Hello and welcome to another episode of the Working Conversations podcast where we talk all things leadership, business communication, and trends in organizational life. I'm your host, Dr Janel Anderson.

Imagine a world where the buzz of human interaction powers our workspaces much like the energy captured in the Movie Monsters, Inc. In the film, monsters harness scream energy to fuel their city, only to later discover the superior power of laugh energy.

Similarly, as we return to the office, we're rediscovering an almost electric energy that thrives when people come together. It's not just the hum of conversation or the clutter of keyboards, it's something more, something intangible, but undeniably powerful.

Today, we're diving into this concept of human energy in the workplace, exploring how our shared presence might just be the secret fuel driving creativity, collaboration and innovation. And innovation now right out of the gate, I know there are some people who are going to disagree with me. There are a host of reasons that people want to continue working from home. They save money on commuting, they save money on clothes and shoes. They save money on lunches and snacks and even on childcare. They argue they can collaborate easily from home, which I don't disagree with.

They also argue that there's better life work balance. Now I don't disagree with that either. Maybe they've moved to another city or another state or even a different country, and now it is beyond an inconvenience to return to the office. Those are all excellent reasons to work from home. They're all valid, but today I want to offer a counterpoint.

Now this is grounded in a couple of keynotes I did recently. One of them was a keynote for 350 people in a huge hotel ballroom, another on site in an office building for 60 people. Now, for the most part, all the people in both organizations work, mostly from home, coming into the office one to two days, either a week or a month.

Now these folks really, really gave off a lot of energy in both cases, so the energy in the room was so palpable, and in the wake of both of these events, I could clearly see the benefits of being together. Now it doesn't have to be all day every day. It can be just like these groups who are largely work from home, organizations just coming together once a quarter, maybe even once a year.

Now, it was the human energy that emerged from their interactions in the same space that prompted me to think about how different it is when people come together in that same physical space. It's not possible. The energy that I felt in the room is not possible on teams, on Zoom, on WebEx, on any of the interaction platforms. The energy that was in the room was different. And I was immediately reminded of that 2001 Pixar Movie Monsters, Inc, and the scream energy that was bottled up in those canisters when the monsters went into children's bedrooms and screamed.

Now, as you may recall, laugh energy was then discovered to be 10 times more potent than scream energy, and it was that energy worthy for some it might have felt like Scream energy, but I think it was really the laugh energy in the room, the human energy. And I want to just offer you my definition of human energy, because I've been thinking about this ever since giving both of these keynotes, and they were spaced a few weeks apart.  

But human energy in the workplace refers to the collective emotional, psychological and physical vitality that emerges from people when they interact, when they collaborate, when they engage in a shared physical space. It's the palpable buzz that powers creativity and fosters innovation and really sustains motivation. And again, we can't get that. We don't get that from teams and zoom and WebEx, no matter how pro we are as users of those platforms, no matter how much we have our cameras on, we just don't get the same human energy.

So when I talk about human energy in the workplace, I'm referring to the collective emotional, psychological and physical vitality that arises only when people come together in a shared space. It's an idea that draws on concepts like emotional contagion, the way our moods and energy levels can influence one another. It comes from social facilitation, where our performance can be enhanced simply by being around other people.

Now this energy isn't just a metaphor, it is a real, tangible force that powers our creativity, again, fosters collaboration and sustains our motivation. So let's look at a couple of the factors that are encased in this sense of human energy in the workplace.

First I mentioned emotional contagion. So emotional contagion, this is based on our mirror neurons. So the mirror neurons in our brains pick up on the mirror neurons of others, and we, in fact, just like the label suggests, we mirror or we do the same as those who are around us. So the idea that emotions and energy levels can be transferred from one person to the next, particularly in close proximity, is what we're talking about when we talk about mirror neurons and emotional contagion.

So this concept supports the idea that human energy in the workplace is influenced and magnified by the presence and the emotions of others. Now, you know emotional energy and emotional contagion when somebody is in a bad mood and can really tank the mood of a whole team, but the opposite is true when we come together, and it's in fact, when we come together, and we're not used to coming together, that emotional contagion can really pick up and elevate the mood and the energy of the people in the room.

And this is so much what I was seeing when I was with the group of 350 and when I was with the group of 60, the emotional contagion. People were so excited to see one another. The emotional contagion in the room was absolutely felt. Now, social facilitation is a theory that suggests that people perform differently and in fact, often better when they are in the presence of others.

So there is a performative aspect to our work, and when we are performing in isolation, it's different than when we are performing in front of a crowd. Now I'm recording this just a few days after the Olympic Games have ended. The 2024 Olympic Games have ended, and I heard lots of comparisons to the 2024 Olympic Games and where there were stadiums full of people, like 1000s upon 1000s of people cheering on the performers, compared to the previous Olympics, which was postponed due to covid, and then at an extremely limited audience.

And the energy the athletes explained, the energy was just so different in that earlier Olympics, when there wasn't a crowd. So social facilitation is a little bit of that there is a performative aspect to our work, and we perform differently and often better when we are in the presence of others. Now, again, this could be tied to the idea that human energy is amplified when we are physically together. It could be that we perform differently and better when we are together.

Now, a third piece of this is something that's a little bit more esoteric. It's called collective effervescence, and this is a term coined by sociologist Emily Durkheim, referring to the energy and the harmony that people feel when they come together in a group, especially during shared rituals or activities. And quite frankly, the Monday morning meeting is a shared ritual or activity.

Now, again, I'm not necessarily advocating that everybody needs to be back in the office all the time, but that collective effervescence will definitely bubble up when people come together for an event or for an occasion to be at work together. So while this term originates in sociology and Religious Studies, it really is applicable to describing the energy in the workplace, because it was nothing short of effervescent to have these people in the room, and in fact, I wish I had the canisters from Monsters Inc. I would love to have bottled up that human energy in those audiences, to use in the times when I'm sitting home alone in my home office, doing my work.

All right now, again, I fully recognize that it may not be practical for your organization to come together on a regular basis, but take a page from these two organizations that I recently worked with, if you are not able or it just isn't the style of work that your organization is doing to bring people together on a daily basis, then do an event the research on virtual teams dating back to the 1990s when I was doing my dissertation research.

And again, that dissertation was published on virtual team communication in 2001 so the research studies came from the 1990s and way back then, again, this is like decades pre covid research way back then showed that virtual teams who kicked off a project together at an in person meeting had far better outcomes in terms of finishing the project on budget, on time, and with a high level of integrity and quality.

So when those teams who were scattered all in some cases, all across the world, in multinational companies, when they started off their virtual projects by having the main folks in those projects come together for a day or two days to really experience one another, and again, they would have that collective effervescence. They would have that social facilitation, that performative aspect, and certainly emotional contagion would be present in those meetings as well.

So when they came together for even one or two days to kick off that project again, the outcomes, the business outcomes, were so much better. So take a page from their book. Just bring people together quarterly or annually for an event and make it special. Do some things to really jazz it up and make people excited to be there.

Now, I fully believe that technological advances are going to continue to change the game. So now I'm saying you need to bring people together to get these benefits, to get that human energy. Now if we take a peek down the road, if I look into my technology crystal ball and look to see how technology might help bridge the gap between remote and in office energy, I definitely think we are going to see more powerful examples of technology come about that are going to bring together our energy and create more almost 3d in a virtual environment, types of ways for us to feel some of that effervescence and some of that social contagion and some of that facilitation, social facilitation, or performative aspect.

So I do think it's coming, but it's going to be a while, and in the mean time, really, really think about putting together some events so that your people can really get the opportunity to connect and be together.

Now, are there tools and methods that can replicate some of the benefits of physical presence? Of course, it's about getting the work done. We have proven that out over the last four years, absolutely we can get the work done, but it's that human energy that I want to bring back. I'm so excited about that human energy.

It's the difference between me doing a keynote, a virtual keynote from my home office, much like recording this podcast. I'm not going to get the immediate energy, even when people do have their cameras on. It is different from being in the same room with people.

All right, now we can also look at some of the long term trends and predict how best balance between remote and in office work might evolve. And again, as I mentioned on the podcast a couple of weeks ago, you're going to hear me talking more and more about that as the rest of the year unfold, and what that's going to mean for the future of human energy in the workplace.

I just cannot get over the importance of that human energy. Again, it is so palpable, it is so meaningful, and it connects us together in ways that just technology, at this particular point in time cannot again, we are going to see explosive amounts of growth in technology and in helping us find ways to bridge the divide that the technology currently creates so that we can have some of that, or I should say, more of that human energy in our work, from home and virtual working environments.

Now, as we navigate this evolving landscape of work, it is clear that the energy that we generate, whether in the office or remotely, is a powerful resource that can drive creativity and collaboration and overall well being. But like any resource that needs to be managed with intention, human energy isn't just about being in the same room. It's about creating an environment where people really, truly feel connected to one another, they feel supported by each other, and they feel inspired and engaged no matter where they are.

So as you move forward in your own work journey, I encourage you to think about how you can consciously cultivate and harness this energy, whether that's over the zoom or the WebEx or the team's calls, or on those perhaps more rare occasions when you are in person together, when you're returning to the office or state, whether you're returning to the office or staying remote, remember that the real power lies in how we choose to engage with one another. Foster that laugh energy that not only fuels our work, but makes it truly meaningful.

Remember, my friends, the future of work is not only about the technology, it's about the values we uphold, the communities we build and the sustainable growth we all strive for. We need to keep exploring, keep innovating, and keep envisioning the remarkable possibilities that lie ahead as always, stay curious, stay informed and stay ahead of the curve.

Tune in next week for another insightful exploration of the trends shaping our professional world. If you learned something on this podcast, or you simply enjoy the content, please subscribe to my channel on YouTube, subscribe to the podcast on your podcast platform of choice and follow me on social media. These are all excellent, no cost ways for you to support me and my work over on YouTube.

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