You want to be energised?

A few days ago, I was sitting with my CHRO, discussing an upcoming white paper on HR practices in M&A scenarios. As we discussed the kind of insights we would include in the paper, we dwelt on several lessons that the past had to teach us, some of them unpleasant, even regrettable - but many more of them stories that inspire and invigorate us just by the mere act of recalling and retelling them. 

I made a simple observation - that more than tales of woe, there were so many stories about things that had been done very well, things that we'd done right, which we could now record for the future. And immediately her face lit up, she nodded enthusiastically and said "You know what I tell my leaders? I say to them, 'You want to be energised? Pay attention to the positives in your life and in your work. It will give you enough and more energy to fix the negatives and surge ahead!' Otherwise, there is never a shortage of things you can dwell on that will drain the energy out of you."

I think that statement had, for me, unlocked the secret to her seemingly boundless energy - something I had often struggled to comprehend, given that she heads HR for an exceedingly complex organization, with a highly challenging business context and an aggressive transformation agenda. In such situations, things can and do go wrong on a daily basis. People can get on-edge, exasperated, exhausted as they push themselves to achieve what the organization needs. In such contexts, when you see an energized, enthusiastic and enabling leader, you have to wonder - "How does s/he do it?"

Well, this is how it's done. Even as you deal with the multitude of challenges, meltdowns and setbacks, you choose an alternative thought. You choose to remain aware of the success stories and draw inspiration from them. You choose to believe that in the face of all odds, you can recreate successes because you have the strengths and resources that made them possible. I believe that in such a state, the brain can focus on what David Rock, CEO of the Neuroleaderhsip Institute, calls the "Towards State" - which is the starting point of a journey towards positive change. 

For instance, I could very easily be daunted by the task of preparing a white paper on an HR topic that I have never dealt with in the past. In this state I could think of all the things that could possibly go wrong - e.g. Not knowing where to begin, going completely off track, making a fool of myself when I speak to people on this topic, blah blah blah! However, if in the middle of the misgivings, I take a moment to choose a different thought - that I have faced and won in similar challenges with different stakeholders in my previous roles, on topics which I had to learn from scratch - I start shifting to a different state of awareness. I become aware of strengths which enabled me to do something similar in the past and I acknowledge those strengths for the help they will give me in the present and future as well. 

Centuries ago, the saint Kabir composed this couplet:

Dukh mein sumiran sab kare, sukh mein kare na koi,

Jo sukh mein sumiran kare, to dukh kaahe ko hoi?

In sadness, everyone thinks of the Divine (praying for succor) but in happiness, nobody does.

If you can remember the Divine even when you are happy, what cause will you ever have to be sad?

Kabir's couplet comes to mind as I think of what my CHRO said. In the act of acknowledging the positives, being inspired by them and being grateful for their occurrence, we derive a precious source of energy and sustenance that helps us to persevere through our challenges and emerge from them, stronger, wiser and even more charged than before.

This approach isn't that of escapism, where we blot out the negatives and focus desperately on real or imagined positives. It is instead the approach of awareness, where one consciously balances inevitable awareness of the difficulties with an (easy-to-lose-track-of) awareness of strengths and successes. 

And that, my friends, is one of the many secrets to being an energised leader...

Enjoy the Sunrise!