Fully Charged – Book Review

Of the many books on leadership and people management, Heike Bruch and Bernd Vogel have focused on the energy management in an organization to be an essential factor for their productivity. Through Fully Charged, they have suggested that leadership is a key element in bringing out the best of an organization. The book is a work of extensive research on practices related to energy management for retaining exceptional performance followed in various top-notch organizations such as ABB, Alstom, Hilti, Lufthansa, Unaxis and Tata Steel.

The lively and eloquent narrative of the book sketches the applicable version of the vast leadership and productivity-enhancing ideologies. The authors have devised an energy matrix to measure the organizational energy state and how to cure it if it bends towards the lower side of the graph. As both the high and the low states cannot singly define the complete state of an organization and they mutually exist in the corporate symbiosis, hence it is highly important for organizations to become more observant on where they stand. The book says that the organizational energy state dwells on the two dimensions that define organizational energy: Intensity and quality.

The book explains that the constantly ebbing state of energy in a company applies to all the teams and departments equally and is a vital tool for leaders at every level. It brings forth the ideas and the practices that are workable and have been mastered by many giant organizations to enhance their productive energy to higher levels.

Fully Charged addresses issues like ‘what comprises of components of organizational energy (OE)’ and ‘how to accurately and consistently measure organizational energy’ through its chapters. The authors go forth to recommend a seven-step process on doing the same. The authors have suggested simple yet practical tools to shift an organization out of unproductive energy states and into more positive ones with high mental awareness and passion towards their work. The book has put light on helping leaders to vanquish the energy traps floating across teams in a company.

To slay the dragon and win the princess, every organization needs to push the energy levels of its management or the leaders. Based on extensive research, the authors have focused that an energetic leader can bring in much more laurels for a team or an organization as compared to a complacent one. Unlike various leadership books, Fully Charged highlights that positive energy multiplies quickly and its infusion into every individual through their leaders does magic.

The book provides a guide for organizations looking forward to becoming more productive in terms of the energy-efficiency. The book has suggested highly simplified means to measure the quality of energy in an enterprise or organization. Packed with practical ideas, this book helps organizations to shift themselves to the Fully Charged zone of high productive energy.