How to Energize Your Business: Elmer’s Story

Learn how to increase the energize your business by changing your attitude and the attitudes of those around you. Core Energy Coaches call this energy. You can energize and motivate your employees and make your place of employment an energetic place to work. 

Read Elmer’s story about how he turned his office environment from blah to blazing.

Listen to this story instead of reading at MMBIZCAST .

Elmer entered his office as he had every Monday morning.

He shared cordial ‘good mornings’ with Samantha, his administrative assistant, and Chuck, one of his salespeople. He felt a little out of sorts as he made his way to his office. Something was wrong. There was a gloomy kind of ‘quiet’ in the office.

Elmer had started his engineering firm five years ago, designing exterior lighting systems for municipalities. His company began with a bang and quickly developed enough momentum to hire five engineers, two salespeople, and an administrator. After losing a contract to a competitor, Elmer was concerned that their startup firm had lost its luster.

The quiet in his office seemed to be just one more omen of a declining business. His engineers were busy working on design projects. They rarely talked to anyone. They’d often dawn their headphones and disconnect from the rest of the world. His sales reps seemed busy, but he never heard them talking with customers on the phone, and he noticed their calendars didn’t seem all that full. His administrative assistant seemed to be doing ‘busy work’… but wasn’t that busy with ‘real work’.

Elmer decided to call Coach Russ, a business coach who Elmer worked with when he first started his business. Elmer felt that Russ may be able to better diagnose his office’s low energy. Maybe he could inject the ambition that was missing from his startup days.

After some small talk, Russ asked, “What prompted you to call me Elmer?”

Elmer responded, “I don’t know how to say this. I walked into the office today, and the atmosphere just seems BLAH.”

“What do you think has contributed to the BLAH?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping that you could help me answer that question.”

“On a scale of one to ten. One being complete dullsville, and ten being super-charged. What number would you give the overall energy level in your office?”

“It may just be me, but I’d give it a one or a two. I think I must have missed the lesson on how to motivate my people.”

“You know as well as I, employers can’t be held responsible for motivating their employees. However, it IS your responsibility to create an energized work environment.”

Elmer chuckled, “What do you mean? Am I supposed to electrify the air or something?”

“Yes… something like that. Let’s meet and I’ll fill you in on how you can energize your workplace.”

Coach Russ and Elmer met at a local coffee shop to talk further.

Elmer started, “I think you nailed it, Russ. We have low energy in our office. To be honest… I think this low energy may be coming from me. I just don’t know if I’m the right guy to energize my workplace.”

Russ responded, “As I mentioned over the phone, you can’t force anyone to increase or decrease their motivation or energy level. As the leader, you CAN create an energized environment.”

“I’m curious to hear more about this energized environment. How, exactly, do I create energy?”

“First, let’s get straight on what I mean by ENERGY. Make sense?”

“Sure.”

“There are five levels of energy that are most relevant to business owners. The lowest level of energy is called Victim Energy. This shows up as a type of entitlement energy. Employers can exhibit this energy level by feeling their employees control them. Employees exhibit this energy level when they expect benefits, high compensation, time off and all sorts of perks as an entitlement. Do you think this energy level exists in any part of your firm?”

“I think my salespeople may be showing some of this. They tell me they can’t make sales at our current price. And yet, a recent competitor just won an opportunity we were competing for with a higher price.”

Russ smiled, “Interesting. What did you say to your salespeople about this?”

Elmer said, “I didn’t feel I would help them by pointing it out. They’d worked hard to win this deal, and I didn’t want to rub in the loss.”

“Alright. How have your salespeople bounced back after this loss?”

“I don’t know. I looked at their calendars, and they don’t seem to have too many appointments to gain new customers.”

“What did you say to your salespeople about this revelation of no appointments?”

“I’ve kept quiet about it. I was angry when I first noticed the empty calendars and felt I needed to calm down before talking to them.”

“Got it. That brings me to the next level of energy. The second lowest level of energy is called Conflict Energy. This is the anger you felt when you saw the lack of appointments on your employees’ calendars.”

Elmer looked confused, “Are you saying anger is better than being passive?”

“You have to remember here that I’m talking about energy levels. If you’re angry, that shows that you care. If you’re a victim, you’ve accepted defeat and have disconnected. While Conflict Energy is a step up from Victim Energy, it’s still a low energy level.”

“I’m curious to hear what energy levels are next.”

“The third level of energy is called Acceptance Energy. People who use this energy are great at coping with obstacles and moving forward. This coping may be ignoring a person with a difficult personality or finding a way to succeed regardless of other obstacles.”

“Wow! If our firm got to level three, we’d be doing pretty well.”

“There’s no question that you would be doing great if everyone in your office operated at Acceptance Energy. Let me introduce you to the last two levels of energy. The fourth level of energy is Compassion Energy. You create business success at this level by caring for coworkers, employees, and customers.”

“I’m not sure I like this one. What if we give up everything to satisfy customers and lose money as a company?”

Russ chuckled, “Having compassion for others doesn’t mean you have to lose in any way. The win/lose thinking you just described is Conflict Energy. This means for you to win, someone else has to lose.”

“Isn’t that the way business works? Isn’t there always a winner and a loser?”

“Sadly, too many business owners think this way. Let me ask you, ‘Who benefits when you win a contract to design a municipality’s lighting system?’”

Elmer thought briefly and responded, “I guess the municipality wins because they’re getting professionally designed lighting. We win because we’re getting money to perform the work. And our competitors lose because they didn’t get picked to do the project.”

“That’s true to a point. Let’s think of how compassion energy works in a sale. A salesperson who has strong empathy for their customer will often win accounts. If the salesperson is interested in a big commission check; and not listening to their customer’s stated needs, they’ll try to win by boasting about features that are irrelevant to the customer.”

Elmer interrupted, “Darn it! I think this may have happened on our last proposal. How can I get my salespeople to buy Compassion Energy?”

Russ smiled, “I’ll let you know how you can shift your people’s energy level in a minute. Let me describe the fifth level of energy. This is the level of energy that benefits business owners the most. This fifth level of energy is called Opportunity Energy. The core thought at this level is Win/Win. People operating at this opportunity level will see positive opportunities in any situation, even in losses.”

“Are you saying we can find an opportunity in our most recent loss?”

“Of course. Have your salespeople contacted the customer they just lost and asked what they could have done to win the account?”

“My salespeople told me that the competitor had a relationship with the mayor, and that’s why they won.”

Russ smiled, “If that’s true, what should your salespeople be doing?”

“I guess they should be creating relationships of their own.”

“You see? Always an opportunity. That’s the fifth energy level.”

“If level five is where you want all your clients, why bother with all the other levels? Why not just say, Opportunity Energy is the way to go, and then have them focus on one thing instead of all of the rest of these levels?”

“Great question. While you may want to strive for higher energy levels, there are times when those lower levels may be more appropriate.”

“Are you kidding me? How can I know which energy levels to use and when?”

“Whenever you have a key decision, consider different options through five different energy levels. I call this exercise climbing the ladder. We’ve been talking a lot about this sale you most recently lost. Tell me what your proposal would have looked like at each different energy level?”

“I suppose at VICTIM, we wouldn’t have proposed because we would’ve already given up. At CONFLICT, we would’ve compared our advantages and highlighted the disadvantages of our competitor. I think this is what we did. At ACCEPTANCE, we may have focused more on our advantages and avoided highlighting any disadvantages of our competition. At COMPASSION, we would have focused more specifically on the customer’s needs and how our solutions would make life easier for the folks at the municipality. At OPPORTUNITY, we would’ve discussed a partnership opportunity between our firm and their municipality. Maybe we could have offered discounted lighting design services to members of their chamber of commerce.”

“Great job, Elmer! What would your sales team do in the future if they were to start thinking about these various energy levels?”

“I think they would laugh at me.”

“That may be…. but if it made them more successful, I’m guessing they’d start taking energy more seriously.”

“I suppose. Russ, I appreciate what you’ve taught me today about energy levels, but I’m not sure how this will help motivate my staff.”

“As I said before, you don’t motivate your staff. All you need to do is have the same conversation I just had with you. They’ll respond When they know how their thinking’s affecting their ability to succeed. Their actions will then create the higher-energy workplace you desire. No employee wants to come to a low-energy workplace. They want their workplace to be energized just as much as you do. Wouldn’t it be awesome if your salespeople filled their calendars with relationship-building appointments without you asking them?”

“Of course, it would.”

“If you introduced your salespeople to these energy concepts, which level do you think they’d choose?”

“I suppose they’d choose level five. Especially if they felt it would earn them higher commissions.”

“If they choose, then you don’t have to motivate them. Right?”

“You’re right, Russ. The energy level in our office would rise because my staff would start choosing to think and act at higher energy levels.”

“You got it.”

Elmer was excited about his newfound information.

He invited Coach Russ to give his energy talk to his entire staff. He was surprised at how differently he and the rest of his staff started acting once they started using the climbing the ladder exercise regularly.

It seemed like his staff was more engaged in their work, and he could feel the level of energy had changed at the office. He routinely heard his salespeople engaging in relationship-building conversations with customers. Even his engineers removed their headphones to engage in sales strategy meetings with salespeople.

Elmer’s office was energized, and all he had to do was educate his people on five simple energy levels.

BUSINESS LESSONS LEARNED

I want to spend a few moments highlighting this Core Energy concept mentioned in the story. First, Core Energy™ is a trademarked system developed by Bruce Schneider and belongs to the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching or iPEC. 

Anabolic vs Catabolic Energy

I’d like to give you a summary of how this energy works.

The two lowest levels discussed in our story, Level 1 (Victim) and Level 2 (Conflict), are catabolic energy. This catabolic energy has two key characteristics:

If you repeatedly use catabolic energy, you will feel a build-up of stress and eventually burn out. If you stay at Level 1 for extended periods, you can become clinically depressed.

The higher levels that we discussed in our story are considered anabolic forms of energy. To access these higher levels, you must be deliberate and conscious of your thoughts.

In the story, Elmer’s office reacts to the loss that they had hoped to win. Business owners react to government regulations, customer demands, or economic pressures. This constant reaction can put you in lower, catabolic energy levels.

I often encourage my business owner clients to step back from their reactions and plan their businesses. This gives them a chance to see their businesses objectively and make much better decisions.

Climbing the Ladder Exercise

This exercise will give you a clear picture of your options when making important decisions.

Let’s first create a typical business decision that you may face. Let’s say that your company made a little extra this past year in profit, and you’re considering sharing this profit with your employees somehow.

Now, let’s climb the energy ladder…

Level-1 – Victim

At level one, you will feel like your profit’s a fluke. You’ll most likely not share any upside with your employees. The two downsides you see are: 1) If you share it with your employees, you won’t have enough money to weather some future storm, and 2) If you give them the money, they’ll feel even more entitled to a yearly bonus. You don’t want that!

Level-2 – Conflict

At level two you will feel like your employees didn’t do anything to deserve to share in your profit. After all, your employees wouldn’t pay you in a year when there’s a loss, so why should you give them a share of your profit in a good year? You’ll only give your employees a piece of your profit if you’re afraid of losing key employees to your competition. Even then, you’ll be very selective in giving out a portion of your profit.

Level-3 – Acceptance

At level three, you’ll become more analytical about your decision. You will consider your overall financial situation. If you have sufficient revenue for the foreseeable future, you will consider giving some of your profits to your employees. You don’t want just to give out this profit as some gift. Instead, you will want to get a benefit for your company through this bonus. You may even give out bonuses if the recipients of such bonuses stick around for at least another year.

Level-4 – Compassion

At level four, you’ll think about your people instead of yourself. You will be happy paying out a bonus to your employees regardless of whether they deserve it. At this level, you aren’t as concerned about the money as you are about the reaction you get from giving the money. You’ll most likely send bonus checks in a beautiful envelope with a heartfelt letter thanking your employees for contributing to your company’s success.

Level-5 – Opportunity

At level five, you’ll be thinking beyond your people. You’ll consider the option of profit-sharing plans or giving portions of company equity to build longer-term loyalty. You may be considering investing in a business growth opportunity. Maybe you’ll use the increased profits as a down payment on a company acquisition or growing your staff. The challenge you may have at Level 5 is deciding which option is the best.

The climbing the ladder exercise works by having you reflect on each level and pick the best option.

This post is part of a Coach Russ story series by Jeff Schuster, a business coach with Mechanics & Mindset Business Coaching. Jeff has published several more blog posts, podcasts, and videos on business mechanics, mindset, and coaching.  Please set up a complimentary coaching session with Jeff if you’d like to share your business situation and gain insight into what may help you grow your business to the next level.