Understanding Natural Energies: The Key to Personal and Team Success

Understanding your natural energy is the first step in finding your personal flow as it shapes the way that you naturally think, communicate, and operate. When you are in a state of flow, or what is sometimes referred to as the "Zone" in sports, you experience little or no resistance, and your life unfolds in a way that moves you forward without friction and struggle.

Your flow comes from following your natural path or energy, which is most often observed in critical moments when you respond from your dominant energy or frequency. These critical moments are frequently points of intense pressure or turning points, in which the decisions you make or the actions you take dramatically impact your journey and your results, either positively or negatively.

Our Contribution Compass Report is designed to help you develop a deep understanding of your own natural energy, so you can start asking the right questions at the right time and find the "flow zone'' more easily. This space is found between anxiety and boredom and is a state where you feel fully immersed in the activity at hand.

Contribution Compass' Concept of Natural Energy and Flow

Contribution Compass recognizes that some people are naturally innovative and intuitively drive concepts, projects, and activities forward, despite all the odds. Others wait for the right time to make a decision or take action based on their sense of the market, their team, or their clients. Some people will always be focused on who is affected by a decision and whom they can connect with, whereas others will naturally think of the process or the system first and how that should operate.

The concept of natural energy and flow does not suggest that any of these approaches are right or wrong. It simply acknowledges that they exist, and therefore different people will naturally be more effective at different roles within a business. For example, the ace in the finance department would struggle if moved into a sales role, while a successful salesperson will often be the wrong person to lead a long, detailed delivery project.

Why is it important for you and for the team you either operate inside of or lead?

The Team

Successful teams are great at identifying, recruiting, and retaining talent that adds the right kind of value to their customers and company, and then leveraging that contribution to maximum returns. It requires that you have a deep understanding of your natural energy and that you actively seek to utilize that natural energy to create, build, and deliver value - for yourself and others inside the organization.

When there is a balance of natural energy around a boardroom table, in a management team, or across the operational and front-line teams, the stronger team dynamics create greater personal flow, customer flow, and profit flow as a result.

One's Self

On a personal level, maturing your understanding and application of your natural energy is critical for your development and to maximize the opportunities available to you both personally and professionally. This understanding will also add huge value to your family and home environment, as it does to the team or business that you are a part of.

The Four Natural Energies

While we all have the ability to develop a broad range of skills and learned behaviors, in critical moments, we tend to respond in a particular way. In the Contribution Compass, there are four natural energies that combine in varying degrees for every person, thereby providing a unique profile that highlights how that person is likely to respond in a critical moment.

Activating Energy

Activating energy creates a vivid vision combined with ideas and innovations that pull the team and company forward. It accelerates and ignites change, bringing innovation and the ability to initiate new projects. It tackles obstacles head-on, solves problems, and sees new opportunities missed by others. This energy sparks activity, drives others forward, and maximizes the view of the bigger picture and the visionary future ahead.

When not in balance, Activating energy can push so hard that the team is left exhausted. Indeed, those who operate within this energy just consider this collateral damage in the process. It can quickly destroy value through its drive to relentlessly create and not finish what is started or to not build the team to support it.

Inspiring Energy

Inspiring energy ignites the spark in others, rallying the team to support the shared vision while striving to excel. It hears the voice and sentiment of the people in the team and builds engagement, rapport, and team spirit, as well as connecting with others around them and their network to rally behind the same cause. This energy maximizes the talent of a group and fires them up to get moving.

When not in balance, Inspiring energy can result in too much attachment to the feelings of others and the inaptitude to focus on the specifics required to achieve the result. It can quickly destroy value through the inaptitude to hold the team accountable and not getting tough when required.

Refining Energy

Refining energy brings a sharp eye for detail, cutting through the noise and identifying risk with a factual and data-based perspective. It has the ability to assess and solve complex problems while optimizing efficiency and return. This energy maximizes value through analysis and the testing of solutions with a considered approach that focuses on continuous improvement.

When not in balance, Refining energy can get lost in the numbers and analysis, losing perspective of the vision and becoming too risk-averse. It can quickly destroy value through being out of touch with the people in a team and the human dynamics at play.

Sustaining Energy

Sustaining energy brings others' ideas to life through the implementation of those ideas and the nurturing of their growth over the long term. It is grounded in reality and understands the elements, resources, and pace required to achieve sustainable growth. This energy maximizes value through the consistent application of the right effort along with a persistent commitment to completion.

When not in balance, Sustaining energy can get bogged down in the limitations of the current reality and long-standing routines that no longer serve. It can quickly destroy value through doggedly following the tried and tested and resisting the breakthrough moment.

How can I work out who I need on my team?

When employers assess their teams and understand what contribution they need from a new team member, they can avoid bad hires. Contribution Compass provides a deeper understanding of eight different profile types to help employers assess their teams and identify the right fit for their team. Employers can ask themselves questions like:

• Have I worked with someone like this before?
• Am I working with someone like this now?
• Do I need someone like this on my team?
• Is this me?

Contribution Compass provides a reliable framework for assessing both current and potential team members to ensure a balance of natural energy across the team. When team members understand their natural energy and the energy of their colleagues, they can work together more effectively, creating greater personal and team flow, customer flow, and profit flow.

Understanding natural energy is key to personal and team success. It shapes the way you naturally think, communicate, and operate, and can help you find your personal flow. Contribution Compass' concept of natural energy and flow acknowledges that different people will naturally be more effective at different roles within a business, and when there is a balance of natural energy around the team, the stronger team dynamics create greater personal and team flow, customer flow, and profit flow as a result. By understanding the four natural energies, employers can identify the right fit for their team, and team members can work together more effectively, creating greater success for everyone.

You can book your Contribution Compass profile here. Or email [email protected] for further information.