What Is Relational Energy?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\nEnergy is an important individual resource. Personal energy<\/a> can be conceptualized as physical energy (the objective energy that powers our body and comes from food, exercise, and sleep) and emotional energy (the subjective, affect-based energy related to emotional activation). Relational energy<\/a> isn\u2019t a third type; instead it represents the idea that social interactions are a source<\/em> of positive or negative emotional energy. In essence, relational energy is the energy you get from others at work \u2014 it can boost your motivation and help you get more done or deplete you and negatively impact your work.<\/strong><\/p>\nPast research<\/a> shows that relational energy has an impact even after taking into account workplace social support and the quality of the relationship between a leader and team member. Prior work<\/a> shows that positive relational energy with leaders is related to higher job engagement and better job performance. In workplace social networks research<\/a>, de-energizing relational ties are related to reduced thriving, lower motivation, and increased turnover.<\/p>\nRelational Energy: What It\u2019s Not<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\nLet\u2019s clarify 2 key distinctions:<\/p>\n
First, relational energy isn\u2019t about the intrinsic emotional value of the topic \u2014 it\u2019s about how people interact while discussing it. Two people can address a topic that may be perceived as negative, such as budget cuts, but still keep a high level of energy during the conversation. Similarly, 2 people can discuss a topic that may be perceived as positive, such as winning new business, but do so in a way that depletes energy.<\/p>\n
Second, relational energy is distinct from employee voice<\/em>, which is\u00a0when employees speak up to leaders with ideas, concerns, suggestions, and process improvements. Employee voice is a proactive behavior motivated by a desire to improve the organization. Research<\/a> shows that employee voice is positively related to work process improvements, organizational innovation and creativity, greater organizational learning, and better decision making.<\/p>\nUnfortunately, employee voice isn\u2019t always well received, particularly by certain leaders. Past research<\/a> shows that leaders with low self-efficacy (such as a low perceived ability to meet the high competence expectations associated with a leadership role) are much less<\/em> receptive to employee voice. They\u2019re more likely to negatively evaluate employees who speak up and are less likely to solicit input from employees due to their own ego defensiveness. Ironically, our research<\/a> found that being more receptive to employee voice would likely make these individuals better leaders.<\/p>\nAlthough it may be tempting to dismiss employees who speak up as having \u201cnegative\u201d relational energy, this misconstrues what relational energy really means. We encourage leaders to carefully rethink such judgments and reflect on whether these views are an ego defense mechanism.<\/p>\n
Our Research on Relational Energy: What We Did & What We Found<\/h2>\n
In our Leadership at the Peak program, we collect data in our Team Vantage\u2122 assessment<\/a>. Team leaders and members rate how interactions with each person \u201ctypically affect\u201d their energy level. This provides us with round-robin ratings of relational energy, which we analyze by rater source and link to team outcomes. We\u2019ve collected data from more than 600 teams of 4\u201316 members each (an average of 7), totaling more than 34,000 relational ties.<\/p>\nFirst, the good news. More than 91% of relational ties were rated as either neutral or energizing. In contrast, de-energizing ties were rare \u2014 only 9% of all possible relationships.<\/p>\n
![\"Relational](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/relational-energy-what-our-research-shows-center-for-creative-leadership-infographic.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSome teams had zero de-energizing ties, while others had more than a third of their relationships that drained energy. Overall, the proportion of de-energizing ties within a team ranged from 0% to 38%.<\/p>\n
Now, the bad news. Those de-energizing ties tend to have outsized effects. Across the measures of team effectiveness that we examined, the standout finding is striking: removing a single negative energy tie is equivalent to adding 4 positive energy ties<\/strong>. (This is based on comparing the predictive effects of the total number of de-energizing and energizing ties within a team, then calculating the ratio of these 2 values.)<\/p>\nFor team leaders aiming to foster a positive work environment, this underscores the significant challenge of counteracting the impact of even one negative energy tie in the team. That\u2019s why a crucial metric is the team\u2019s ratio of energizing to de-energizing relational ties.<\/p>\n
Overall, our results reveal that a team\u2019s relational energy is linked to multiple team outcomes. For example, when predicting psychological safety, having more strongly de-energizing relationships affects the team about 4 times more than having more strongly energizing ties. Put another way, as a team leader you would need to cultivate 4 strongly energizing connections among team members to neutralize the impact of one strongly de-energizing relationship \u2014 and that only brings the team back to neutral. To propel the team toward positive energy, you\u2019d need to foster even more strongly energizing relationships.<\/p>\n
![\"How](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/how-relational-energy-shapes-psychological-safety-center-for-creative-leadership-infographic.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nYou might wonder whether the impact of negative relational energy depends on someone\u2019s role. Unfortunately, it does, and strongly. A negative energy tie with a team leader has 3 times more impact on team outcomes like psychological safety than a negative energy tie with a team member.<\/strong><\/p>\nRecognizing Negative Relational Energy\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\nBefore we get to practical advice for leaders, let\u2019s identify what negative relational energy looks like. And, yes, there is<\/em> some agreement about who brings the negative energy to the team. Below are some behaviors and attitudes that consistently drain the team\u2019s energy and enthusiasm.<\/p>\nSome red flags are:<\/p>\n
\n- Frequent complaining, with a focus on problems rather than solutions<\/li>\n
- Viewing most situations in a negative light \u2014 win-lose or lose-lose scenarios rather than win-win scenarios<\/li>\n
- Stirring up conflict by escalating minor issues and drawing others into the fray<\/li>\n
- Often critiquing or blaming others, without taking personal accountability<\/li>\n
- Showing little empathy for others\u2019 needs, feelings, or situations<\/li>\n
- Unnecessarily taking up significant time, attention, and energy to meet excessive demands<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Given this list, you might wonder (as we often do) why anyone would choose to dwell in this negative energy space. While we can\u2019t fully answer that, it may be because even though it doesn\u2019t feel good<\/em>, it may feel comfortable<\/em> because it\u2019s familiar. People often prefer comfort over the discomfort that comes with change<\/a>.<\/p>\nManaging Energy at Work<\/h2>\nTips for Team Leaders<\/h3>\n
Frustration with others is one of the top leadership challenges<\/a>, and managing negative relational energy on your team can be difficult. It\u2019s important to be aware of the positive and negative impacts among your team members and look for significant changes in energy dynamics when certain team members are present or absent.<\/p>\nPay attention to changes in conversational contributions; collaboration rates among team members; and conflict, disengagement, and team morale. Be wary of the inclination to downplay or dismiss the impact of negative relational energy, and realize that it takes significant effort and valuable emotional energy for team members to recover from negative relational interactions.<\/p>\n
Although it\u2019s good to have compassion for team members who bring negative relational energy, you also have a responsibility to limit their ability to negatively impact the team and its outcomes. Choosing to do nothing signals acceptance of the behavior.<\/p>\n
Here are 3 strategies you can use:<\/p>\n
\n- Set clear expectations for behavior.<\/strong> Clearly communicate and model the positive, solution-focused behavior and attitudes you expect. Address behavior that doesn\u2019t align with these expectations.<\/li>\n
- Offer support and development. <\/strong>In addition to giving feedback<\/a>, provide opportunities for team members to develop new skills and strategies for managing problematic behavior. This may include training, mentoring, or coaching. If a team member shows no interest in changing their behavior, this is a clear signal about their self-focused intentions.<\/li>\n
- Take firm action when needed.<\/strong> These decisions are never easy, but if there\u2019s no progress despite coaching and support, protecting the team becomes the priority. Consider structural changes (such as reassignment to a different role or limiting group interactions) to safeguard team psychological safety<\/a> while continuing to work with the individual.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
We recognize that one of the reasons negative relational energy can be so challenging to address is because it\u2019s not clear bad behavior like sexism, racism, or abuse. Instead, it\u2019s like the small, steady drip of acidic water on a rock. Over time, those tiny drops create fissures that can fracture a team and drive valuable members away.<\/p>\n
Tips for Team Members<\/h3>\n
We often have no choice about who<\/em> we work with, but we can influence how<\/em> we work with others. If you have an energy vampire dynamic with someone on your team, here are actions you can take (no garlic required):<\/p>\n\n- Maintain your own positive energy.<\/strong> Keep an upbeat attitude and focus on solutions rather than problems to avoid getting drawn into negativity. When possible, choose to work with teammates who are an energetic match with you.<\/li>\n
- Practice self-care and identify practices that recharge you. <\/strong>Ensure you\u2019re mindful of your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing<\/a> and regularly engage in practices that replenish your energy at home (time in nature, exercise, hobbies) and at work (conversations with high-energy teammates).<\/li>\n
- Focus your time. <\/strong>Managing energy at work includes managing your time effectively. If you must interact with negative relational energy, keep interactions brief. Refuse to spend time listening to complaints, blame, or unnecessary drama. When possible, communicate in ways that work best for you, like email, rather than synchronous interactions. Schedule meetings for when your energy is highest.<\/li>\n
- Set personal boundaries.<\/strong> Be clear about what behaviors you will not tolerate, and communicate those boundaries directly. Be assertive in holding your boundaries and use \u201cI\u201d statements to explain the impact of someone\u2019s behavior or attitudes on you and your work. If necessary, bring your team leader into the mix.<\/li>\n
- Reflect and learn. <\/strong>Rather than ruminating about negative interactions, reflect on them productively to see what you can improve. Try new behaviors such as redirecting conversations<\/a> to be more productive, seeking support from positive relational energy peers, and finding the humor in such interactions. The strategies you learn at work can likely be useful in your personal life, too. Recognize that the only things you have control over are your own behaviors and attitudes.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Highlighting Relational Energy Awareness<\/h2>\n
Our recommendations focus on managing negative, rather than positive, relational energy. This is intentional, given the outsized impact it has in teams.<\/p>\n
We hope this work raises awareness of relational energy and inspires a kind of energy consciousness<\/em>: a habit of noticing what or who energizes or depletes you.<\/p>\nAbove all, relational energy is authentic<\/em>. This isn\u2019t about faking positivity or forcing team members to display energy that they don\u2019t feel. To do so would be merely performative (not to mention exhausting) and requires surface acting<\/a>, which is related to higher stress and lower job satisfaction<\/a>.<\/p>\nWe\u2019ve all experienced the impact of relational energy at work. Many of us understand it intuitively, even if it\u2019s hard to explain. We hope that our research can help you name and claim your experiences and provide legitimacy for them. These insights and suggestions can help you recognize \u2014 and better manage \u2014 the profound impact relational energy has on your workplace experience.<\/p>\n
Ready to Take the Next Step?<\/h2>\n
Past research<\/a> shows that relational energy has an impact even after taking into account workplace social support and the quality of the relationship between a leader and team member. Prior work<\/a> shows that positive relational energy with leaders is related to higher job engagement and better job performance. In workplace social networks research<\/a>, de-energizing relational ties are related to reduced thriving, lower motivation, and increased turnover.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s clarify 2 key distinctions:<\/p>\n First, relational energy isn\u2019t about the intrinsic emotional value of the topic \u2014 it\u2019s about how people interact while discussing it. Two people can address a topic that may be perceived as negative, such as budget cuts, but still keep a high level of energy during the conversation. Similarly, 2 people can discuss a topic that may be perceived as positive, such as winning new business, but do so in a way that depletes energy.<\/p>\n Second, relational energy is distinct from employee voice<\/em>, which is\u00a0when employees speak up to leaders with ideas, concerns, suggestions, and process improvements. Employee voice is a proactive behavior motivated by a desire to improve the organization. Research<\/a> shows that employee voice is positively related to work process improvements, organizational innovation and creativity, greater organizational learning, and better decision making.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, employee voice isn\u2019t always well received, particularly by certain leaders. Past research<\/a> shows that leaders with low self-efficacy (such as a low perceived ability to meet the high competence expectations associated with a leadership role) are much less<\/em> receptive to employee voice. They\u2019re more likely to negatively evaluate employees who speak up and are less likely to solicit input from employees due to their own ego defensiveness. Ironically, our research<\/a> found that being more receptive to employee voice would likely make these individuals better leaders.<\/p>\n Although it may be tempting to dismiss employees who speak up as having \u201cnegative\u201d relational energy, this misconstrues what relational energy really means. We encourage leaders to carefully rethink such judgments and reflect on whether these views are an ego defense mechanism.<\/p>\n In our Leadership at the Peak program, we collect data in our Team Vantage\u2122 assessment<\/a>. Team leaders and members rate how interactions with each person \u201ctypically affect\u201d their energy level. This provides us with round-robin ratings of relational energy, which we analyze by rater source and link to team outcomes. We\u2019ve collected data from more than 600 teams of 4\u201316 members each (an average of 7), totaling more than 34,000 relational ties.<\/p>\n First, the good news. More than 91% of relational ties were rated as either neutral or energizing. In contrast, de-energizing ties were rare \u2014 only 9% of all possible relationships.<\/p>\n Some teams had zero de-energizing ties, while others had more than a third of their relationships that drained energy. Overall, the proportion of de-energizing ties within a team ranged from 0% to 38%.<\/p>\n Now, the bad news. Those de-energizing ties tend to have outsized effects. Across the measures of team effectiveness that we examined, the standout finding is striking: removing a single negative energy tie is equivalent to adding 4 positive energy ties<\/strong>. (This is based on comparing the predictive effects of the total number of de-energizing and energizing ties within a team, then calculating the ratio of these 2 values.)<\/p>\n For team leaders aiming to foster a positive work environment, this underscores the significant challenge of counteracting the impact of even one negative energy tie in the team. That\u2019s why a crucial metric is the team\u2019s ratio of energizing to de-energizing relational ties.<\/p>\n Overall, our results reveal that a team\u2019s relational energy is linked to multiple team outcomes. For example, when predicting psychological safety, having more strongly de-energizing relationships affects the team about 4 times more than having more strongly energizing ties. Put another way, as a team leader you would need to cultivate 4 strongly energizing connections among team members to neutralize the impact of one strongly de-energizing relationship \u2014 and that only brings the team back to neutral. To propel the team toward positive energy, you\u2019d need to foster even more strongly energizing relationships.<\/p>\n You might wonder whether the impact of negative relational energy depends on someone\u2019s role. Unfortunately, it does, and strongly. A negative energy tie with a team leader has 3 times more impact on team outcomes like psychological safety than a negative energy tie with a team member.<\/strong><\/p>\n Before we get to practical advice for leaders, let\u2019s identify what negative relational energy looks like. And, yes, there is<\/em> some agreement about who brings the negative energy to the team. Below are some behaviors and attitudes that consistently drain the team\u2019s energy and enthusiasm.<\/p>\n Some red flags are:<\/p>\n Given this list, you might wonder (as we often do) why anyone would choose to dwell in this negative energy space. While we can\u2019t fully answer that, it may be because even though it doesn\u2019t feel good<\/em>, it may feel comfortable<\/em> because it\u2019s familiar. People often prefer comfort over the discomfort that comes with change<\/a>.<\/p>\n Frustration with others is one of the top leadership challenges<\/a>, and managing negative relational energy on your team can be difficult. It\u2019s important to be aware of the positive and negative impacts among your team members and look for significant changes in energy dynamics when certain team members are present or absent.<\/p>\n Pay attention to changes in conversational contributions; collaboration rates among team members; and conflict, disengagement, and team morale. Be wary of the inclination to downplay or dismiss the impact of negative relational energy, and realize that it takes significant effort and valuable emotional energy for team members to recover from negative relational interactions.<\/p>\n Although it\u2019s good to have compassion for team members who bring negative relational energy, you also have a responsibility to limit their ability to negatively impact the team and its outcomes. Choosing to do nothing signals acceptance of the behavior.<\/p>\n Here are 3 strategies you can use:<\/p>\n We recognize that one of the reasons negative relational energy can be so challenging to address is because it\u2019s not clear bad behavior like sexism, racism, or abuse. Instead, it\u2019s like the small, steady drip of acidic water on a rock. Over time, those tiny drops create fissures that can fracture a team and drive valuable members away.<\/p>\n We often have no choice about who<\/em> we work with, but we can influence how<\/em> we work with others. If you have an energy vampire dynamic with someone on your team, here are actions you can take (no garlic required):<\/p>\n Our recommendations focus on managing negative, rather than positive, relational energy. This is intentional, given the outsized impact it has in teams.<\/p>\n We hope this work raises awareness of relational energy and inspires a kind of energy consciousness<\/em>: a habit of noticing what or who energizes or depletes you.<\/p>\n Above all, relational energy is authentic<\/em>. This isn\u2019t about faking positivity or forcing team members to display energy that they don\u2019t feel. To do so would be merely performative (not to mention exhausting) and requires surface acting<\/a>, which is related to higher stress and lower job satisfaction<\/a>.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve all experienced the impact of relational energy at work. Many of us understand it intuitively, even if it\u2019s hard to explain. We hope that our research can help you name and claim your experiences and provide legitimacy for them. These insights and suggestions can help you recognize \u2014 and better manage \u2014 the profound impact relational energy has on your workplace experience.<\/p>\nRelational Energy: What It\u2019s Not<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Our Research on Relational Energy: What We Did & What We Found<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nRecognizing Negative Relational Energy\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
Managing Energy at Work<\/h2>\n
Tips for Team Leaders<\/h3>\n
\n
Tips for Team Members<\/h3>\n
\n
Highlighting Relational Energy Awareness<\/h2>\n
Ready to Take the Next Step?<\/h2>\n