The Leadership Paradox: Why The Most Informed Leaders Still Fail

The Surprising Reason Some Leaders Thrive Without Formal Training

Leadership starts from within

There are millions of sites and articles talking about leadership out there. Starting from the skills a good leader must possess, techniques to improve your leadership skills, conflict resolution methods, how to develop coaching approach and many more.

So what really stops us from being good leaders? How come there are amazing leaders that did not read any of this material, while there are leaders who read any article possible, yet they are not the best leaders?

The Core of Leadership: Start from Within

Here is my point: A good leader starts from within. It is the beliefs, perception, and energy that drives a leader to thrive in what they do - the 'have it in them' drive. I am not saying you must be born a leader to be a good one, nor do I claim you cannot improve your leadership skills and become a better leader. What I am saying is - you have to start from within - with your perception and energy.

Think about it - if you do not have patience, get irritated easily, and can't empathize with your team - you will not be able to see their strengths easily, care about their point of view or professional development, motivate them, and energize them. You will get irritated easily by their mistakes or not performing to your expectation.

Changing Your Perception

So how do you change it?

How could you become a better leader and change your perception?

Introducing Energy Leadership

This is where Energy Leadership kicks in.

Energy leadership introduces the concept of seven energetic levels in which you resonate at any given point in time. It provides a clear way for you to recognize your energetic level and the energy of those around you and empowers you with a set of tools to address each level and elevate the energy of yourself and your team.

The Power of Energy Awareness

Just imagine that you could recognize a state of desperation, anger, anxiety, or any other behavior, understand the trigger to it, and work yourself or your teammates out of it in a constructive way. Let's talk about the end result - imagine a situation where you can feel engaged and motivated, and those that report to you are excited, encouraged, and more than willing to go the extra mile for you, the company, and the team.

This is a much better place to start and acquire specific leadership skills, but let's be honest - without it - no tool or technique would be effective.

Assessing Your Energetic Profile

If throughout the day you feel many times like you've 'had it', you have no energy to keep going anymore, or you get out of balance easily and frequently, at work or at home - this is the time to assess your energetic profile.

The Energy Leadership Index (ELI) Assessment

So what is it exactly, and how does it work?

The process starts with an assessment. The basic assessment is called an ELI assessment which was developed by iPEC and is backed by scientific research and evidence. The ELI assessment provides you a series of 70 questions and provides an accurate image of your energetic profile. It shows you exactly how much energy you spend on each energy level when you are calm and when you are stressed. Basically, it is a mapping of the process in which you perceive and react to the world around you. It also helps you identify what areas in life are causing you to resonate on those energy levels and provides the foundational information required to build a plan to elevate your energy.

Understanding the Assessment Process

The assessment is only provided through certified practitioners (ELI-MP) who will conduct the assessment and provide a debrief to you. In this session, you will learn about the seven layers of energy, discuss and identify the causes and triggers, and potentially develop a plan to elevate your energy and change your perception and habits to support this process.

The causes for demonstrating low energetic behaviors are rooted in most cases in energy blocks. Those blocks are not only dragging you down, but those are also thought patterns that prevent you from growing and becoming a better self, achieving your goals, and certainly becoming a better leader.

Example of Assessment Results

Here is a small example of what you could expect:

After taking the assessment, you will get an assessment result document that includes two graphs: one graph shows the energy spread of your normal everyday behavior, and the other one demonstrates your reaction and energy level when under stress. You can learn more about the energy levels and what they mean in this blog).

Let's assume that your assessment results indicate a high level (Primary) of energy level 3, followed by a high level 2 energy. Your stress results show a high level 2 (default level) followed by level 1.

Working with your practitioner, you realize that most of the time, you just go through the motion, not really excited or motivated, and in many cases act impatiently, expecting things to be done your way. You get irritated easily and when that happens, you are upset and not so friendly to those around you.

Looking a little deeper, you may realize that a series of events when you tried to be helpful in the past did nothing but get you in trouble, and you have developed a coping mechanism not to be taken advantage of, and not to get in trouble.

Identifying energy blockers like assumptions, interpretations, limited beliefs, or behavioral patterns you have developed to protect yourself - is the first important step to deeply understanding how and why you behave and react the way you do.

The Next Level: ELI-360 Assessment

The next level of ELI assessment is called ELI-360 and it takes the assessment to a whole new level, particularly for a leadership role. The ELI-360 assessment starts with the same foundational ELI assessment and adds an evaluation of 36 different leadership competencies in almost any area required to demonstrate a good leadership role. The leadership skills are assessed not only by you but also by people of your choice in many circles of life - your coworkers, peers, friends, family, or any circle that applies to your situation. So now - you have a multi-dimensional picture of your leadership - areas you feel you should improve, insight into the way you are perceived by others, and the perception and thoughts that may contribute to these behaviors. This is an extremely powerful tool that provides you the deepest insight for your journey to become a better self and a better leader.

Impact of ELI Assessment on Relationships and Partnerships

The ELI assessment is an excellent tool to understand and improve your relationship and energetic profile in general. It has a huge impact on improving the foundational trust and relationship with the people you most interact with, like your spouse or your business partners. When taken by all partners in a business partnership, the impact of this assessment is astounding and improves the energetic bond drastically, yielding a much more coherent, engaged, and profitable outcome.

Back on Track: Your Partner in Energy Leadership

At Back on Track, our coaches are certified to conduct and debrief the ELI assessment. Back on Track specializes in coaching small business partnerships and can provide the guidance for both energetic elevation and business development.

Learn More and Take the Assessment

You can find more information about the ELI assessment and take the assessment here, and for the ELI-360 assessment - here.

The cost of the assessment is minimal, and the benefits are huge. I personally took this assessment more than once, and can attest - it is a life-transforming insight.