Reclaim Your Energy to Optimize Your Team’s Performance
Some efforts take a lot of energy. We feel drained. Sapped.
Other efforts require little or no energy at all, no matter how much time it takes us to complete them. In fact, you actually feel re-energized after completing these tasks — they are like fuel to your workday.
Energy is your greatest lever in everything you do, whether interacting with a client or completing a project. Especially during times like these, when burnout is prevalent and so many things are uncertain, protecting your energy is the single most important goal you can have on your to-do list. When you feel energetic, all your faculties are at attention, and you perform at your best. When your energy is sapped, you … well, you just don’t shine.
To be the best you that you can be, you need to know which projects, processes, and tasks sap your energy, and which ones fuel you. Every day, we arrive to the office or workspace with a trusty to-do list of important tasks. Between the hustle and bustle of back-to-back meetings and calls, you strive to get things done and push the meter a little farther. We rarely take a step back to assess which of the tasks on our list are empowering us to be our best-possible selves, and which ones are holding us back.
Once you are aware of the things that both energize and sap you, you can prioritize better, delegate better, plan better … in short, you will perform better.
So, how can you identify which tasks are helping or hampering your progress? First, take a step back and note your regular tasks or activities. Next, put them into one of three categories:
Fuel
These are the activities you love doing — the ones that give you energy. When developing the “Fuel” list, consider the following questions:
Which activities are so engaging that you lose track of time while doing them?
Which activities do you wish you could do all day?
Which activities leave you feeling more energized than when you started them?
Sappers
You guessed it: These are the activities you dread. For this list, consider these questions:
Which activities exhaust or frustrate you?
Which activities do you least like to do?
Which activities do you feel you do poorly, leave you feeling unsatisfied, or seem to take forever?
Something in Between (SIB)
Some activities don’t necessarily fuel or sap you; you may even excel at them, but they don’t energize you. Make a third list of these activities.
Now, review each category. Which Fuel activities directly generate the growth you desire or forward your vision? Now, be open-minded: Are there any Sappers or SIBs you can eliminate with technology or altogether? Or can you outsource or transfer them to someone else on your team?
We each come to the table with our own unique combination of skill, experience, instincts, and strengths. If everyone on your team completes this exercise, you may well find enough Sappers and SIBs to justify bringing someone new onto the team, or at least discover you can barter some internally.
When you fully harness the best version of yourself and each of your team members, you’ll compound your collective team energy and capacity for excellence.
At Qii, everything we do is about leverage through team — to achieve more of the growth you want, deliver greater value to clients, and experience more joy. Are you ready to reclaim your energy and better focus your team? Let’s start the conversation.
