Fuel for outstanding performance : Positive energy providers

Who is the Positive Energy Provider in Your Workplace?

Kim Cameron has spent years researching what characteristics companies that achieve outstanding performance. His findings show that these companies are distinguished by positive leadership, which he breaks down into four key areas: a positive atmosphere, positive relationships, positive communication, and a positive purpose. Following his research, he published a book on these four areas and shortly thereafter introduced practical methods to activate them, underlining just how vital culture is to achieving success.

Workplace culture plays a decisive role in whether a company manages to deliver outstanding results over the long term. For a company to achieve more than just conventional success, it must thrive – meaning that employees consistently perform at their best, often even exceeding expectations. To build a workplace culture that creates fertile ground for outstanding performance, it is essential to develop a culture of abundance, founded on the collective competence of all staff.

Changing workplace culture requires effective change management and is no small feat. Such transformation must be carefully prepared, as culture comprises intangible elements like attitudes and communication. Shifting towards a culture of abundance involves, among other things, altering the attitudes of both employees and managers, influencing communication to foster positive relationships among colleagues, and ensuring that the new culture becomes firmly embedded and sustainable.

A culture of abundance within a company is characteristic by ingrained virtues in daily operations, tailored knowledge acquisition that meets current needs, a shared sense among employees that their work has a meaningful purpose, close collaboration, and the integration of positive leadership.

It’s possible to start with small steps when preparing a company for cultural change – one such step is empowering positive energy providers in the workplace.

Positive Energy Provider

There is a clear link between a culture of abundance and the number of positive energy providers. A positive energy provider is an employee who is perceived by others as uplifting – someone who motivates, boosts enthusiasm and drive, offers encouragement, and is always selfless. Positive energy providers are optimistic, credible, and tend to succeed. They are invaluable not only because their own performance is consistently superior, but also because they inspire their colleagues to deliver better results.

Research has shown that high-performing organisations have three times as many positive energy providers as average companies. Furthermore, studies indicate that positive energy is four times more influential in predicting performance than merely being influential or well-informed.

Anyone can become a positive energy provider. The behavior that produces these positive effects on colleagues is learned; it is not an innate trait or a touch of personal magic, and there is no direct correlation between being a positive energy provider and having a particular personality.

It is highly desirable for a manager to be a positive energy provider because this has a motivating impact on employee performance. In fact, research has also demonstrated that the influence of a manager who acts as a positive energy provider extends positively into the family lives of employees.

New Habits

It is therefore simple to start laying the foundation for a transformed culture straight away. Everyone can develop the communication habits that are characteristic for positive energy providers, and managers should be open to identifying those who already embody this role and further nurturing their strengths. Being a positive energy provider is a behavior that can be trained, much like one can train the body.