Do you sense constant exhaustion within your team? Everyone seems to be working hard towards the same set of goals, yet they remain unachieved. There may be a reason why.
KPIs, commitment score, alignment metrics, satisfaction surveys, AI-based morale tools …. they all tell you how employees are feeling, or have performed.
When discussing employee productivity, we often prioritize evaluating results but overlook the critical yet silent factor that affects it: our team’s collective energy.
We often see organizations focus on evaluating individuals on multiple constructs such as commitment, alignment and in a few cases their capacity to energize
However to do work, one needs the capacity to do work right? In other words we need energy to function.
My observations and recent research indicate the necessity of measuring 'the capacity of a team to work,' often referred to by scholars as 'Organizational energy,' 'Group Drive,' 'Energy in networks,' and so forth.
A few months ago, I wrote about why & how organizations should think like a forest (link in the comments). Eventually, based on research, reflections from client interventions, and inspiration from nature, we authored a model - “Systems Insight Model” - to look at energy sources within organizations.
They are collectively motivated;
There is a collective sense of autonomy;
There is collective belief on their capacity to deliver,
The group feels cohesive and finally;
The positive vibe/ affect is greater than the sense of collective exhaustion.
The last one is especially fascinating because organizations and leaders often have a sense of the fact that teams are exhausted but very rarely do they have a pulse on the extent of exhaustion; and even rarely the reason for the exhaustion or what I refer to as “systemic energy leakage”.
The last one is especially fascinating – It helps you to plug even the untameable energy drain (what I refer to as systemic energy leakage) within your teams. We saw organizations skyrocket in performance, once we identified & plugged such energy leaks.
You too can make your teams feel exponentially more energetic, if you measure & work on these levers at a collective/system level, than only at the level of individuals.
Try it yourself. Ponder for a minute -
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest - how would you rate the collective energy of your team?
Truly see them.
What is causing energy leaks in your team?
Once you have some idea, measure & work on this at a system level.
I promise you, the results will be magical.
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