The Positive Energy Workplace

I had a meeting with my team last week. All of us were prepared, we had some good stuff to dig into. Everyone showed up on time, checked in, confirmed our agenda, and then…

I blew it.

Yep, me, as the team leader… blew it.

How? My presence. Despite being prepared, having all the “stuff” I needed to have to have a great meeting, and all the right “actions” – my presence was off.

Our normally high vibration, present, positive energy meetings, turned into dysfunctional sludge; the sludge had nothing to do with what I said or did – it was my energy and what I brought into that Google Hangout.

Fortunately, I quickly realized I was sinking the “room”, was able to name it, reboot, and get us back on track. (Ironic. Here we are, a company helping people up-level presence in order to be more effective in their leadership and impact, and I had just sucked the energy out of the room. With my beautiful team. Wow.)

How awesome.

So what happened?

It was 11:00 a.m., on a Tuesday. I jumped on a video call with a client to work on his strategy for taking his career to the next level. He was well qualified for a promotion and very hungry to make it happen.

I was ready to roll. He was... exhausted.

At 11:00. On a Tuesday morning.

As we faced each other on pixels I noticed his energy was low, his face "muted", his voice quieter than usual. His presence communicated drudgery and fatigue. Not only could I see it, I could feel it.

I asked how he was doing...

"Exhausted. I don't know how I'm going to make it through today -- I'm back-to-back in meetings, and all of them are important."

"Hmmm... It's only Tuesday, at 11:00 a.m. What's up?" I asked.

"I had a big weekend; we BBQ'd, lots of hot dogs, chips, and beers... I guess I'm still recovering."

"Was it worth it?"

"Ya, it was great. I'll recover. What are we working on? Sorry, I didn't have time to prepare."

Hmmm...

As a business leader (or human being), you have things coming at you all day long: requests, demands, this call, that email, these 42 decisions, that permission slip, this contract, that field trip you've been asked to chaperone, this friendship that energizes you, that relationship that sucks the life out of you … You name it, it's likely coming for you. In what I call the blender, when you're in the midst of all this, it can be so easy to lose your space. Oh, so easy ... Unless you get really good at doing these five things that will help you hold your space, discern correct action, and keep your bliss so you be the leader you want and need to be.

Great news—Contagious Culture is getting ready to go to print. It’ll be on the bookshelves November 13 and is now on presale! I’m excited. My team’s excited. The people who’ve supported it are excited. We’re all excited.  

I get questions from subscribers and participants all the time about random things that relate to leadership, presence, energy, collaboration, dealing with their mom, changing something that they're afraid to change, etc. All sorts of Qs. I try to respond to every single one. Sometimes these Qs inspire articles. Sometimes an exercise. Sometimes a post. You just never know...

Today I thought I'd start sharing some of these in simplest form with the intention that there just might be something gold in here for you. If this is helpful to you, and you like this format, let me know—like it, share it, whatever your fancy—and I'll keep doing it.