The Positive Energy Workplace

It's Summer time! For many of us that means school's out, our kids' schedules are completely whacked, and demands on our time and attention are even higher as even though "school's out" — business is not. Unless you have camp or the Magical Land of Grandma and Grandpa's to send your kids to for the Summer, you may be trying to figure out how to still lead a great business, do solid work, and be an awesome parent/spouse who doesn't let another summer slip by.

Recently I helped a client get ready for an intense conversation with his team. There'd been some big stuff happening in their division, not all of it great. He had a "state of the union" to deliver as well as some requests. His concern was that if he didn't handle it well, he'd create a mess, not have any clean next steps, waste time, and ultimately demoralize the team. He was nervous.

I'm off for a couple of days with a good friend of mine hiking in the desert, staying hydrated, and talking biz, life, and everything in between. Trekking the trails we've moved seamlessly from topic to topic, silence to chatter, catching our breath to being in the zone--appreciating the present state with every step. Seamless. Nourishing. Good. A couple days to reboot, refresh, and rejuvenate in order to come back stronger and clearer on Monday.

As I write this I'm just off a plane to Singapore after traveling 22 hours plus to get to the other side of this beautiful planet. I'm excited for the week and working with some amazing people, and I'm also curious about how this week will "hit" my body, and when. I've noticed when it comes to jet lag, a couple of things are certain:

In the first column of this series I talked about shifting your culture's mindset from "j.o.b.s" to "callings" and tapping into purpose to energize, fuel, and bring out the best in your people. In part 2, I talked about shifting your culture to a healthy mindset of collaboration and competition. This week I'm talking about the most important thing you have in an employee: their personal level of accountability and nourishment. In order to innovate into 2020 (starting yesterday) we must cultivate a culture that allows for, and inspires, a greater level of accountability and nourishment than ever before. Our future literally depends on it.