Have you ever taken an employee engagement survey?
Over my many years as a corporate employee I actually felt an obligation to be honest and provide feedback in those surveys. Of course I have no idea what they did with my feedback. It seemed that nothing really changed that much as a result.
What I realize after I did a bit of coaching was it was up to me to make the changes I needed. The survey provided me as much information and awareness of my own engagement (happiness) as it provided the company. The ball was in my court.
As anywhere workers and small business owners we don’t need elaborate surveys and assessments. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to take our own pulse (and I mean than literally and figuratively.)
It’s more important to develop energy management than time management.
Recently I was reviewing some employee engagement content for a client and I realized I was neglecting my own energy management and it impacted my engagement level and my productivity.
My guess is you have the same tendency to push yourself until you hit a wall. It’s typical of the hero’s journey of the small business owner. We tend to do a lot of the work ourselves, to work long hours, to push ourselves to meet unrealistic deadlines, to judge ourselves by the numbers instead of the quality.
How many times have you heard an entrepreneur say “I’ll sleep when I’m dead. Right now I have work to do!”
Problem is it’s not a sprint – it’s a marathon.
I’m concerned about us – the anywhere worker, the indie, the entrepreneur. And I want to do something about it. For the next several weeks I’m going to explore:
Energy Management and Engagement of the AnywhereWORKER
By energy I mean physical, mental, emotional, spiritual – the entire package.
Each week I’ll dive into one aspect to help increase our awareness of how we are managing our energy and how to make changes if needed.
If this is something that is important to you, please join me in this exploration. I want you to be successful. I want the future of work to be the healthy, strong, fully engaged, and happy professional – like you.
Let’s get started: Observation
Disclaimer: This is in no way a scientific approach. I’m sharing with you the same self observation approach that I will be taking. I believe in learning from experience and that’s what I propose for you.
Fieldwork:
I’ll be observing my energy levels and productivity over the next week by using a simple scale and checklist throughout the day (see below). You can do this or use your own approach. The objective is to observe the ups and downs of you energy (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual) and how it impacts your productivity and overall happiness. We’re looking for trends, connections, insights – anything to help identify any energy leaks and areas for improved energy management.
Rate on a scale of 1 (low) to 10 (High):
- Physical energy
- Emotional energy
- Mental energy
- Spiritual energy
- Productivity
- Happiness
Rate each of these at several times during the day (if possible):
- When you wake
- Arrive at desk
- Mid morning
- Lunchtime
- Mid afternoon
- End of work day
- Dinnertime
- Evening
- Before bed
Let the observations begin!
Next Read: Part 2: Energy Thieves, Productivity Pilferers.
