A Fresh Start
Every new year—and every new season—offers the illusion of a fresh start. A chance to reset, refocus, and move forward. But in a world that continues to be unpredictable, many of us still feel stuck in a cycle of exhaustion, uncertainty, and false starts.
For leaders, this presents a challenge. We’re expected to inspire, energize, and move teams toward results, even when we ourselves may feel drained. Leadership isn’t just about strategy and execution; it’s about managing energy, both our own and our team’s.
Behavioral scientist Katy Milkman, author of How to Change, notes that a clearly defined fresh start can boost our motivation and help us pursue important goals. But what happens when that fresh start feels like it never fully arrives?
That’s where our role as leaders becomes crucial. We may not control external uncertainty, but we can influence the energy we bring into our teams.
Be the Energy Source
Re-energizing a team doesn’t come from pushing harder—it starts with us. We set the tone. When we show up with warmth, enthusiasm, empathy, and optimism, we create a ripple effect that inspires others.
Business psychologist Dr. Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg, in her Harvard Business Review article How to Help Your Team Get Out of a Lull, argues that managing team energy should be just as intentional as managing performance. Instead of defaulting to task lists and status updates, we should focus on generating “energy ripples” in every interaction.
So, how do we do that? Here are four ways to bring energy back into your leadership—and your team.
1. Put on your oxygen mask first
How is your energy? It’s hard to bring energy to your team if yours is depleted. If we want to be helpful to others, we need to ‘protect the asset’, as author Greg McKeown says in his book Essentialism. And we are the asset. Recently, we asked several leaders how they were taking care of themselves and managing their energy. Their responses ran the gamut from regular exercise, meditation, eating well and sleep routines, to taking regular breaks, ruthlessly prioritizing, connecting with others, and taking long-overdue vacation days.
2. Be vulnerable and compassionate
If ever there was a time for leaders to tap into their humanity, vulnerability, compassion, humility, and power up our capacity to lead with empathy, this is it. While the work/task conversations have their place, we need to be concerned about the whole person. If we really want to know how people are doing, where they are struggling and how we can help, we need to first be vulnerable and honest about how we are feeling and where we are struggling. This openness makes it safe for people to be vulnerable back. We also need to show people we care, listen more and reduce their anxiety by authentically recognizing their efforts and contributions to the team.
3. Be clear on the priority
Often exhaustion and burnout come from trying to do too many things at once. It’s overwhelming and anxiety provoking. A leaders role is to help team members prioritize so they can focus their energy on the most important work. By definition, the word priority is singular. It comes from the word prior, which means to come before something else. So when we have many priorities, we are simply not prioritizing. A clear priority and single-tasking (as opposed to multi-tasking) harvests back energy and gives people a sense of accomplishment before moving on to the next priority.
4. Plan for renewal
Research shows that anticipation is such a strong feeling that people are happier in the anticipation of a holiday than in remembering the actual experience. I know this is true for me because when it comes to travel, having a trip on the horizon is completely energizing! So, let’s not waste what the new year offers, a fresh start and renewal for you and your team. What can you do to create anticipation for your team?
- Start with the end in mind. As you kick off a project, envision a successful outcome. What does it feel like? Who are you impacting? What are you learning?
- Facilitate a conversation for what the new year holds for everyone and where they want to grow and learn.
- As a team, start to plan an in-person team building activity for when you can connect come together (when it’s safe to do so).
- Some of our clients are starting the year by investing in a team session on Self-Leadership as a way of setting the tone for the coming year.
The encouragement is to use the start of a new year to reset, plan, envision, and dream a little.
Re-energizing a team in time of turmoil and unpredictability is no easy feat. It takes resolve, resilience and perseverance. And as leaders, we have raging agency to set the tone and be energy source our teams are needing right now. To do that, we need to ensure our tanks are as full as possible, and be intentional and mindful about the energy we are bringing to all our conversations and interactions with the team.
What can you put in place to manage your energy?
What conversations do you need to have as a team to restore energy?
What is your team’s renewal plan to bring energy into this year?
