Are your lights out?

I was sitting outside the other night, when the lights on the patio went out. Sitting there in the cool darkness – I remembered a similar experience from over 20 years ago.

I was working, at the time, for a Fortune 100 company.
I had been scheduled to make a presentation to a group of executives. But, they weren’t quite ready for me, so I was sitting in the meeting just waiting.

It was one of those meeting rooms with no windows.
The grey carpeting extended, for some unknown reason, halfway up the walls. The room was dull. The meeting was duller.
As I sat there waiting, the meeting room was plunged into darkness.

It wasn’t a power failure.
Here’s what happened: the company had installed motion-sensitive lights in all the conference rooms to save money on utility bills. This meant that the lights would go off automatically when there was no movement in the room.

In this meeting, peoples’ physical movement had ceased to the degree that the sensors assumed nobody was in the room. And so the lights went out.
In a real sense, no one was present. (I certainly wasn’t.)

There were bodies in the chairs.
But, those bodies were so inanimate as to be undetectable by the sensors. If movement is a sign of life, then this meeting was verging on lifeless.
There was a stunned moment of silence as we plunged into darkness. And then someone, ironically, said, “No one move. We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

One person felt his way to the door; opened it and let in some light.
As the meeting resumed, people looked up at the sensors and then at each other.
“I guess, we need to liven it up?” the leader joked.

Where have the lights gone out in your organization?
Where are the lights flickering out on your team? Or, more personally, in your own work?
Because even though people are going to meetings and nudging projects forward, they may be operating with their internal dimmer switched dialed down.

As my friend Lucy Freeman says, “The body’s the last thing to leave.”
Long before people stand up and physically leave the organization – they may have switched their lights off. And when their lights are off – their capacity to innovate, collaborate, and achieve is off as well.

Turning the lights back on – and keeping them lit – is essential leadership work.
But, here’s the rub. No one can do this for you. Bosses and team members can provide an environment that makes it more likely that you’ll choose to get engaged (i.e. switch on the light.) But, the only person with a finger on the light switch is you.

Do you know where your light switch is?
Do you know what kind of work energizes you? Which of your many skills are the ones that are your true gifts?
Do you have a clear sense of the contribution you most want to make through your work?
Answering these questions helps you locate the light switch. But, you still have to turn it on. And when you do . . . you’ll have a whole bucket load of new joys and challenges. But, at least you’ll be able to see them clearly.

Questions for Reflection & Action:
•    Where, in your work, have you lost interest, enthusiasm, and energy?
•    What kind of work energizes you?
•    Which of your many skills are the ones that are your true gifts?
•    What is the contribution you most want to make through your work?
•    What’s a small but significant way you can energize your work today?

This post is adapted from my book:
You are the Leader You’ve Been Waiting For