Unplugged: How Organizations Lose Their Energy and How to Get It Back

This book begins with a question: What takes the human energy out of an organization and how to get it back? Unplugged is about understanding what happens to employees when they lose their way amidst change, when they become unplugged from purpose, connection, direction, meaning, and value. When they, in a word, lose their energy. The book provides a fresh look at engagement as a choice employees make based on how they perceive the change and on how much discretionary energy they will give to the endeavor. Various factors contribute to employees unplugging. They include experiencing change as loss, repetitive change leading to fatigue and/or apathy, becoming overwhelmed because of additional workload, low work satisfaction, and feeling poorly led. Unplugged is also about how to restore this lost energy. The key to doing so resides with the leaders throughout the organization. Regardless of the type of change occurring, leaders need to understand the critical role that they play. In our