A Crisis of Epic Proportions and Energy Bandits

Have you ever noticed that some people think the world is coming to an end whenever things don’t go their way. It’s sad to see the infantile behavior of some adults. It reminds me of the old saying, don’t cry over spilled milk! But, then I have to remind myself that we can all be pretty childish at times and we don’t know what’s really happening until we know the full context of any given act. I remember a good friend of mine who started acting really odd and I couldn’t figure out why? So, I asked him if everything was all right and he shut me right down. He told me to mind my own business. I remember thinking, wow is he touchy. I wonder what his problem is? A few days later, that friend called and apologized for his rudeness. He told me he just found out that his dad had cancer and the doctor didn’t have much hope for recovery.

As Legacy Leaders, we are going to have people go off the rails and it’s going to seem like they’re falling apart over nothing, but, if we can find out what’s behind it all, we might find that there’s a problem of epic proportions in that person’s life. From illnesses, to addictions, to financial problems, and so many more domestic situations, our people confront real life beyond their jobs. Those real life issues effect what happens in the organization. Two or three of those on a team can put the team into a tailspin. The traditional approach of “leave your problems at home” won’t work. We really cannot segment our minds and put on our work cap after taking off our family cap. All our caps are really just the same cap and we stick a sticky note on the cap to identify where we are but everybody can see where we are physically. It’s where we are emotionally that will make the difference.

Legacy Leaders understand that what you see is not what you always get. There are so many factors that can get in the way of any given team member’s performance on any given day. Here are a few statistics to demonstrate what we face. Currently in the US, it is estimated that one in eight employees has some type of substance abuse problem that will affect their performance. In Canada, 500,000 people miss work each week because of a mental health problem. And then, everyone else is just an incident away from the wheels falling off. What’s a Legacy Leader to do? How do you keep your company moving in the right direction when there are so many energy bandits among us?

An energy bandit can be a person or a condition. Either of these can suck the emotional energy out of a team. When a crisis occurs, either in the life of a team member or within the team itself, the Legacy Leader must address the issue head on or it will get out of hand. But Legacy Leaders should always address these issues with compassion. The human energy bandits in our midst usually have experienced something in their lives that has sucked their emotional bank accounts dry. Their energy thieving behavior is just their attempt at getting their emotional energy back. The problem is, however, the way they go about it never really restores their lost energy and everyone else is having their energy depleted as well. The product of all of this is a debilitating loss of emotional energy for the whole team.

When energy bandits succeed in depleting a team’s energy resources, that team will become dysfunctional. To correct the problem a Legacy Leader must take some very important steps. The first step is to make sure that you know exactly who or what the energy bandits are. The second step is figure out why those bandits are going after the energy. And, the third step is to provide an alternative energy source for those bandits so they can get their energy needs met without depleting the team of its energy. The hardest part of this process is keeping the energy flowing.

Every team needs energy to function and the energy bandits know this. Their need for energy is so high they can think of nothing else. If we think of this in terms of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we realize that energy is a first level, fundamental need. Unless this need is fulfilled and the energy bandit knows that their access to the energy in the future will not be impeded, the energy bandit will continue to suck the energy out of the team. A leader has a choice. Either remove the bandit from the environment or make sure they can have their energy needs met. Anything less will just kick the can down the road a bit and we’ll be faced with the same problem in the future. Solving the problem requires making some tough decisions and saying some very open and honest things. These difficult conversations are always about restoring proper energy flow through the team.

The Epic Crises we face as leaders can all be resolved. In my experience, their resolution is always about energy. Legacy Leadership is quite often an exercise in effect emotional energy management. At the first sign of energy depletion, Legacy Leaders must kick their energy management skills into high gear. Putting off these issues is your surest guarantee that a crisis will follow. Be observant and keep your finger on the pulse of the team. Maintain vigilance and look for the telltale signs of energy bandits. This is one of the most important things you must do as a Legacy Leader.