Cover image: © ISchneider/iStockphoto
Cover design: Michael J. Freeland
Copyright © 2018 by Jon Gordon. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Gordon, Jon, 1971- author. | Kelly, Amy, author.
Title: The energy bus field guide / Jon Gordon, with Amy Kelly.
Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2018] | Identifiers: LCCN 2017044988 (print) | LCCN 2017049994 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119412465 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119412489 (epub) | ISBN 9781119412458 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Teams in the workplace—Management. | Employee motivation. | Motivation (Psychology) | Positive psychology. | Success.
Classification: LCC HD66 (ebook) | LCC HD66 .G67155 2018 (print) | DDC 658.4/022—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017044988
I know from personal experience that taking a ride on the Energy Bus can change the entire course of your life, and on some level, you already believe that too. You made a decision to experience the benefits of positive energy in your life through the rules in the Energy Bus book, and this field guide will help build upon that experience.
I wrote The Energy Bus to help you take action toward more positive outcomes for your life, work, and team. This field guide complements the book by providing additional resource materials, specific practical guidance, and workbook-style content that further enables you to implement the 10 rules in The Energy Bus in your life, team, and organization.
From the moment The Energy Bus was published, readers have been clamoring for more information on how to implement the ideas outlined in the book. I have been writing newsletters, speaking all over the world, creating training materials, and answering personal emails in a continuous effort to provide support to individuals, teams, and organizations working with the book and seeing remarkable, positive results. When asking one of the leaders that implemented the program so successfully at her organization about the process for her success, she said, “Based on my experience in learning and development, I knew reading the book alone wouldn't cut it. We had to live it somehow to get it to work.” This comment started my thinking about other ways to help the individuals that wanted to make the rules in the book come alive in their personal life and work.
As supplemental materials for the book continued to grow exponentially and become more diverse, I realized it would be helpful to pull them all together into one comprehensive tool. I wanted to create a one-stop shop for you to begin your own Energy Bus journey.
This field guide is designed to help anyone interested in turning the 10 rules in The Energy Bus into reality in their day-to-day life. It is for anyone who wants to live and work with more vision, optimism, passion, and purpose. It is for executives, managers, coaches, teachers, parents, volunteers, community leaders, church leaders, healthcare professionals, trainers, facilitators, team builders, and students.
If you want to flourish personally and to help others around you do the same, this field guide will help you maximize every part of the journey through vivid individual and group activities that link back to one of the 10 rules in the book. I call them the “Ten Rules for the Ride of Your Life.”
Like The Energy Bus, this field guide follows a simple, powerful approach as well. It is a practical guide to support you in implementing the principles in the book. Each chapter presents information to help make the rules come alive in a logical order that mirrors the book. I designed this field guide to help you do three things:
This field guide is my gift to you. It is a summary of everything I have seen and learned thus far about how to successfully implement the Energy Bus in your life, your team, and your organization. There is not one specific way to do this. The exciting thing about The Energy Bus is how people have used so many creative approaches to make positive changes—and knowing there are more to come.
As you work through this process, feel free to implement your own creative ideas. You may want to use this field guide for just your own life. Or you may decide to invite your team on the bus. Or, like many others, you may decide to create an Energy Bus program in your organization. I've worked to pull together materials that can help you build the road map for whatever journey you want to take and, as the driver, you decide what kind of ride it's going to be.
I look forward to hearing about your story and the things you do to implement The Energy Bus. If you decide to share it with your team and organization, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at info@JonGordon.com. Who knows, your story may be in the next addition of the field guide. As you embark on this journey, please know I am sending positive energy your way.
Positive Energy is an undeniably powerful asset as well as a vital personal and organizational resource. It has fueled many successful people and organizations, and those who see positive energy in action recognize it and usually want to be a part of it.
I have witnessed it personally through my work with The Energy Bus, and I am certain you have experienced it too. Let's face it: You need energy to accomplish any activity. Teams and organizations need energy to accomplish their goals. And most people agree that where there is positive energy, productivity is higher, teamwork is improved, and joy fills the process.
If you have ever been around someone who is negative, you know it. You know, the guy that complains and never has anything good to say about anyone, or that individual with the huge scowl on her face who rolls her eyes at anyone's ideas. You don't want to be around those people. You want to be around positive energy and generally recoil from the negative. And guess what? You are not alone. Positive energy is a commodity in high demand, and this field guide is a road map on how to create it in abundance to fuel personal, team, and organizational success.
More and more research shows that you either draw positive or negative energy from the people you interact with daily, and that energy can either fuel success or contribute to personal or organizational decline. Most people do not want to be negative, and many proven health and organizational benefits emerge when individuals focus on positive energy. Some of the health benefits linked to positive energy include: a longer life span, lower stress, lower rates of depression, increased resistance to the common cold, better stress management and coping skills, lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related death, increased physical well-being, and better psychological health. All these things are beneficial to you, your family, and your teams. In addition, organizations and teams with positive energy have been linked to increased engagement, morale, productivity, and, ultimately, increased revenue and profitability. Positivity is also present in organizations with lower attrition and absenteeism. These organizations are also known to have more fun. I've seen it all over the world. People want more positive energy and the proven benefits that come with it.
Productivity has been shown to skyrocket in an atmosphere of positivity. This is true for individuals and groups. Remember that wherever you go, there you are. You have to be around yourself all the time, and people that complain or focus on the negative are generally people that say they are depressed or unhappy. If there is positive energy at home or at work, chances are you feel more engagement, more joy, and more overall well-being. Higher engagement and well-being generally translates into higher performance, and that is what you want personally and professionally. For all these reasons and many more, I created this field guide to help you bring positive energy into your personal life and organization through the rules in The Energy Bus.
Positive energy is the best preparation for any skepticism, and skepticism can actually lead to the perfect environment for making a difference. Even though we know positive energy makes a difference, some individuals, CEOs, and coaches I have spoken with say their first introduction to a “book about a bus” was not embraced immediately. Even with all the research and many practical examples in most people's lives, you can still encounter skepticism about positive energy. Some people are unsure about The Energy Bus being a credible answer to improving their team or organization.
However, the positive results speak for themselves. Many of the individuals who tell me these exciting turnaround stories are featured in this field guide or in my talks related to the amazing changes and results in their lives, teams, and companies. It is hard to argue with the research that supports positivity, and most importantly, the many success stories people have shared with me. The mounting examples of changed lives and the overwhelming positive momentum for the book speak for themselves.
Bringing more positive energy into the world is my personal mission, and this field guide is a reference tool to take the proven benefits of positive energy to others. Rule #3 in The Energy Bus is to “Fuel Your Ride with Positive Energy,” and this field guide helps you take the proven power of positive energy directly into your personal life, team, and organization to get the same results.
