Alternative Sources of Energy

Alternative sources of energy are very popular topics of discussion in today’s world. Wind and solar are praised as innovative and efficient methods to help meet the power needs of our world while having a smaller impact on the environment than traditional methods.

But your house, your car, your city aren’t the only places that could need new sources of energy ­­ your company could as well. Think about the morale in your office. The output. The company culture. Is it low and sluggish? Could it be improved?

While wind and solar might not help in this instance, you ­­ as CEO ­­ could be the alternative source of energy that your office needs to improve. Around the office, we don’t think about energy as a resource. We think of only time, money, and material resources. Recently, I spoke with a client of mine on this topic. His name is David and he is the CEO a financial services company. I asked him about the concept of energy in his work. “It’s funny that you should mention that,” he said. “Because I just dealt with this at my company.”

The financial services industry is volatile. There are ups and downs, highs and lows, that fluctuate with the global economy. David is a smart CEO but his company is definitely not immune to this volatility. “My office culture could be described as very bipolar,” David said with a laugh. “Some days we are high energy: enthusiastic and upbeat, and on others, we’re very low energy, almost depressed.”

David noticed that on the days when his employees were “low energy” productivity suffered. Mistakes were made. Tasks went uncompleted. “There was a high chance of employee burnout,” David continued. “The yo-­yo of emotions was not sustainable. That’s when I decided to focus on improving the energy.”

David went from being the Chief Executive Officer to the Chief Energy Officer. He solicited feedback from his employees and implemented it to make improvements. He held more social events, including catered lunches. He developed an incentive program for high achieving employees. He worked on creating group camaraderie through exercises and events. Instead of ignoring the problem, David searched out alternative sources of energy for his employees and succeeded.

“Promoting energy around the office was one of the best things I could have done,” David said. “Immediately, the yo­-yo-­ing stopped. Morale was greatly improved. Everyone just seemed to breath easier.”