Jon Gordon is a speaker about positive work environments.

I heard him recently talk about “energy Draculas”. Those are the people on a team who can suck the energy away from a team’s effort with a negative attitude or lack of effort.

He recounted a time recently when he was speaking to a college football team. At the end of the session, the head coach stood up and dismissed the team, but singled out 10 people to stay.

Gordon asked the coach what was up. The coach responded, “Those are my energy Draculas.”

Gordon continued: “You’re going to talk to them now?”

“Oh, yeah,” the coach responded. “Why wait?”

Why wait, indeed. Someone sucking energy from an organization is something we tolerate. Probably more than we should.

But, once you are aware of its impact, “energy Draculas” are easy to see, easy to name. Everyone knows who they are.

So, the question is, why wait? Why not name the condition and seek to change it? It’s a responsibility of leaders and teammates alike to do what they can to make the energy environment as good as it can be. One way of doing it is to challenge the Draculas. Change direction or move on. Staying is no good to anyone.

Another thought: it might be you read this and immediately identify yourself as an “energy Dracula”. You can change that attitude in a minute.

It’s on you. Don’t wait for the challenge. Get on with it yourself.