directed energy®
a new approach to enhancing business performance
What is Directed Energy®?
Energy is a precious resource. It is the vital force that makes things happen, that converts intention into action.
Directed energy is a new approach to creating the desire amongst individuals and teams to take purposeful action and attain corporate success. It is the difference between ordinary performance and exceptional achievement.
Imagine the scene. The company is winning in the market; your department is buzzing. People are clear about where they are going, focussed on their own contribution, committed to results. This is directed energy.
Why is it Needed Now?
Customers are increasingly demanding, less loyal, and have a wider choice in the marketplace. Winning against competitors means that you must be innovative, flexible and nimble. How can you get that competitive edge and bring about change faster?
Companies have invested in recruiting talented people and given them the tools and technology to do their job. This accounts for 60% of people’s performance according to research by the Corporate Leadership Council*. But 60% is not enough to win.
The remaining 40% is the ‘discretionary effort’ or energy. People can choose whether or not they give this to their company. The opportunity to improve the performance of the company depends on the ability to tap into that discretionary energy. In that energy lies competitive edge.
How do you Release Directed Energy®?
Directing the energy of an organisation starts with three questions:
- How clear are you about your direction?
Organisations typically provide their people with either too much detail and control resulting in a stifling of creativity and a sapping of energy, or too little focus which causes muddle and ambiguity.
Clarity of purpose, vision and strategy is the starting point for directed energy. It starts with the leadership team but doesn’t stop there.
It requires communication which is precise and has impact, but is no bigger than it needs to be - leaving room for teams and individuals to join the dots and fill in the colours. In other words, make choices about how they take action and release their energy.
- How connected are you to your customers?
All businesses have at the centre of their core purpose, the customer. But the relationship with customers, particularly in large organisations, is often allowed to become remote and distant. Without customers you would have no business.
The energy of customers is a positive one. Though often considered the preserve of the sales and marketing departments, customers are the means of creating energy for action among individuals and teams throughout the organisation.
- How energised are you?
People, organisations, teams have abundant energy, but it is often badly directed or wasted, resulting in what Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal call ‘unproductive busyness’. Research** by these two academics shows that only 10% of managers take ‘purposeful action’, which is possible when individuals have high levels of both focus and energy.
This energy is rooted in intense personal commitment to the organisational direction and purpose. To manage it effectively, it is critical to understand the nature of your personal energy and how to sustain it.
Directed Energy®
Human energy is a precious resource, sometimes fragile and easily dissipated. There is a big opportunity to improve business performance by releasing and directing the energy of people.
Engaging everyone to strive with energy for the same purpose is the key to delivering results.
* Source: Corporate Leadership Council 2004. Employee engagement survey
** Source: A Bias for Action. H. Bruch and S. Ghoshal 2004 and Beware the Busy Manager (HBR 2002)