WEBVTT

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Welcome, in this session, you'll
learn whether you're an energizer or

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not and what that means for

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your ability to build mutually supportive
relationships that get results.

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As you know, some people are able
to bring out the best in others,

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whereas other people have a knack for
sucking the life out of every interaction.

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Researchers Rob Cross, Wayne Baker, and
Andrew Parker studied the impact of

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people they refer to as energizers and
de-energizers.

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They conducted research in many different
organizations to identify the energizers,

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what they do differently than others,
and the impact on performance.

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The researchers mapped out the social
networks in each of these organizations

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to identify who is connected to whom,
and they interviewed people within those

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networks to identify who
are the energizers and de-energizers.

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They also asked study participants
the following question for

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each of the people in their network,
when you interact with this person,

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how does it typically
affect your energy level?

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And the study participants responded
on a scale of one to five,

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with one being very de-energizing and
five being very energizing.

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They found that the people who
were identified as energizers

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had higher performance ratings,
they got promoted more quickly and

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they inspired more learning and
innovation in the organization.

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In another study, researchers
Bradley Owens and his colleagues

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studied networks in a wide variety of
organizations to identify the impact

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energizing bosses had on their direct
reports feelings, thoughts and behaviors.

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They found that employees who worked with
energizing bosses were more productive,

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engaged, committed,
helpful to their colleagues and

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more willing to do work outside their
official job descriptions in order to meet

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organizational goals, they also had less
absenteeism, and were less likely to quit.

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One employee in the study
described his boss this way,

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his energy made me feel that my
feedback was very factual and useful,

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this person motivated me to work harder
and I also paid more attention to detail.

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On days after having meetings with
him I got twice as much work done

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because of the motivational energy
that he brought to the room.

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Says professor Kim Cameron,
one of the study researchers,

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managers spend so much time managing
information and influence, but

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relational energy trumps both of these by
a factor of four as an outcome determiner.

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What specifically do energizers do?

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They are realistic optimists who
communicate a compelling vision,

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they show respect for others and faith in
people's abilities to achieve their goals.

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They focus on opportunities
rather than roadblocks,

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they show employees their
progress toward important goals,

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they encourage participation and
contribution from employees.

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Demonstrating that they're
clear about the team and

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organizational goals yet
flexible in how they achieve them.

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They fully engage in their interactions
with others, making others feel heard,

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appreciated, and respected, and energizers

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exude integrity by walking the talk,
matching their behaviors to their words.

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People who energize others bring many
benefits to their organizations,

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not only are energizers higher performers,
but

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the people who work with them are higher
performers as well because energizers

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release what researchers call
psychological resourcefulness in others.

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Psychological resourcefulness refers to
the commitment, motivation, stamina and

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the intellectual stimulation that
increase people's willingness and

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ability to put in extra effort and perform
their work to the best of their ability.

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People are also more likely
to listen to energizers and

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enthusiastically support and
implement their ideas, and

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people prefer to work with energizers so
the most talented people want to be

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on their projects, and other energizers
are drawn to working with them.

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As you can imagine, energizing
relationships are precious resources for

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organizations because they typically don't
cost anything, and they're hard to copy.

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They're also renewable,
which means they regenerate themselves and

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spread rather than get depleted with use.
The value of energizing relationships

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increases over time because of
what's called emotional contagion.

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Emotions, whether positive or negative,

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are catchy because people act as role
models for appropriate ways of feeling,

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thinking and behaving,
researcher Sigal Barsade explains that

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people are walking mood inductors
who pass their moods onto others.

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When organizations have an abundance
of energizing relationships,

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they create a virtuous cycle in which

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positive emotions cascade
throughout the organization.

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And the benefits associated with
energizing relationships spread and

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increase steadily over time,
employees find more meaning in their work,

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they dig deep to find resources within
themselves that they didn't even know they had

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and they work harder to help
their colleagues and clients.

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In contrast, de-energizers can create
a vicious cycle, in which people think

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more about protecting themselves, rather
than contributing to the greater good.

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When people have to deal with
de-energizers, even people who are fully

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capable of doing good work may not be
able to muster the energy to do so,

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instead they think,
as some researchers have said, not now,

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not in this activity and
not with these people.

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Researchers have found that
even if a de-energizer

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has the information that a person needs,
people would rather get

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second rate information from
someone who makes them feel good

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rather than suffer through an interaction
with someone who's difficult to work with.

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And people's instincts to avoid
de-energizers makes sense,

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researchers have found that
de-energizers on a team, downers,

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bullies, and people who don't follow
through on their commitments,

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can reduce the team's
performance by 30 to 40 percent.

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The cost of de-energizers is so
great because researchers have

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found that bad is stronger than good,
this means that people remember

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negative interactions more intensely,
in more detail, and for

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longer periods of time than they
remember positive interactions.

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It takes at least two positive
interactions to counter the effect of

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one negative interaction.

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It's true that a few bad apples
really can spoil the whole barrel.

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The point to remember here is that
relational energy can be an abundant or

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scarce resource in organizations, and
organizations that have an abundance

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of energy have a hard to
copy competitive advantage.

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It's important for you to know that
there's nothing in the research that

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suggests that energizers are extroverted
or particularly charismatic, nor

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do they always focus on the positive.
They don't avoid giving bad news,

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they don't avoid making tough decisions or
having difficult conversations.

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But when they do address problems,
they do so

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in a way that focuses on
resolving the issues and

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learning from the experience rather
than blaming the people involved.

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So now you know more about
the power of being an energizer and

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the cost of de-energizers, you can take
the assessment that accompanies this

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session to assess the degree to which
you may be an energizer or de-energizer.

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You can also ask others to
answer the questions for you so

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that you can see how other
people perceive you, and

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after taking the assessment,
ask yourself these questions,

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do your scores lean more toward
energizing or de-energizing?

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Are there some areas in which you
are more energizing than others?

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Are there gaps between how you see
yourself and how other people see you?

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And what's the most important
action you can take

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to become more energizing to others?

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Thanks for learning about the power of
energizers, and I'll see you again soon.