By Nomathemba Pearl Dzinotyiwei

I was recently struck by a powerful clip from Lana Hindmarch on LinkedIn, where she asked leaders a deceptively simple question:

“What kind of energy do you want to generate in your teams for creativity, innovation and accomplishment?”

It stopped me in my tracks — not because it was new, but because it reminded me of a truth I’ve lived through many times in my career:

Some leaders generate energy.

And some drain it.

The Silent Crisis of Low-Vibrational Leadership

We often talk about toxic leaders in terms of behaviour — micromanagement, bullying, ego-driven decision-making, chaos, blame, and emotional volatility.

But beneath those behaviours lies something deeper:

Low vibrational energy.

A leader operating from fear, insecurity, emotional immaturity, and scarcity will inevitably create a work environment that reflects exactly that.

These are the leaders who:

walk into a room and the entire atmosphere tightens; turn simple conversations into emotional minefields; keep people on eggshells because their reactions are unpredictable; create chronic anxiety through their lack of clarity, presence, or emotional steadiness; confuse pressure with performance and control with leadership.

I’ve worked with leaders like these — brilliant on paper, disastrous in practice. They didn’t just drain my energy. They drained the collective spirit of the teams they led.

The Energy of a Leader Shapes Everything

People don’t leave companies first — they leave energy.

They leave environments where showing up requires emotional armour.

They leave leaders who consistently operate at low frequencies.

In non-performing or low-performing teams, the signs are unmistakable:

Low morale; high staff turnover; silenced creativity; fear-based decision-making; passive disengagement and innovation paralysis.

It’s not that the team lacks talent, the leader is unconsciously draining the charge that makes creativity and innovation possible.

You cannot build a high-performing team on low vibrational leadership.

Energy — not strategy — is the real starting point of performance.

Why Emotional Energy Matters More Than Ever

In today’s world of constant disruption, digital transformation, and relentless organisational change, teams need leaders who:

regulate their emotions, show up consistently, maintain psychological safety, inspire trust, and model steadiness.

Because energy is contagious, whatever a leader radiates becomes the emotional climate of the team.

Low vibrational leaders radiate

insecurity, fear, anger, chaos, impatience and ego.

High vibrational leaders radiate:

calm, clarity, confidence, possibility, creativity and compassion.

Teams rise or fall according to the emotional frequency of the person in charge.

The Real Question Every Leader Should Ask

Lana’s question deserves its own space in every leadership meeting, every one-on-one, every performance conversation:

“What energy am I generating?”

Not: “What’s wrong with the team?”

But: “How am I contributing to the dysfunction?”

Because the truth is simple:

You cannot demand creativity while generating fear.

You cannot expect innovation while radiating chaos.

You cannot build trust while living in emotional reactivity.

You cannot call for excellence while draining the energy of the very people expected to deliver it.

A Call to Leaders: Check Your Frequency

If you want to transform your team, start by transforming your energy.

Ask yourself:

What do people feel after interacting with me? Do I leave people calmer, clearer, more confident — or more anxious? Do my habits raise the vibration of the room or lower it? Am I leading from a place of presence or a place of unresolved pressure?

Leadership is not only about vision and deliverables.

It is about emotional stewardship — the ability to manage your own state so you don’t contaminate the environment you’re responsible for.

And for Those Who’ve Survived Low-Vibrational Leaders…

If you’ve ever worked under a leader who drained you emotionally, you know how heavy it is. You know the silent burnout. You know the invisible labour of managing their moods, not your work.

You know the feeling of shrinking instead of expanding.

But you also carry a gift:

the lived awareness of the kind of leader you never want to become.

Use that.

Channel it.

Elevate others because you were once diminished.

Generate energy because yours was once taken.