High energy vs. strong points

Employees have been called upon to answer 2 questions: What are you 3 strong points and what are your 3 areas of development. What an uninsightful approach to truthfully discovering more about the person of interest. What a rigid and confining set of questions and uninspiring way to really get to know someone better.

If you truly want to discover in-depth insights about the person in question, ask them about ENERGY.

September, 2021

For as long as I can remember, employees have been called upon to answer 2 questions: What are you 3 strong points and what are your 3 areas of development (the latter being a politically corrected version of the older question 'what are your 3 weaknesses?')

What an uninsightful approach to truthfully discovering more about the person of interest. What a rigid and confining set of questions and uninspiring way to really get to know someone better. (Not that they can't be answered, but in my humble opinion, I think they are completely the wrong questions.)

If you truly want to discover in-depth insights about the person in question, ask them about ENERGY. Yes energy! When I was introduced to this term, I not only had one of my biggest 'aha' moments, but it finally made me understand so much more about myself and the way I work, while also completely changing the way I viewed my colleagues and the way in which I can best interact with them.

It's not about what you're good at or bad at. It's all about where your energy levels are at their utmost highest which also means where you are most creative, productive and motivated.

If I take myself as an example, I like to create and grow ideas, I like to evangelize these ideas and grow them into real live projects. Anyone who's heard me pitch new ideas has surely felt my super high energy levels as well as the enthusiasm about my work. And let me stick to this last word. Enthusiasm. If you have high energy levels, you will execute, talk about & evangelize your idea/project with active and positive body language, with a louder more assertive and engaging voice.

Enthusiasm is not only super visible, it is also contagious.

If high energy makes us more productive, isn't this something a manager should consider when creating a team? Can you imagine the impact & results of teams created through the better understanding of each individual's high & positive energy areas? Can you imagine the output of a high energy team co-creating together? Naturally, it would be unwise to expect everyday work stuff to yield high energy levels constantly and at all times. But when considering team dynamics, creating the best possible synthesis of high energy that comes naturally from each contributor can only lead to a successful outcome.

My energy levels definitely start to drop when we move further down a project path and we reach the stage of detailed execution and we need to start talking nitty gritty operational stuff. This is where I may drag my feet a little bit. However beware...this does not mean that I cannot deliver the expected outcome. Neither does it mean that I cannot run operational projects. I can. It's just that this is where I may start to lose my high energy levels which may translate into slower execution, not following up so intentionally or my presentation stamina starts lacking the initial enthusiasm.

Lower energy levels might also mean I don't manage to motivate others or to get them to engage and interact with me as effectively.

So high energy levels do not only positively impact one's personal results and deliverables but also the interactions with colleagues creating more collaborative and productive teamwork.

To summarize, my 'aha' moment was that I finally understood...

It's not a matter of ability - I can or cannot do something, I am good or not good at something - but it's all about energy. In what components of your work do you find your highest energy levels?

Of course I can execute and of course I can pay attention to details but do I get excited about it? Mmm…probably not. Would I prefer if at this stage I handed over the project to someone with high energy levels in project management, operations and execution? Definitely yes.

Becoming aware of my high energy areas has helped my approach each stage of a project more effectively. When projects become more operational and I know I will be 'dragging my feet', I am more intentional in enacting discipline to my work, more intentional in ensuring the task gets done on time so that I can then move on to more the more high-energy work components that I enjoy so much.

I will close with a slight deviation but somewhat relevant concept. Another eye-opening moment for me, was during a discussion I had with my best friend who also happens to be an executive coach (always useful to have such a friend) who introduced me to the concept of natural skills.

Natural skills are skills that come out so naturally that we don't even realize it's an ability or a skill worth mentioning.

For example, my studies and my first years at work were all about numbers, I have a mathematical & analytical background (Operational Research to be exact). As a result I am actually quite good at creating business models, business plans and analyses very very fast, methodically, with flow, accuracy and clarity. I never thought this to be a super skill. In fact I don't think I even ever mentioned that I am good at this because I thought 'well yeah..I can create super fast excel models..so what? That's easy'. And because I thought it was easy (i.e. it comes naturally), I also thought that it's no big deal and probably everyone else can probably do it as well. In fact, it wasn't until someone spelt it out for me that I have a unique combination of marketing creative thinking AND analytic skills (not an obvious combination!) that I realized it was even a skill.

Understanding what comes 'easily' is your natural skill. Don't get fooled by thinking that just because you think it's easy 'yeah so what!?', that it's not worth surfacing or promoting. And to connect this with energy, you can easily discover your natural skills because it's what you do quickly, easily, where your energy is not drained but in fact quite the opposite…easily boosted.