Your Team Isn’t Superhuman: Sources of Sustainable Energy team collaboration

Working in an environment that values innovation is a blessing for those team collaboration with the Rebel spirit, but it’s easy to succumb to the pressure to perform at 100% effort all day, every day. It’s true that the innovation process can be unpredictable, and your team may be in a race against time to come up with the next game-changing idea. Going full-tilt does lead to some reliable results nearly every time, but not the ones you’re looking for—with no strategy to manage your energy and make time for recovery, sooner or later, you will run into exhaustion and burnout. Not exactly the kind of game-changing results you had in mind, are they? It’s more than just industry competition and a thirst for greatness that pushes Rebel innovators to the edge. Looking in the right places for problem-solving ideas means resisting the status quo and challenging yourself to sit with the uncomfortable. You have to fail consistently, and fail in the right direction, which takes an incredible amount of energy. And sticking with it long enough to differentiate your unique voice as a leader requires yet another kind of energy: the magnetism to attract the right supporters and sell your ideas. So where is this limitless energy supposed to come from? team collaboration

The Value of Recovery team collaboration

First, it’s critical to promote recovery time as a foundational part of your team culture. Check in with individual team members about their energy levels and encourage them to take time off when they need to. Also include recovery as a stage in your innovation cycle after periods of high performance: note that this doesn’t mean using rest as a reward for success. Recovery is just as important (if not more so) after you hit a wall. team collaboration It’s your role as a leader to monitor the energy of your team and call for rest and recovery before risking burnout. Now, a lot of my clients have pushed back to tell me this just isn’t possible: that the demands of the job are intense, and they fear that taking a break mid-project would have disastrous results. I understand where that fear is coming from, that the stakes are high and the work is demanding. But I always challenge these leaders to think about the talent on their team—and how much better they can perform when they are well-rested. Making the value of quality recovery time a part of your team culture truly starts at the top, with you, and it can be done. If you’ve tried to make that transition and need more support, it’s worth finding someone who can help.

Building Sustainable Energy

In addition to recovery time, you should also encourage your team to find healthy energy-building activities that work for them and walk the talk yourself. Red Bull-fueled all-nighters are not only not sustainable, but they also come with a wicked hackathon hangover. Don’t do that to your team! Caring for the project is not the same as caring for your people, and you need to do both—or your team may feel used for what they can deliver instead of fully supported. Any sense of camaraderie or trust you create will be canceled out with the physical toll of exhaustion, and there’s a good chance that even your toughest team members will leave you for less-demanding jobs after a few years. There’s no substitute for these three basic sources of healthy, sustainable energy:

1) Eating Healthy

Have you ever heard the expression “You can’t outrun your fork?” No matter what other lifestyle choices you make, the food and drinks you consume on a daily basis will affect your energy level and performance. Eat your fruits and vegetables, drink lots of water, and avoid fad diets—eat like you’re training to be elite! Remember that your body is brilliant and get in touch with what it’s telling you. If you want a next-level nutritional strategy, work with a dietician to create a plan that works for your body.

2) Exercise

If going to the gym is your bag, great! But anything that gets you moving counts as exercise: walking or biking to work, dancing one or two nights a week, bench pressing toddlers—you get the picture. Get outside and walk around the parking lot if that’s all that’s available to you, or put walking meetings on your calendar so you can enjoy the benefits of connection and exercise. And dogs are honestly great for getting you out of the house. Make it a point to get up and get your blood flowing a few different times a day.

3) Spiritual Connection

What makes you feel a sense of connection with yourself, your purpose, or a higher power? Oftentimes the best way to feel this type of connection is to spend time alone. For the faith-based, prayer is important. Yoga, deep breathing, and getting outside to enjoy nature are all fantastic ways to build some intentional moments of connection into your routine, and sitting and journaling around a specific question or prompt is another way to connect. (Take a look at my Successful Rebel journal for some awesome prompts!) If you take away nothing else from this article, I hope you will be mindful of what boosts and drains your energy as a leader and start looking for indicators that your team needs some time to recover. You also need to take a step toward wellness every day and talk about it or publicize it with your team. They may watch you for a long time before joining in, so it’s important to show consistency and the rewards of healthy living. The law of attraction applies: being exhausted attracts more exhaustion, but being vibrant will set the tone for your team and help other people be drawn to your ideas. As an organization, it pays to prioritize health and wellness so your team can do the things they enjoy now, and it may save some of your healthcare and benefits budget. Encourage healthy eating, exercise, and spiritual connection to support a culture of engagement and innovation! Because health and self-care are so critical for success, I’ve collaborated with a group of other experts to share our best tips and stories in a new anthology Break Free to Health & Vitality, which has quickly become a #1 International Bestseller. I’m confident one of these great authors will have a strategy that you can personally use. Subscribe to my email list for more info about the forthcoming collection and my chapter, “Using Rebel Success for Health & Vitality.”