Bring Energy And Enthusiasm To Work Every Day
In my time with the Target Corporation, they assessed leadership with what they called the “E’s of Excellence.” It went something like this: Energy + Enthusiasm + Execution = Excellence. Pretty simple. I like to call it the “Ease of Excellence.” If you’re a leader, and it’s not natural to bring energy and enthusiasm to work every day, then you’re not a leader. A leader leads by example.
Who wants to work in a company that has no energy? Has no enthusiasm? Has no Execution? Has no excellence?
No thanks.
But why do some leaders have energy and enthusiasm, and some don’t? And what does that really mean anyway? I’ve had a lot of conversations with leaders where they’ve said something like “I’m not like you…I don’t walk around giving high fives all the time.” First, it’s true…I love to walk down the hall of an office and high five as many people as I can. But that’s not what it’s about. Energy and Enthusiasm are about getting your team excited about what’s going on. It’s about buying what you’re selling. It’s about creating a culture high performers want to be a part of and making sure Monday morning doesn’t suck.
If you have leaders who report to you, think about the last time you walked into a room with the team, or logged onto Zoom for a meeting. Were they excited you joined? Was there genuine energy and excitement about what’s going on? Or was it a room you couldn’t get out of fast enough? There is a difference between the two. You know which rooms in your company have energy and which ones don’t. So, what can you do about it?
You need to be honest when you assess your leaders. You need to accept that some leaders are really good at what they do, and some aren’t. It’s hard to do an honest assessment of the talent in your organization. But the companies that do it, and the companies that set an expectation and set expectations for their leaders, are the companies that perform better and the companies that have employees looking forward to Monday morning.
Originally posted on Forbes.com.
