eQ Energy Survey – a vital “group photograph”

The thrust of all that Learning To Lead does is upon human energy as the crucial resource necessary for human effectiveness. Most humans feel energy without thinking about it – our own, the energy in the relationships we share, the energy or lack of it in our families, our work situations and even the stores in which we shop and the country in which we live. We have found that since awareness is critical, but elusive, we need to measure it. We needed to try and take a quick “snapshot”. We succeeded with our now well-tried and tested eQ Energy Survey.

“Energy is an eternal delight, and he who desires,
but acts not, breeds pestilence”
– William Blake

“Haters never win. I just think that’s true about life,
because negative energy always costs in the end”
– Tom Hiddleston

Our focus is upon Human Energy

We have not encountered anyone who does not agree that high energy individuals and high energy teams significantly outperform those with low, or worse still, negative energy.

We can feel the impact of our own energy, and the energy around us, upon our performance…good or bad!

The challenge for us then became twofold:

• how to measure it
• how to change it…on a sustainable basis.

The Gallup Organisation in the U.S. lead the way, defining high energy individuals as “Engaged” and low energy individuals as “Disengaged” and their research covered Work, School, Church and Community involvement.

The level of disengagement in the groups in the countries they surveyed, had risen to over 75% in their most recent survey!

Anxious to get a feel in our South African environment, we developed and tested our own instrument…our e.Q Energy Survey…with which we could not only measure the energy levels of individuals in various situations, but also the energy in the teams to which they belonged.

But most valuable, was the fact that we could read pretty accurately Why?…Why were energy levels high or low?

And the answers to that question helped us to answer the most important question of them all…How? How do we change energy levels on a sustainable basis?

Here are some indicators of energy levels for individuals in corporate life drawn from over 7000 participants in businesses like yours:

• Just over 55% had rising levels of energy…the rest were either the same or falling.
• 40 % of the relationships at work were dysfunctional…..they reduced levels of energy.
• 37% went home with negative energy.
• 47% felt that they had too little energy to meet their own personal needs
  When we measured the energy levels in the teams in which they worked, there were more ugly surprises!
• 43% of the words used to describe the quality of Information in their team, were negative words like too late,confusing, incomplete,questionable,complicated and hidden. On the other hand words like open, honest, correct and true scored very much lower.
• 46% of the words used to describe the essential ingredient of Trust in their team, we’re negative words.
• 52% of the words chosen to describe the Energy in their teams were negative words like limited, flat, superficial, stifled and alarmingly…spiralling down!

When asked about what trapped energy at work, three issues were predominant

• no one listens
• not enough teamwork
• too many rules.
  There were lessons for the leaders too…they got low marks for
• non racist
• principled
• inspiring
• noted for integrity
• promotes full gender equality and exciting.

Surprisingly they got almost no recognition for clearly defining

• the objectives
• the job
• and career paths!

Finally we measure the extent to which participants feel that they

• belong in the team or organisation
• are they proud to belong?
• do they make a real difference?
• does the team or organisation know much about their personal lives?
• would they consider leaving if they could?

The results are often sobering!

Particularly as the majority of the participants in the whole survey are drawn from the top two or three levels in their organisations!

Would you value an energy survey?
We would love to share a deeper understanding of the energy within your organisation?

The Energy Survey of personal, relational, leadership and organisational energy requires that the participants – the sample to be measured – do about 30 minutes of self-insight for homework by completing a questionnaire and then they all come together for a session lasting not more than three hours.

In the session we make everyone energy aware – it is a fun, high energy experience that is of just as much interest and value to the individual as it is to the organisation.

In three hours we can handle as many as a room can hold and as many as can be pried from their duties for the time required.

We process the information using Internet-based software, and the results are available on the same day – or, depending on the number of participants, on the following day at the latest.

The Final Energy Survey Report is delivered electronically to the client.