By MEMOS XXV Teacher Martijn van Westerop and Student Agaath Doeleman

Do you know those people who work long hours at the office? You even may be one of them. Trying to put extra hours in a day? MEMOS XXV student, Agaath Doeleman from the Netherlands, was triggered during the MEMOS HR Module by a session about energy management from teacher Martijn van Westerop. After this module, the two of them worked together with the HR department of the Dutch NOC to transfer this knowledge to her colleagues. Recently, this resulted in an energy management workshop for team leads.

At the Dutch NOC, like many other sport organisations, most people are passionate about their job, especially for managers and team leads. This makes for long working days, often including the weekends. During the MEMOS energy management session, Agaath was triggered by new knowledge that could bring value to her colleagues: “Time is finite, but energy can be managed.”

During the workshop at the Dutch NOC, Martijn made the team leads aware of the four sources of energy:

• Physical
• Emotional
• Mental
• Spiritual

Moreover, he talked about the importance of recharging, recovering, and reflection and the impact of the environment on performance, the so-called “smell of the place.” The attendees were given exercises in pairs or small groups to explore their energy levels. They started with a small energy audit, reflecting on statements like: “I don’t regularly get at least seven to eight hours of sleep,” and “I often wake up feeling tired.”

All attendees were also given practical tips to re-energize, like listening to a song or taking a walk during lunchtime. It has been scientifically proven that you’ll get more done in a day if you manage to create small breaks to recharge.

The group of about 20 people were very engaged. After the workshop, they provided feedback: the team leads were very positive, both about the workshop and about the MEMOS knowledge transferred from one MEMOS student to the whole sport organisation. One team lead said: “I liked the complete workshop and the way Martijn gave it: the working methods (with interaction, clear assignments), the open atmosphere and the positive input.”

Thanks to the positive feedback, the Dutch NOC HR department decided to implement this workshop in their regular training program so more colleagues can benefit from it in the future.