How do you lead? Elevate your style with the 7 levels of Energy Leadership
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How do you lead?
As business coaches, we like to ask our CEO and executive clients about their leadership styles to get them to step outside themselves and examine how they show up to their teams and organizations.
Many of our clients never had a practical roadmap for leadership: They may use counterproductive management techniques from former bosses. Or hit goals without knowing what exactly they did right. Or continuously fail to learn from the past.
They know they could be better leaders, with happier employees and targeted results, but they don’t know how to get there.
Enter: Energy Leadership.
Energy Leadership isn’t a personality test, but an attitudinal assessment that puts a numerical value to the types of energy a person experiences and expresses. iPEC’s Energy Leadership Index™ lays out seven levels of energy, starting from one (low) to seven (high). As a leader (say, you) moves up the levels, they attain a higher level of influence.
iPEC’s Energy Leadership Index™
Let’s walk through the basics.
Energy Leadership consists of two energy categories: anabolic and catabolic.
Photo by Josh Calabrese on Unsplash
Anabolic energy is constructive. It fosters high cooperation, productivity, teamwork, solutions, and confidence in teams and organizations.
Photo by Iker Urteaga on Unsplash
Catabolic energy is destructive. It disrupts relationships, creates drama, and brings about a “victim” mentality. Note: Catabolic energy can be useful in short spurts as it can help you make critical or urgent decisions quickly. But long term use of it can cause burnout.
Before you start identifying what leadership level you are, keep in mind that everyone is a combination of all the levels of energy — it’s where you spend most of our time that determines your effectiveness.
These two categories consist of seven leadership levels:
Level 1
“I lose.”
The lowest energy a leader can have, Level 1 leaders tend to feel worried, guilty, and chronically victimized. In their mind, everything wrong that happens to them is someone else’s fault, and they can never win.
Level 2
“I win, you lose.”
When Level 2 energy is present, it exposes the leader as a victim. And when the victim is exposed, the leader becomes a bully. This leader “rules” by fear and intimidation. When Level 2 leadership is present in companies, there’s high turnover and sales struggle.
Level 3
“I win, and if you win, I’m ok.”
Level 3 marks the beginning of cooperation. Level 3 leaders get a lot done, but they also tend to rationalize.
Level 4
“You win, then I’ll win.”
Level 4 leaders are great team players and love to work in groups. But if they’re not recognized for their contributions, they can quickly feel victimized.
Level 5
“Win, win.”
Level 5 leaders tend to run big, successful companies. They solve problems efficiently, turn challenges into opportunities, and focus on solutions.
Level 6
“Everyone wins.”
Level 6 leaders attract opportunities. Their energy is sought out by everyone.
Level 7
“There is no winning or losing.”
Level 7 leaders create opportunities for others.
Before you start identifying what leadership level you are, keep in mind that everyone is a combination of all the levels of energy — it’s where you spend most of your time that determines your effectiveness. Knowing where and how you’re operating as a leader begins with an assessment (run by one of our coaches); the outcome of your assessment will then provide the blueprint for how we’d work together.
Through Energy Leadership coaching, you can elevate your energy level and sustain it by applying various leadership techniques. At Rock Spring Coaching, we teach principles that are effective in helping you access the highest levels of energy, which results in more successful and predictable outcomes. In future posts, we’ll explore all the ways Energy Leadership can empower how you show up in your career — more to come.