Actionable Change That Gets Results: Creating an Energy-Restoring Company

Written by Dr. Andre Martin, Chief Culture Strategist at joyful

Highlights:

Five actions leaders can take today to create an energy-restoring company and deepen engagement:

Make purpose real – Regularly connect your team’s work to something bigger.
Focus where you have control – Help your team reclaim energy by letting go of what they can’t change.
Re-recruit your people – Engagement fades around day 90—build rituals to re-spark commitment.
Practice gratitude – A small, consistent habit that boosts mood, morale, and connection.
Make team leaders great – They influence over 25% of life satisfaction. Invest accordingly.

Why This Matters

Burnout isn’t just about workload, it’s about work that drains more than it gives. These five actions create momentum, meaning, and connection. They’re not fluff. They’re fuel.

Full Article: Actionable Change That Gets Results - Creating an Energy-Restoring Company

In today's workplace, we face a stark reality: 13.5 years of our adult lives will be spent at work, yet only 21% of employees report being fully engaged. The statistics are sobering - $9.1 trillion in lost productivity due to disengagement, 30% of new joiners have left a job within 90 days, and 53% of managers experiencing burnout. As someone who has served as Chief Talent & Culture Officer at companies such as Google, Target, Nike, and Mars, I've witnessed firsthand how the gap between what we hope for and what we experience at work continues to widen.

The fundamental problem isn't a lack of best practices or silver bullets - we have plenty of those. The issue is that opportunity is infinite, but human energy is not. If we increase energy, we can capture more opportunities. That's where joy comes in.

Joy at work isn't a mystical concept - it's practical, measurable, and achievable. Think about how writing with your dominant hand feels effortless, high-quality, and natural compared to using your non-dominant hand, which feels stressful, frustrating, and greatly reduces your performance. That's the difference between joyful work and energy-draining work.

The data confirms what we intuitively know, joy is highly impacted by our relationships in and out of work. The team at McKinsey helped us understand that a person’s manager is a critical factor in their overall joy in life, accounting for over 25% of that person’s life satisfaction. When BCG surveyed 11,000 employees, they found that emotional needs rise to the top at the moment of career choice, meaning we will stay or go depending on how much we like, trust, and are inspired by our co-workers. While functional benefits such as compensation matter initially, what keeps people engaged are feelings of respect and security, as well as performing meaningful work.

What's fascinating is that the most significant drivers of joy at work are purpose and teaming. People want to feel committed to achieving their company's vision and believe they're making a positive and meaningful contribution.

They also need to experience strong bonds within their team, celebrate shared successes, and have their talents utilized effectively.

The Path to Creating Energy-Restoring Companies

The solution is two-fold: First, we must help employees navigate stress by making our systems "real" and "restoring." Burnout isn't simply from having too much on our plates; it results from workplaces that fail to build work principles, practices, and platforms that naturally restore energy. The goal is to create what Susan Kobasa, a professor at the University of Chicago, calls “stress hardy” organizations: workplaces where employees feel connected to purpose, have influence over their circumstances, and can see change as an opportunity not a threat.

Second, we must make life the greatest classroom on earth, where employees make the most of every moment. We need to study the "masters of craft" and how they achieved excellence, not through traditional training alone but through exploration, experimentation, immersion, and practice.

Five Actions Leaders Can Take Today

Make purpose real and recurring: Connect your team to your purpose, help them find meaningful work, and build deep connections to customers. As Dean Carter from Patagonia asked, "Would your talent say they get more than they give to your company? If not, why not?"
Focus on what you can control: The path to restoring energy comes through an unwavering focus on what's within your control, rather than wasting energy on what you can merely influence or must accept.
Shorten the cycle of re-recruitment: Create regular touchpoints to re-engage your team, addressing the natural dips in engagement, commitment, and inspiration that occur over time. The human mind loses commitment around 90 days. At minimum, bring them together quarterly to check on progress and reignite their passion for the goals they’ve set for themselves.
Harness the power of intention: Implement a gratitude practice in your team. Research shows this simple habit produces demonstrable increases in happiness over months of practice.
Make your team leaders great: Engagement and life satisfaction of your employees rests on the shoulders of their team leader. Make them great and they will help your company thrive and grow.

Remember, culture isn't mysterious - it's simply the output of our collective behaviors. By focusing on these practical steps, we can create workplaces that restore rather than deplete energy, allowing us to capture the infinite opportunities before us.

About Dr. Andre Martin:

Dr. André Martin is an organizational psychologist and the author of the book “Wrong Fit, Right Fit - Why How We Work Matters More Than Ever”. He has spent nearly 20 years as the Chief Learning Officer or Chief Talent Officer of iconic brands such as Mars Incorporated, Nike, Google, and Target.

Now, acting as Culture Strategist in Residence at Joyful.co, André continues to counsel c-suite leaders and founders on diverse topics such as executive development and succession planning, high performance teams, employee engagement, culture building, and the future of work. When André isn't working to pay for his kids' college education, he can be found with his wife and two English labs (Bode and the Fonz) on the rain-soaked trails around Portland, Oregon.

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