Measurement of Human Energy

Positive or Negative Energy?

The renowned French philosopher, René Descartes, tried to convince the world that a “thing” only existed if it were easy for our senses to recognise it.  “If you can’t taste it, touch it, smell it, hear it or see it – it doesn’t exist”.

As a small boy my father told me about different forms of fuel – coal, oil, solar energy and electricity – and the energy they provide.  “You can’t always see energy,” he told me, “but you certainly can feel its impact.  Just put your fingers into a live electrical socket and you will think a giraffe kicked you”.  Any electrician today can measure electrical energy.

As young executives at S A Breweries we were involved in a search to define a perfect beer – to measure something that was intangible and subjective.  It was a real challenge but eventually we could define, describe and measure what had previously been personal opinion.  We were able to classify beer to grade, and measure good from bad.

Confidently measuring human energy seems to be just as elusive.  We all know it when we experience it – we know how our energy affects us and we know how the energy of others affects us too.  We may not be as “energy aware” as children are, but when we stop and think we can almost see energy around us – negative and positive.

But until now we haven’t been able to measure either.

In businesses and large enterprises, human resource departments use an array of measuring devices to measure productivity, absenteeism, labour and management turnover, safety, attitudes, morale, creativity, punctuality, competence, ability and skills.  They have created awareness of race, gender and harassment issues.  They are monitoring HIV/Aids.

Managers need tools to measure everything, including human energy.  In small teams we feel energy better but we can’t measure it.  Marriages fail because partners don’t face up to negative energy flows between them.

But these are only symptoms – the real cause is positive or negative human energy.  High-energy people create high performance teams – people with negative energy undermine them.  True leaders instinctively create high-energy teams with high-energy outcomes.

So, we have developed and tested a simple set of tools to measure human energy – at the personal level, in relationships, and at leadership and organisational levels.  The clear pictures that emerge suggest obvious action and priority.

Understanding energy and then creating high sustainable levels of positive energy is what fascinates us.  It’s what we do best.