The Office Vampire

You are sitting at your desk preparing your monthly report and you hear that lovely “ding” when you have a new email. You open your Inbox and see a meeting request and the endorphins you brain was producing turn to cortisol as your interest and excitement shift to anxiety. You’ve just received a meeting request from the office vampire!

We all know the person, they are the energy and life suckers in the office. When you leave their presence you feel drained, exhausted and your sense of self is in tatters. Sadly, many of these people hold management and even leadership positions.

How can you tell if you are an office vampire? Let’s be honest, deep down you already know if you are a vampire or not.

Ok, so you’re a vampire, that sucks (I couldn’t resist!) but you can become an energy giver with one simple technique. Next time you are meeting with someone think of a bucket…

A bucket?! Yup, a bucket. Think of the bucket as a persons life force, self esteem or motivation. When you run into them the bucket will look like above, some holes and some patches. When you interact with people your words, tone of voice, volume and body language is creating either holes or patches in their bucket.

This doesn’t mean you can’t give constructive feedback or you must be positive all the time, just know when you are insensitive about constructive feedback you are creating a hole. However, when you give someone feedback from a place of trust and a desire to help them get better you are building a patch.

The fact is everyone is entrusted with buckets all the time, not just manager and leaders.

Next time you meet with someone think about their bucket and the impact you are having on it’s contents. When they leave is their confidence pouring out all over the floor or are they brimming with self esteem? Be a patch builder!