Wouldn’t it be great if everyone went to work each day with confidence they are doing what they’re good at – and energized by the way they perform their work?

FIRE

When people seem off their game there is often times a connection to the gut.   Are you putting your instincts into your pocket, so-to-speak, trying to forget about your natural way of problem solving? This is not uncommon in the work place; many professionals squelch their natural approach to challenge in order to comply with supervisor or company performance mandates. Unfortunately over time we find highly skilled professionals are frustrated and unhappy in their role. This is conative stress; it has a significant impact on your natural flow of productive energy throughout a day. Most importantly, working against your natural problem solving grain everyday builds up conative stress and causes professionals to lose sight of opportunities for growth. When you are disconnected from how you perform your best, even a role that puts your skills and experience to use will also drain your energy.
 
Without consideration of instinctive problem solving strengths in a role, leaders create a pool of job holders – reliable individual creativity is left out of the role and performance metrics are based on the mechanics of process. This is the point when leaders will ask the question, “How can I get my people inspired or motivated to meet our goals?” While there are many reasons for lack of inspiration or motivation, the freedom to be yourself – perform according to your natural strengths, must be part of defining a role, fulfilling it, and retaining your best human performance toward growth.
 

FUEL

The causes of conative stress can be overcome with appropriate leadership commitment. The will or motivation to perform a role is accompanied by trusting the validated instinctive actions of your people to add value to a process.
 
Avoid over thinking standard methods. Think about the synergy of your team’s natural problem solving approaches. Avoid the consequences of managing their actions within a framework that may not engage their strengths. The longer your team agonizes over whether to trust their gut, their natural problem solving strengths, the bigger the delay in getting things done.
 
Beware of over-committing your energy! When you are free to be yourself, use your natural advantage to perform your best, you must be conscious of committing to too much. Steady and optimal performance requires willful, determined actions; focus on what you can, and cannot get done, within a specific time period to avoid draining your energy. By engaging your natural problem solving strengths when you need them most, you can conserve energy throughout the day, and sustain your performance.
 
Protect yourself against fatigue, fear and frustration. With appropriate resources for validating and arranging conative strengths, you will recognize when your instinctive abilities are most needed. It is important to take a step back when nothing is working, or when you are unclear about your best actions.
 
Learn your conative strengths to identify work place activities that call for your natural abilities. You can communicate your values and arrange your time and energy effectively. Trusting your gut is a strategy for reminding yourself that your striving actions influence your energy and productivity. Get a valid perspective of your conative strengths so you can navigate your professional role with confidence, creative flow and sustainable energy to perform your best every day!
 
For more information on how to best “trust your gut”, contact us at Firepower Teams!