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The energy was good. We’ve all had that thought at the end of an excellent meeting. After a great conversation. We may have, in fact, uttered those very words.
I facilitated a leadership program last month. I enjoyed my group immensely. Good energy , I thought to myself. My language of choice - I’m a personal-energy-guy. As we said our good-byes, however, quite a few of the folks in my group also commented that the energy was good . That moved me. It wasn’t just me. The energy WAS good. And it was felt.
I no longer believe that good energy is a mere luck of the draw. Sure, with some folks we feel more in sync than with others. But good energy is something we ignite, capture, circulate and recirculate.
Here are some of the ways in which we ignite energy. I call them the touches. Our personal touches. Show up with a “touch,” and you will be rewarded with good energy. Guaranteed.
1. The Light Touch.
Choose light over somber. Choose playful over pedantic.
I do not propose that we take a serious concern and trivialize it. “Make light” of it. But when we treat a matter, a concern, a person, a group with a light touch, we move the energy of the moment toward a playful exchange. A joyous exchange. This moves energy instead of keeping it stuck. And it tends to stir our souls at their very core.
2. The Improvisational Touch.
When something isn’t going as planned, choose flow over fighting the moment.
An improviser sees a creative opportunity in any event. Even in the conversation that seems to go nowhere, the meeting that veers off on a tangent. Instead of resisting the unexpected, folks with an improvisational touch ride the wave of the moment. They explore the unexpected instead of trying to contain it. The moment we improvise, energy moves.
3. The Boomerang Touch.
Choose to notice instead of ignoring. Choose to “pick up on it” instead of rejecting.
With a boomerang mindset, I pay attention to everything an individual or group of folks is sending my way. Their sense of humor. Their language rhythm. Their tone of expression. Their physicality. I hit the “same wavelength” button. I intentionally use the language of others. I match their rhythm. I send it right back to them. I surrender to their tone (unless I decide it needs shifting). Energy suddenly feeds upon energy. Yes, it boomerangs.
4. The Expanding Touch .
Choose to seize a micro-stimulus and amplify it.
It’s the boomerang touch on steroids. I notice an impulse, a spark, a theme, and I decide to run with it. Someone mentions the word success , and I go on a riff on the connotations of success . Someone makes an extravagant gesture, and I reciprocate with a cavalcade of extravagant gestures of my own. I enlarge. Magnify. Turn it into something. Small energy is amplified and becomes infectious. And infectious energy is near impossible to resist.
Energy movers aren’t control freaks or energy dictators. They don’t force things. They simply notice. Catch. Run with it. Sounds like a sports metaphor now that I think of it. A sport in which everyone wins.
And most sports are terrifically energizing, aren’t they?