Unplugged: How Organizations Lose Their Energy and How to Get It Back

This book begins with a question: What takes the human energy out of an organization and how to get it back? Unplugged is about understanding what happens to employees when they lose their way amidst change, when they become unplugged from purpose, connection, direction, meaning, and value. When they, in a word, lose their energy. The book provides a fresh look at engagement as a choice employees make based on how they perceive the change and on how much discretionary energy they will give to the endeavor. Various factors contribute to employees unplugging. They include experiencing change as loss, repetitive change leading to fatigue and/or apathy, becoming overwhelmed because of additional workload, low work satisfaction, and feeling poorly led. Unplugged is also about how to restore this lost energy. The key to doing so resides with the leaders throughout the organization. Regardless of the type of change occurring, leaders need to understand the critical role that they play. In our research, we asked a simple question: During these periods of challenging change, what do you believe you need from your leadership? From their feedback emerged six elements that reengage employees: • The Leader's example • A sense of future opportunity • Clear focus and expectations • A desire to be included and informed • A need to feel connected • A need to feel leadership cares about them The majority of the book focuses on the restoration practices each of these elements address: Six chapters are dedicated to separate elements that leadership can respond to in a variety of ways. The elements are: Leadership. Employees want leadership to set the example and to walk their talk. Employees want leadership out front, acting with integrity, and character. Perceived opportunity: Employees want to understand what the future holds for them. They want to feel a sense of hope. What in the future can they get excited about? What about the future will benefit them? Without a sense of future opportunity to move toward, they'll live in the loss rather than move through it. Personal accountability: Employees want their questions answered: "As a result of the changes, what do you now expect of us?" "How will we be held accountable?" Losing focus or becoming disoriented during times of change is common. Employees want to know how the change will impact them and what leadership expects of them. Inclusion: Employees want to feel informed. They want to participate in authoring the future. All aspects of communication come into play: increased communication, the chance to provide input, the opportunity to discuss issues and ask questions, and the chance to be heard and involved. Connectedness: Employees want to feel connected to each other. They want to feel they are part of a collaborative environment where support for each other is present. Validation: Employees want leaders to care about them. They want to feel they are an important part of the organization's future and want to be supported, recognized, and developed. We want readers to understand that you can reengage an organization by having leadership focus on these key elements that contribute most to restoring employee satisfaction and energy: One important objective was to provide applications and tools that guide an organization's leadership in applying practices that address the various elements. It isn't enough to tell leaders where to focus on; we need to help them understand what to do. A cultural approach focused on infusing practices into the fabric of how the organization operates is introduced.