The Positive Energy Workplace

Is Your Organization Healthy? In Every Sense of the Word?

When people think of health, they tend to think of physical and emotional health. Energy, vitality, healthy eating, exercise, etc. are all very important things and something that I've been integrating into my leadership work with execs for years. But there's also the "organizational health" --- the health of the whole organization.

Of course there's the physical component and benefits - less lost time, injuries, health care costs, etc. but there's also the mental, spiritual and leadership component. If you look at the DTE Bootist Leadership® Model, and specifically "Tenet Three" of Bootism™ (to receive my latest publication please opt in on the right hand side), which is about "health, vitality and personal nourishment of the leader and organization," you'll see that creating a healthy organization means not only that you're attending to your own health, and your employees' health, but also to the health of your organization as a whole, its spirit, and relationships.

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The Energy of a Vision...

I was working with a client today who's got a vision that would move any man, woman, or child to tears. Truly, no exaggeration. I spent an hour in goose bumps. As we get more into his work and he wishes to take it broader, I'll likely share a bit more about it, but in the meantime, thought I'd share one of the key themes from the call. Not one of us is immune to this gift/tool/resource...What is it? The Energy of Vision...and 3 guiding principles that help move it forward:

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The Power of the Female Spirit...

"Got milk?" was a phrase that kept running through my head yesterday as I sat in the Breast Health Center going from round to round of exams and checks. It's always funny to me the silly things I'll think of, the silly phrases, the silly scenarios in some of the most stressful situations. (Of course, I was the child who'd laugh when her friends got into big trouble - out of sheer nervousness - so I guess I'm not that suprised.) I was surrounded by other women who were doing the same thing. Several were there for regular check ups, and a couple were there praying that their scares were just that, scares. A couple others, I'm not completely sure...It was a humbling experience and 3 hours sitting in that environment has quite the ability to increase your love and appreciation for women and the human spirit. It also has quite the ability to get you to start thinking about either sponsoring your girlfriend in one of these 3 day breast cancer walks (or doing it yourself!) (I'll be waiting for the phone to ring as soon as this goes live...wait for it...wait for it...)

I'm going to go out on a limb and write a different kind of post today. I actually shouldn't be posting - I'm prepping for a live call tomorrow on energy and leadership (big turnout so far, feel free to join us http://tinyurl.com/y9nve4k ), but I'm still thinking about these women and this experience. It's just kind of stuck with me. There's no profound leadership advice here except maybe to: make sure you get your preventative health care in, take good care of yourself, and dare to engage the things that terrify you (ie. a sinister looking medical tests) - in service of sticking around, feeling well, and having the most energy and stamina to lead for the things you care about (which technically is Bootist Leadership Tenet 3.) I'd also add in, the invitation to revisit what you're grateful for in your life, and to give a special nod to the women in your life who you love, to the women you don't even know - but appreciate, and to the women whose names you'll never know but who've sat with you through something like this. Yes, leadership learning can be gleened from any situation, but for this post, let's just talk about the power of the human spirit. And specifically, since it's so fresh in my heart, women.

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Got Energy? Lead With It.

It's all about the energy. The energy you bring to your life, your leadership, and to your team - physical, emotional, and vibrational - is having an impact at all times. How you use it has a significant impact on your leadership influence, your personal productivity, and the engagement and productivity levels of your team.

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Boots or Slippers in 2010?

So what will you focus on this year? Are you wearing "boots" or "slippers" in 2010? Now I'm all for a good pair of slippers when needed - I can appreciate chilling out, rest, even laziness, with the best of them - and I believe full heartedly that these all have a place in being the most effective human being and leader possible (Tenet 3: Energy & Vitality - "Bootists Check Out and Consciously Disengage"). That said, there's also great value in being conscious of when you're wearing slippers and really need to be wearing boots. Not telling you which is which, that's totally up to you, I AM however inviting you to be intentional about when and how you wear both. (After all, there's a reason the phrase goes: "slip slip sliding away...")

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