In the Classroom

The "CEO Workout": Managing Energy and Building Resilience

The current business environment provides rich soil for extraordinary growth, according to Jim Loehr, author of The Power of Full Engagement and co-founder of the Human Performance Institute. With the right mindset, executives can use the challenges of an especially tough economy to become stronger leaders of more resilient organizations.

Loehr is a lead presenter in Wharton’s new five-day program Leading a Resilient Organization: Achieving Results During Challenging Times. The program provides frameworks and action plans for building strength, flexibility, and productivity at three levels: individual, team, and organization. Participants develop actionable practices they can apply immediately to successfully navigate change, recover quickly from setbacks, and continually redirect energy and resources into actions that achieve results.

Beyond Concepts: Taking Action

Joe Ryan, academic director of Leading a Resilient Organization, is excited about Loehr’s participation because he teaches actions rather than concepts. Loehr is unsurpassed, says Ryan, in helping individuals to increase their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual energy — and to focus that energy on achieving results. “The program is designed to be an ‘application laboratory.’ It’s not about business strategy or concepts, but performance strategy and action. We move beyond smart talk to smart action,” says Ryan, noting that Loehr’s performance training pinpoints specific ways to activate and focus a workforce.

“In this difficult business environment, to be resilient means to be realistic while retaining optimism. The program will focus first on developing that mindset. Then, we’ll move on to building the necessary skills to bring this mindset to the team and to the entire organization,” says Ryan.

Creating Energy

Fortune Magazine called Jim Loehr’s performance training a “CEO Workout.” It first acknowledges the fact that, if you’re not physically prepared, you’re not ready to lead effectively. “The biggest single enemy in battle, whether it’s in a war zone, on a tennis court, or in a boardroom, is fatigue,” Loehr says. “When you run out of mental and physical energy, you’re not fully engaged. People tend to make bad choices during stressful times. They eat too much of the wrong foods, work long sedentary hours, and get by on little sleep. That means the quality and quantity of energy available to endure the storm, the stressful environment, is compromised.”

A performance psychologist who has worked for the last three decades with anti-terrorist military units, surgical teams, and athletes, Loehr developed performance techniques that reduce stress through energy management. “The lessons we learned working with people in those high-stress venues have direct application in business. They’re very practical, and can substantially change the way executives function.”

Where there’s a lack of energy, there’s a loss of focus. And that loss, whether it’s on the battlefield, at the hospital, or in the C-suite, can lead to error. “The enemy of extraordinary is multi-tasking. It means there’s no focus. During a storm, putting out small fires without seeing the big picture wastes time and energy. When you have 15 balls in the air, 14 of them at any given time are in freefall.”

An Integrated Approach

Loehr addresses the development of executive resiliency both internally and externally. Program participants will look inward for a sense of purpose and focus that can then be applied to the mission of the organization. The four-level process includes:

• Determining the focus. What problem is preventing the organization from optimal achievement? Participants will answer some critical questions: What is my best self? Who do I want to be in this crisis? Once the crisis has subsided, what will I be most proud of? Their answers will provide focus on a specific sense of purpose.
  
  
• Defining the story. Executives will examine what they are telling themselves, their staff, and the public about the organization in the current environment. A powerful story, told in positive language, motivates both leaders and employees to become more fully engaged and expands the capacity of the organization.
  
  
• Creating the script. Based on the story, the script will be used as a self-coaching tool, building a way of thinking about and expressing what is happening. It provides the language for talking both internally and publicly about the organization in a way that garners the responses needed from employees, the board, and the stockholders.
  
  
• Devising rituals. To turn the story into a living, dynamic reality and supporting it within the organization requires new ways of doing business. Rituals are practical methods for dealing with storms, and include changing how meetings are run and revising internal communications.

Data-Driven Success

Although the approach may seem unorthodox, Loehr stresses that real change only comes from discomfort. “If you’re in your comfort zone, there’s no perceived need to do things differently.” Research at the Human Performance Institute shows that Loehr’s techniques are delivering startling success rates in a broad range of Fortune 100 companies. “Our clients leave with a 90-day training mission to create the change they want to make. As data are tracked, we’ve found that 85 percent report complete success in correcting the area of stress after the training. Clients are more resilient and able to perform at higher levels.”

Energy Fuels Results

Building on the individual energy generated from Loehr’s techniques, Leading a Resilient Organization goes on to provide proven practices for using this energy to improve performance and accelerate results for teams and entire organizations. Participants leave with a clear road map and a 100-day Action Plan they create during the program. This strategic approach eliminates the trial-and-error experimentation that slows organizations down — or sets them back — during challenging times when performance matters most.

• Leading a Resilient Organization: Achieving Results During Challenging Times
• Human Performance Institute