The energized workplace: keepinq your employees' energy in your business. (Human Resources).

Money is a form of crystallized energy. Your business profitability depends on how much energy your employees are willing to channel towards it. And oddly, it costs less time and money than you are probably spending now to create a workplace where energized employees create business value.

A couple of examples are sufficient to demonstrate how losing an employee's energy can affect a workplace. Take Laurie, for instance. She told me how she felt valued for her work, how personally meaningful it was,, how flexible it was, how much she enjoyed her autonomy, and more. But she wasn't talking about her day job. Her senior marketing position with the bank was not her passion anymore. She distributed health products "on the side," because her day job did so little for her. She had put in long hours and strived to excel during her 16 years with the bank, but overwork had taken a toll on her health, and she felt less and less appreciated. Her turning point came when new management treated staff disrespectfully and downgraded performance ratings. Far fewer employees could now reach the "outstanding performance" level she had always reached in the past. She now leaves at 4:30 pm every day, saving her passionate energy to market health products.

Lance had a similar story about his nine years as an insurance appraiser. He complained he couldn't give clients the personal touch anymore. He felt more pressure to increase transactions and shareholder value, yet he felt less valued, despite working hard. He now sells new homes, where his efforts to please are recognized immediately and tangibly. He's more energized than ever, but the insurance firm had to struggle on after losing its most expert employee.

I hear similar stories weekly. People often seem wooden when describing their jobs. Their faces light up when they talk about their hobby, a course they're taking, or an event they're planning. People have energy and passion, plenty of it. But it may not be going into your business.

Believing in people

When we think people believe in us, we rise to the occasion and undertake incredible challenges. When we think they don't, we lose energy for the task. This is pretty basic stuff. You needn't consult with HR specialists to appreciate the point. When owners and managers demonstrate their belief in people who work for them--when they genuinely respect them, honour their capabilities and insights, provide them with support to get the job done, and hold them accountable--employees start developing their internal leadership capacity. They craft innovative solutions to business issues and take responsibility for implementing them. They become more focused and committed to delivering results. They bring enthusiasm to their interactions with other employees and with customers. They enhance product and service quality. And all these translate into increased profits.

It's not for lack of trying on the part of owners and managers that employees put their energy elsewhere. Owners spend scads of time and money adopting new processes to improve human performance, whether they use the balanced scorecard or some other method.

These tools by themselves, however, provide no guarantee. Their effectiveness is linked to a manager's inclination towards people. Managers tell me they generally spend two-thirds of their time dealing with human issues in the workplace, whether they want to or not. For some managers, employee issues feel like an intrusion on what really needs to get done. Other managers love responding to people issues and delight in finding new ways to enhance interactions with those reporting to them.

Regardless of the technique used to do it, employees know when their manager respects them, sincerely cares about their interests, and tries hard to support them in their work. An outdated management style can be successful, or the latest touted management technique can fail. It all depends on how managers are inclined toward their people.

Channeling the energy

Managers that really want to engage, maintain and develop employees need to know how to channel their energy. With a few basic management techniques, the really great manager can keep good employees enthused and creative. Here are a few examples:

See and hear them

The personal is the professional. Employees bring their basic needs with them to work, including their need to be validated for who they are and what they offer. It's important to respectfully acknowledge employees, regardless of their status. This means looking at them when they speak, actually listening to and absorbing what they're saying, and responding as if their words matter--because they do. It means not arriving late for a meeting with them, answering the phone or focusing on other things when they are talking, or patronizing them. Employees quickly sense when you don't value their interaction. They will likely clam up and check their enthusiasm in future. You needn't spend all your time attending to people though. Paradoxically, when people finally feel seen and heard, they need less attention.

"If you treat your people right, the rewards are there," says Terry Moore, senior vice-president of AMJ Campbell Van Lines. "If you don't, you spend all your time looking after problems." Terry can count on two hands the number of employees who have left in 20 years of operations.

Help them connect

Employees like to contribute their efforts to something bigger than themselves, something that resonates with their personal values. However, the usual "vision, mission, goals" exercise often results in abstract statements that don't hold much personal meaning for employees. They are not based on past experiences that are memorable, nor do they call people forth dynamically.

Using stories is a basic, intuitive way to align employees' values with organizational values. Leaders and employees who share stories about what brought them to the company, who helped them along the way, what struggles they encountered, and how they were positively transformed, feel more personally connected to a common future together. When the successful owner describes her humble beginnings, new employees are inspired to achieve. When a salesman relates an encounter that regained the loyalty of a disgruntled customer, others learn about successful customer relations. You can also form your business story by combining the individual stories.

Engaging in simple rituals in the workplace can also convey organizational values. You could circulate letters from satisfied customers, have an ethnic potluck to celebrate diversity, or play games that reward risk-taking. Rituals that are fun stimulate employees' creative energy.

Honour their passion and hold them accountable

Employees are eager to apply their unique creative energy. Work with your employees to determine the results needed to fulfill your business story. Ask which results they are committed to achieving, based on their own passion and skills.

Then, demonstrate your belief in their ability to obtain these results and don't try to control how they achieve them. Barbara Moses, one of North America's leading authorities on career management, has written a whole book on how people work, called The Good News About Careers: How you'll be working in the next decade. In it, she says, "people will want to own their work, both the upside and the downside, just like it were their own business." There's a lot of truth in that. Managers who insist on having the answers and dominating the process waste valuable employee energy.

Hold employees accountable for the results that they commit to. You can support their success by asking questions that help them discover solutions and providing resources to make these solutions achievable.

On the flip side, don't expect what employees can't offer. Hire people who actually have the passion and skills you need.

Be honest and committed

People are motivated by a truthful vision. Management needs to be clear about real business goals, even when these differ from employees' goals. When people know where they stand, they spend less energy tying to figure things out. We sense when we are being lied to, even if nothing is verbalized, or what is expressed is couched in doublespeak. Employees learn to mask their mistrust, but it comes our in passive-aggressive behaviour, political backbiting, absenteeism, anger and outright sabotage. Our organizations lose their natural vigor when they lose their truth.

Commitment also frees up energy. Workplace initiatives designed to create a positive community will fail without a fundamental commitment to people. When sales are down, people are laid off, sometimes very cruelly. Employees won't respond creatively to business needs when they are insecure. Be honest about what you can commit to employees. Terry Moore of AMJ demonstrates his honesty and commitment. He asks all new employee candidates to call any of the existing staff to ask any questions they want.

Allow for stillness

Sometimes people need to slow down to reflect in order to speed up to an elegant, efficient pace. Excessive performance anxiety is hard on people and stifles creativity. Make people accountable for results, not for punching the clock and looking busy. They will surprise you by exceeding your expectations.

Use positive language

Positive language gets our brain synapses popping, and negative language leaves us flat. Try phrasing your messages to employees in positive language to generate more energy.

New demands, new realities

Young people, women, immigrants, knowledge workers, and those disenchanted with downsizing and workplace exhaustion are all bringing new expectations to the workplace. Managers will be squeezed by employee demands for more meaning, challenge, autonomy, recognition, and a better lifestyle.

"Freedom, flexibility, opportunities to test yourself in new roles...these will be the cornerstones of life and work in the next decade," as Barbara Moses has said. "A new style of worker is emerging, based on a new, unique psychology."

Managers are also being squeezed on other fronts. Shareholders want to increase volume and performance, while lowering costs. Growing business complexity and shorter marketplace timelines require a more flexible and creative workforce.

Owners and managers need relief from this squeeze that sucks their own energy. But they must be willing to view their people with new eyes and see the energy generated by employees as the root cause of business success. More and more, business profits will depend on our ability to do business as if employees really matter and harness the energy they are longing to give.

Corinne Tessier, CMA, MBA ([e-mail]) is a partner with Kootenay International Associates,