Stephanie McGuinn — August 22, 2017 — August 22, 2017
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Jared was a 30 year-old college graduate who would tell anyone who would listen he had been a terrible employee and had been fired from some pretty great jobs in his past. That was why he was starting over from scratch as an entry-level Call Center associate in the large trade organization for which we both worked.
Other than amiable interactions such as these, the rest of the employees didn’t appear to pay the energetic customer service representative much mind. But then in the dimly lit room in the lower level of the building where Jared worked some quiet magic began to happen. First, Jared’s supervisor squeezed enough money out of her budget to send him to a series of leadership seminars across the country. And then he started applying for manager-level jobs upstairs. He was turned down a few times for candidates with more glamorous experience.
But one day someone decided to take a chance on Jared and hired him as a manager. From there he wowed everyone around him, going above and beyond in his job with happy energy. Within five years he climbed the ranks all the way to Director of Membership, leading a team of eight.
What did Jared have that propelled him to a position high above where he started? He had energy that excited and motivated his colleagues and the members he served.
Study on Energizing Coworkers
According to a recent study by Grenoble Ecole de Management (France) and the Surrey Business School, the ability to energize one’s colleagues is far from a nice extra to have in order to move up the ranks; it’s a basic necessity for employee retention. The study is based on the observation of IT workers at a global engineering consulting firm over a four year period and suggests that employees who can energize their coworkers are more likely to stay at an organization.
One could conclude that employees feel isolated when their coworkers aren’t energized by the ideas and work they put out. It could seem like others in the company don’t understand them or their work isn’t valued.
Conversely, the study shows that employees who are high performers and also energize their coworkers are more likely to leave for a more attractive opportunity. Therefore, those who are energizing but closest to average in performance are most likely to stay in their current job.
Jared’s performance as he climbed the rank was good, but his ability to energize was outstanding. He was the perfect candidate to stay with the organization for a long time, according to this study. And I can report to you that Jared stayed with the organization for eight years. As I’ve fallen out of touch with Jared and can’t say for sure, I’d have to lean towards him having left the organization for a better opportunity as he became a better performer at his job.
I couldn’t possibly imagine him having been let go for having low energy as the study suggests happens regularly. The study ranks poor energy as a reason for firing people as occurring as frequently as them not being a good fit for their job or poor performance.
Employee Retention Tactics
So how can you ensure your team feels energized? Those running the study leave us with some advice.
The first line of defense is always the hiring process. If you make smart choices when hiring, you will have the best chance at happy energetic employees who are a good fit for their jobs.
Add steps to the hiring process that measure energy and passion. You can do this by adding questions to the interview that get into professional growth goals and the candidate’s interest in seeing others succeed. Or you can employ personality profiling which gives the candidate a survey to fill out and interprets the data to find out what motivates them.
For those who are already on your team who could use an energy boost, you can use leadership training as an opportunity. Teach your employees about the importance of positive energy and get them excited about what their coworkers are doing.
For your employees who are high performers and have great energy, you should turn to an appropriate incentive plan. Be advised that the important thing about finding the right incentives for your employees is to understand what incentives will work for each employee. More money doesn’t work for everyone.
Being able to energize one’s coworkers is another piece of the employee retention puzzle. If an employee can energize those around them they will feel more connected to the organization and be motivated to stay. However, if they are high performers and very good at motivating others it can prompt them to look for jobs elsewhere. To keep talent wanting to stay at your company, hire smart, teach the importance of energizing each other, and incentivize top performers. And, of course, show appreciation for your Jareds.
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