MetaTrends: A Leadership Publication of Meta - Issue 88
Take Five: Energy Not Time Management – The Missing Piece In Productivity?
Ask any Singaporean, “How are you?” Inevitably, the response is, “Very busy” and then they add, “Very tired!” Sound’s familiar?
Plus, the new mantra of organizations is CBF (Cheaper, Better, Faster), which has added to the stress of today’s workers. Because organizations are cutting cost, reducing headcount as well being more productive.
Professors Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy at Harvard University, conclude, “Organizations are demanding ever-higher performance from their workforces. People are trying to comply, but the usual method – putting in longer hours – has backfired. They’re getting exhausted, disengaged and sick.”[i]
Most people are thinking of time management when the key should be ‘Energy management’.
If organizations do not manage energy well among their staff, it will lead to “declining levels of engagement, increasing levels of distraction, high turnover rates, soaring medical costs among employees.”[ii]
34-year-old Mohammed is a technician in an airline industry. He has become a victim of energy depletion and exhaustion as a result of the global financial crisis. Because of cost-cutting measures put in place, the company has put a freeze on head-count and has required him to put in more hours to cover up for those who have retired or resigned. The workload has almost doubled.
The cost to his physical and emotional health escalated. He falls sick more often, he is emotionally exhausted. His family life is in shambles. His 5-year old son and 3-year daughter hardly get to see him because he has to work overtime to meet increasing work demands and ‘due-yesterday’ deadlines.
His problem: Energy management not time!
What is energy?
Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy suggest that there are four types of energy that have to be managed: Physical Energy, Emotional Energy, Mental Energy and Spiritual Energy. They postulate that time is a finite resource but energy comes from these four main wellsprings in human beings: the body, emotions, mind and spirit. It is renewable and expandable.
Physical Energy: Energy that is derived from nutrition, sleep, exercise & rest. Inadequate aspects of each of these diminish our basic energy level, which will affect our ability to manage our emotions.
Emotional Energy: Energy that is derived from our ability to control our emotions & understanding our personality types, regardless of the external pressures. For example, extroverted people are resourced and energized by interactions while introverted individuals replenished them in solitude and reflection.
Mental Energy: Mind research, especially by Daniel Siegel M.D has shown that what we think and the way we flow can build up the pre-frontal context. This will help us manage our personal and social interactions.
Spiritual Energy: Most people find energy when they find meaning and purpose in what they do. This can be derived from divine, supernatural encounters.
Social Energy: This refers to the ability to enhance social and interpersonal relationships. Inability to relate to people can become a very serious source of energy depleter.
Put simply, we need to focus on investing more in them so they are energized and motivated – to bring more of themselves to work every day; and in turn, to become more self-energized so that they are able and willing to put in all the required effort at work.
Goal of Energy Management
The goal of energy management is Flow, the psychology of optimal experience, a concept first propounded by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.[iii] It is a feeling when researchers experience a breakthrough in their experiments, when engineers find the solution to a protracted problem, when speakers sense the energy of the crowd during a climax, or when leaders evoke the enthusiastic responses of their staff at their annual conference[iv].
But flow does not happen just in favorable outcomes. It is also the cancer patient who experiences a deep sense of peace as she recognizes that she is going to a far better place. It could be such simple events as when we hear the song of a bird in the forest, or a violinist in the midst of mastering an intricate piece or when a social worker shares a piece of bread with the most deprived in Calcutta.
As Mihaly writes, “For each person, there are thousands of opportunities, challenges to expand ourselves…the best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”[v]
This concept is not merely theoretical because over the years, FLOW has been “used to generate ideas and practices in clinical therapy, the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquency, the organization of activities in old people’s homes, the design of museum exhibits.”[vi]
John Ng, PhD
President
Meta
**********************
Tel: (65) 6419 5255
Fax: (65) 6227 7170
Email: john@meta.com.sg
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[i] Tony Schwartz & Catherine McCarthy, “Managing Your Energy, Not Your Time”. Harvard Business Review, October 2007, HBR Publishing, Boston, MA, USA.
[ii] Tony Schwartz & Catherine McCarthy, “Managing Your Energy, Not Your Time”. Harvard Business Review, October 2007, HBR Publishing, Boston, MA, USA.
[iii] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper & Row Publishers, 1990. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, New York. USA.
[iv] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper & Row Publishers, 1990. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, New York. USA.
[v] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper & Row Publishers, 1990. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, New York. USA.
[vi] Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper & Row Publishers, 1990. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, New York. USA.
