Six ways to maximize your Product Management Energy

Summary

What’s your energy level as a product manager? 

When you go day to day, come into work, are you in to it?  Are you excited? Do you bring this high energy level or the appropriate energy level to your team, to the work that you do?  Are you intense in every activity that you do? 

Those things matter a lot, they can literally change how much you get done in a day, how excited your team feels. 

Let’s look at six different kinds of energy levels that you must demonstrate in order to make sure you're living up to your potential as a product manager. 

The first energy level is you need to be positive, energetic, give them a sense of an epic win possible and that the product will do well.  Align the team behind achieving the best possible thing for your product, for your customers.   

Second you need to vary your communication level.  You as a product manager must work on not just being at a high energy level when it counts but being able to calm your team down.  Be able to go to a lower, maybe a much more considered level of energy so that you can get people to think deeply about certain issues.

The third level of energy is about belief.  Have a process you believe in, that you go through, a methodology, a framework to push through different strategic decisions and you're able to work through them even though you don't know the answer immediately.    

The fourth type of energy is conviction and determination.  As a product manager, you will roll up your sleeves up, get down to work, going to stay determined and figure things out  This energy shows you're able to work through things, able to take the time required to get past that. 

The fifth level of energy is all about your curiosity.  You have to strike a good balance between this determination kind of energy, this enthusiastic level of energy that you know that you're going towards the epic win.   

The last but probably the most important level of energy is what you communicate with your customers.  Get to the right level with your customers, so that they feel that you really care about them and they are open to you and share candid feedback about your product with you.

Magnify your energy as a Product Manager by

1: Taking rejuvenation breaks. You don’t need a spa to get rejuvenated. Build methods , by which you can get rejuvenated in 30 seconds, in a minute, in five minutes all depending on what do you need to communicate in the next situation.    

2: Generate engagement. Be engaged in order to deliver the level of energy appropriate for the next situation..

3: Give people an A.  Assume best intent, before you start to judge people based on your interaction with them.

4: Treat people as your best friend. Treat your team and your customer as your best friend. Look at them through the center of your heart. Your charisma, your energy, your confidence will all change. 

5: Carry a journal with you. Write your intention and make it very explicit. Read and reflect later.

6: Physicality: this is all about our body language. Your body language changes your mental state. Use this body language to generate energy

Full Transcript

FINAL

Hey, this is Shobhit, founder of Intentional Product Manager. 

I want to ask you a very important question today, what’s your energy level as a product manager?  When you go day to day, come into work, are you in to it?  Are you excited?  Do you bring this high energy level or the appropriate energy level to your team, to the work that you do?  Are you intense in every activity that you do? Those things matter a lot, they can literally change how much you get done in a day, how excited your team feels.  How much effort your team feels that they need to put forward in order to drive an excellent product?  Your customers can feel your energy level, they want to know if you're really empathetic, if you really care about that?  That's the kind of energy level you need to be showing throughout your role to succeed.  Now, I'm here to talk about six different kinds of energy levels that you must demonstrate in order to make sure you're living up to your potential as a product manager.  So let's dig into them.

The first energy level is all about how do you show up with your team in setting such as meetings, such as all hands, such as one on one discussions?  Are you positive about your product?  Are you energetic?  Do you give them the sense that you believe that there's an epic win possible, and that this product could do really well?  And your team is aligned behind achieving the best possible thing for your product, for your customers.  Are you constantly reinforcing that through customer example, through stories to what you believe is possible, through showing the vision and really communicating it in a very emotional manner.  To make sure your team feels not just not just believes at an intellectual but really feels that what they're doing is worthwhile.  That is your energy level that you communicate with your team.

The second one after the enthusiasm is also how do you vary this communication level?  See, I'm talking very excited like I'm really enthusiastic about something.  But when I need to take a step back and talk about something in a very calm manner, where you feel you need to bring the energy level down a little bit in order so that people reflect and they're able to really think about an issue critically, how are you managing that?  Are you may be softening your tone of voice?  Or are you speaking in a manner that gets them to reflect?  To really think about things from a deeper perspective?  One of the things that's very important is just not your level of energy but how much you vary it.  I think we are all attracted to novelty, we are attracted to changes.  And so you as a product manager must work on not just being at a high energy level when it counts but being able to calm your team down.  Be able to go to a lower, maybe a much more considered level of energy so that you can get people to deeply think about certain issues.

The third level of energy is about belief.  Do you have strong belief behind your decisions behind what you're doing for the product?  And does that cause your team to believe in you, to believe in the product?  And can you actually bring this level of energy even when you're not sure?  Essentially, do they believe in not just what you know right now but in your ability to figure things out?  That you have a process, that you go through a methodology, a framework to push through different strategic decisions and you're able to work through them even though you don't know the answer right now?  The team can be- and so that your team and also your stakeholders, they have confidence in your abilities beyond just the what you know, right now or the direction you've set right now. 

The fourth type of energy is conviction and determination, which is this thing of, hey, you know what, no matter what, like, even if you're going through a period of struggle, right now, I'm going to, as a product manager, roll my sleeves up, get down to work, going to stay determined and figure things out.  Your satisfaction, your customer satisfaction with your products might be down.  And you know, that happens for a variety of reasons.  But what determination that the determination energy shows is, you're able to work through things, you're able to take the time required to get past that. 

Maybe a big customer left and your team might not be feeling happy?  Well, are you able to communicate that you're determined to achieve what's required.  To do what's required to either get that customer back or get a new customer for the product?

The fifth level of energy is all about your curiosity.  You know, it's so easy to just assume that we are right and that we are going to go just deliver on a predetermined path.  But are you curious?  Do you ask the right questions?  Do you come in with an open mind?  You have to strike a good balance between this determination kind of energy, this enthusiastic level of energy that you know that you're going towards the epic win.  But also a level of curiosity and openness, that you're able to step back and ask the right questions and you're open to input from the team.

And now the last but also probably the most important level of energy is what you communicate with your customers.  It's empathy, it's almost something like mirroring their energy.  You know, in cases where they're concerned, you, not just act concerned but you internalize that feeling and you communicate it back to them.  Where they're enthusiastic about your product, you mirror that enthusiasm.  It's all about, you know, getting to the right level with their customers, so that they feel that you really care about them and they are open to opening up with you to share candid feedback about your product with you, that's another level of energy that you must muster.

So we talked about the various levels of energy now let's talk about ways in which you can start to build towards some of them. 

So number one, is rejuvenation breaks.  And it's funny that I talked about all this different level of energy and then say, oh, take a break.  But sometimes, we need to give ourselves space so that we can show up as our best self.

You know, you can try to power through the day, take no breaks, just go from meeting to meeting to work and just be like, I'm going to, I'm so strong that I'll just power through it.  And by the end of the day, you're just completely exhausted.  And it’s all because you did not build in those breaks in between with which you can start to get rejuvenated, you can get re-energized, you can get ready for the energy you want to demonstrate in the next situation. 

A lot of what I talk about in my courses is about building those breaks and building that method by which you can get rejuvenated in 30 seconds, in a minute, in five minutes all depending on what do you need to communicate in the next meeting.  How do you want to come across?

The second method of generating this energy is being engaged, it's being intense, it's being very deliberate about what exactly do you want to come across as and then stepping into it.  So like when you think about, hey, I really want to be enthusiastic here, really step into it and be deliberate about it, don't just assume things will happen.  You can work yourself, you can work yourself into that that level of energy that you need to demonstrate but you must be deliberate and you must be engaged in order to deliver that level of energy.

The third one is all about giving people an A.  What does that mean? Giving people me an A methodology which I follow, which is I assume best intent, before I started judge people based on interaction, I prejudge them, I just say, you know, based on whatever constraints they have, whatever opinions they have, I'm going to give them an A, I'm just going to assume that they're bringing their best self in this interaction and then watch what happens. You will start to see relationships that were not great, start to repair themselves and start to get better, your energy level will start to become more appropriate and more finely tuned to what's required in that situation.  And so giving people an A is very important. 

And the next way is somewhat related, which is almost a little corny, but what I often look at is, you know, I look at people from my heart’s center. Now, that might seem strange. But what the intention here is that you're treating people almost as your best friend, you're treating your team as your best friend, you're treating your customers as your best friend.  And you are passing this energy from your heart to them.  And that changes your energy level almost automatically, makes you a lot more empathetic.  And I would highly recommend this before you go to a customer interview.  Like truly love to love, truly learn to love your customer.  That's the kind of energy level you want to demonstrate in that interview.

The first method is all about writing.  So carry a journal with you.  And I often tell my students that what you can do is just write down at the top, when you go into a situation, maybe a meeting on, how do you want to come across there?  You know, what this writing does?  Is it takes that intention you have and it makes it very explicit.  And just by writing those words, now you're communicating back to yourself, what are the levels of energy you want to bring to that meeting?  And what is the kind of energy you want to want to bring?  So definitely write that down.

And it's also very interesting to read and reflect on later, you know, you might have had some intention.  But you might notice a pattern that I often struggle with this kind of energy and you can learn to change yourself.  So having that record of things, having deliberately written it down is so, so important.

And last but not least, the sixth method of changing your energy level is all about physicality.  So, you know, in a case where you're feeling under confident and you want to exhibit that that level of, well, I'm really confident about it, stand like this.  And I don't know if you can see me fully but my, I'm standing with a wide stance, my arms are outstretched, almost like I'm Superman.  And there's a lot of work done, you can go read about, I'll put some resources in this in the comments section here.  Which are all about how body language, your own body language changes your mental state, there's a very strong mind/ body connection.  So before you go into something which requires you to be confident, which requires you to show a high level of energy, do something that's energetic.  Maybe stand like this, walk fast, listen to music and get tuned in and walk fast like that.  You know, you can change your energy level like that and the moment you start to realize that, things really start to change, your day starts to get better.  Your stresses as a product manager starts to go down, you exhibit the right level of empathy, concern to your team, to stakeholders and things really start to change.

So this is all about energy, the kinds of energy you should be exhibiting and then ways in which you can really amp up that energy level.  Now, if you've seen this video before August 1, you should really tune into this webinar that I'm doing on August 1 which is all about how to build confidence as a product manager. 

And I might just repeat this webinar, you know in future as well. So definitely watch out in the comments section or in this blog post or wherever you are viewing this video.

This is Shobhit ,founder of intentional Product Manager where I teach product managers how to get better at their job, how to bring their best self without driving themselves crazy, and I look forward to seeing you in my next video. 

If you liked the blog post, you will love my free course “How to be an outstanding Product Leader without working insane hours.” Go ahead, enroll now!

Bye

Ge