 | My decisions at work are often more influenced by external demands rather than by a strong, clear sense of my own purpose | ||
| 16 | I don’t invest enough time and energy in making a positive difference to others or in the world | ||
| Total Yes |
This very simple questionnaire allows each of us to highlight the areas we need to address if we want to have a more balanced life/work ratio and therefore manage our different energy sources better.
This in itself is a simple but powerful message to all of us: we can’t be effective if we don’t pay attention to our energy levels and that means keeping a balance between our physical requirements, our mental requirements, our emotional requirements and our sense of purpose.
Tony Schwartz goes further by explaining how we can position ourselves in terms of energy expenditure. He identifies 4 energy zones by crossing quantity of energy with quality of energy.
- In the top right zone, we have the high performance zone, where we would all like to be as often as possible. Most of us have experienced being in this zone both professionally and personally and we recognize being there because we experience feelings such as elation, satisfaction, happiness, contentment, euphoria, etc. when we achieve success.
- In the top left corner, we have the survival zone and most of us will experience this zone as it is where we retreat to when we feel threatened or challenged. We know we are in this zone when we experience emotions such as anxiety, fear, tension, etc.
- In the bottom left corner, we have the “Burn out” zone and this is a place we never want to be as it involves feelings of depression, extreme anxiety, apathy, etc.
- The final quadrant bottom right is the “Recovery zone” and this is where we go when we relax, play, holiday, do recreation activities, etc.
(check out more at www.TheEnergyProject.com)
As Tony Schwartz explains, we all try to be and stay in the ”High Performance” zone. However, as the events of the day or week unfold, we inevitably oscillate between the High Performance zone and the Survival zone (as we fight to meet deadlines, solve problems, work late, etc.). Staying too long in the Survival Zone is not good however for the individual and comes with a high cost health wise and from a productivity point of view. Staying too long or finding oneself too long in the “Survival” zone could eventually even lead to falling into the “Burn out” zone, a place nobody wants to go.
So what is the alternative? To answer this question, Tony Schwartz offers a paradigm shift and invites us to shift our focus from walking the tightrope between the “High Performance” zone and the “Survival” zone to moving intentionally and intermittently during the course of the day from the “High Performance” zone to the “Recovery” zone. Tony takes as an example high performing athletes who have long ago learned the value of recovery and renewal and not only train to be more effective but also train to recover better because they know that high performance can only be sustained by balancing energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal. If our energy as a resource can be expanded, it stands to reason that this can only be achieved if we consciously take steps to renew that energy resource and this means respecting our bodily rhythms which are centered around a natural 90-120 minute performance cycle. Basically, we can only concentrate effectively for a period of between 90 and 120 minutes before we need to take a break and renew our energy. Quite often, we try to override this natural cycle by resorting to artificial stimulants such as coffee and cigarettes but this artificial ploy is not sustainable in the long term.
Indeed, Tony Schwartz provocatively invites us to reinvent ourselves as “sprinters” and not as “marathon runners” even if this seems a counter-intuitive suggestion. Indeed, how often has work been referred to as a marathon and not as a sprint because we are still locked into the paradigm of work in terms of constantly trying to expand our own capacity to meet ever-increasing demand.
Sprinters however engage fully over a short distance and mobilize all their physical, mental, emotional and human energies to reach the end line. Sprinters therefore have kept what many of us at work have long lost: a sense of limits. Sprinters, as Tony Schwartz points out, give themselves boundaries and limits, mobilize their resources for a short period and then dedicate themselves to renewing those resources they have depleted during the race. They do not live in a perpetual state of constant movement but use their down time to recharge their batteries effectively.
At work today, we are constantly bombarded with demands from all quarters, one’s boss, colleagues, partners, emails, meetings, telephones, etc. and we have to learn not only to prioritize but also to disconnect so that we can focus on issues in an appropriate and productive way. We have to discipline ourselves to closing the door when necessary so as to be able to focus on the task at hand. We need to disconnect our email alert so that we are not constantly being alerted to incoming emails which are all tagged “urgent”.
But how can we implement this new discipline of managing our energy more effectively through renewal?
As Tony Schwartz points out, human beings are creatures of habit and if we want to change from behaviours which are energy depleting to behaviours which are energy renewing while still maintaining high levels of performance, we must ritualize those behaviours which will give a “no” answer to the questions in the energy quiz above. One example would be to take time once a week to celebrate the successes of team members and/or show gratitude to team members for the work performed. This gratitude will feed the mental and emotional energy of the team members concerned.
Tony Schwartz presents a very thought provoking but at the same time simple and understandable approach to managing our energy if we want to be effective. He leaves us with 3 key principles:
1) We all experience 4 different energy states at different moments (High performance, Survival, Burn out, Recovery) but only 1 is optimal for High performance.
2) To sustain high performance, we must balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy expenditure
3) To manage energy optimally, we must build positive rituals-highly specific behaviours that become automatic over time.
Tony Schwartz’s approach does not replace the responsibility all organizations have for creating the environment which allows employees engage effectively in an “ecological” way but his approach does remind us all that we can do a lot to manage our energy and that of team members more effectively in a sustainable way so that everyone steers clear of the No-Sailing zone that is the “Burn Out” quadrant.
View Tony Schwartz on our 4 core needs by clicking on the link below
Tony Schwartz managing your energy to optimize your performance
Tags: leadership, Managing your energy, Personal effectiveness, Stress Management
