"Every leader, team and organisation evolves a unique DNA and energy level. This determines performance.
John Raddall, CEO Quanta Consulting
You cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear. Low energy generates poor performance. High energy generates superior performance.
If you want high performance you need 'silk purse' type DNA and the science-based tools to sculpt it.
TheGCIndex offers the perfect solution."
The Burning Platform and a Dash of Enlightenment
We know from many sources that leadership training globally has a spectacularly high failure rate. (Why Leadership Training Fails. Beer, Finnstrom and Schrader. Harvard Business Revue.)
We also know that over a century ago William James stated that 99.999% of all our thoughts and actions are governed by unconscious habitual actions.
Logic suggests a clear connection and reason for this leadership training failure. If William James was correct then each of us lives in a more deterministic world than we ever imagined, where free will is largely illusory. Thus if the underlying behavioural DNA remains unchanged, then all attempts at leadership transformation will fail. Period.
The only solution therefore is to know how to sculpt new behavioural DNA, unshackling ourselves from our habitual and unconscious actions that rule our lives.
William James also offered us a light at the end of this rather dark tunnel.
He said that a sustainable change in our habitual actions will lead to a change in our biology. Recent research in this field has confirmed this. Particularly with regard to brain plasticity.
From this enlightenment emerges a scientific solution and the magic of TheGCIndex. An initial condition of enormous energy potential.
TheGCIndex. The essential Energy Fractal that drives all performance.
Human potential energy is the product of intelligent thinking and intelligent action, limited by personal or environmental constraints. This potential energy is the fuel that converts into kinetic energy or energy in action. High energy leaders, teams and organisations are always more creative, competitive and profitable than low energy leaders, teams and organisations.
And the GCIndex is the perfect energy fractal or initial condition that can drive higher energy levels in organisations.
As a human there are but three things you can do. You can think. You can act. And you can interact with others.
How well you do these three things is determined by two factors. Your level of energy and your unique behavioural DNA.
And the GCIndex measures all of this to perfection. It measures an individual's potential energy and reveals their unique behavioural DNA.
The GCIndex covers 100% of these three core elements - think, act, interact - in terms of five proclivities or 'behavioural nucleotides', the base of your DNA.
The GCIndex covers thinking with the two proclivities of The Gamechanger and The Strategist. In terms of actions think of the Magician and King archetypes. The magician is the creator of new ideas and the king converts these ideas into strategy and structure.
TheGCIndex covers action with the two proclivities of The Implementer and the Polisher. Again in terms of actions think of the Warrior and the Craftsman archetypes. The warrior is courageous, takes action, and gets things done, and is supported by the craftsman that drives quality and perfection.
TheGCIndex covers people interaction with The Playmaker proclivity. In terms of behaviour think of the Lover archetype who brings teams together, creating harmony, trust and space for people to connect, be creative and inspired. This is the essential leadership element that drives meritocracy, excellence, intelligence and character.
The GCIndex at Work. Revealing DNA. Generating Energy
In the diagram below, TheGCIndex profile is on the left revealing the individual's DNA and energy potential. Let's explore in more detail and create a 'genetic' strand based on the five 'behavioural nucleotides.'
Based on the energy levels ranked from highest to lowest we can say the genetic strand of this Financial Manager is Strat, GC, Impl, Plmkr, Pol (S,G,I,Pl,P) with the highest level of energy (persistence, volition, determination) at 80%.
This combination of genetic strand and energy level becomes a powerful predictor of potential behaviour in the real world.
In my previous blog I explained the concept of the energy fractal as an initial condition that has the potential to evolve and generate new emergent complexity in a non linear and dynamic environment.
This is precisely why The GCIndex is a critical energy fractal in organisations. It makes the invisible DNA of the individual, leader or team, visible. It is a powerful measure of potential energy and a predictor of kinetic energy.
And herein lies the potential power and magic of TheGCIndex. It predicts the future. If you know the DNA and energy level of the leader and team you can predict the outcome and performance.
And if you change the DNA and energy level, you change the future.
Unleashing the power of TheGCIndex at a Team Level
So far we have established TheGCIndex as a powerful tool to identify the potential energy and DNA of the individual. And that this combination predicts performance.
Our thesis is simple. Change the energy and DNA and you will change performance.
However we have found the really powerful magic of TheGCIndex to be at the team level and its direct impact on organisational energy, performance and profitability.
In the example below we can see that TheGCIndex Team DNA is low in two key areas - Strategic thinking and Playmaking - the King and Lover behavioural archetypes. Ideally a high energy and effective team will have a balanced DNA and energy levels of 7 or above on each proclivity.
Clearly this team profile has certain blind spots and pitfalls in its DNA. In this example the impact on Organisational Energy is clear. System energy is low and uncompetitive. Leadership is weak and ineffective. The climate is politicised and generally negative.
The chain of cause and effect is clear to see. A low energy and unbalanced team DNA will have a direct and low energy impact on the organisation.
Again the systemic solution is straightforward. Change the team energy and DNA and you will automatically change the performance of the organisation.
The 64,000 dollar question. How do you change behavioural DNA? Quanta's Energy Fractal Solution
In my previous blog I explained the importance of the energy fractal as an initial condition that has the potential over time to generate a new and more complex history. As examples I gave the wheel, language, flight and AI as powerful initial conditions that with sustainable repetition have had the power to evolve and define civilisation.
Further I defined the universe as an infinitely evolving sea of continuously emerging energy fractals, all competing with each other for a place in the sun. And this includes leaders, teams and organisations, each an energy fractal of increasing complexity, the success of which is determined by energy potential and behavioural DNA. All doomed to die eventually due to the eternal and onward march of entropy.
A critical point is the following. Just as we can describe the universe itself as a continuous flow of radiating energy from the sun to matter, so too can we describe an organisation as the continuous flow of energy radiating from the leader to the team, to the organisation. And this human energy is made of exactly the same 'stuff' at every level of the organisation - high or low, positive or negative.
Remember our formula for human energy - the product of intelligent thinking and action, limited by environmental constraints. And that 'high octane energy' drives innovation, inspiration and success and 'low octane energy' rings the inevitable death knell.
Despite the dynamic complexity, non linearity and unpredictability of the world around us, we posited the GCIndex as both a safe haven for the five 'behavioural nucleotides' that flow through the veins of an organisation, and as a logical measure of potential energy and behavioural DNA. Most importantly TheGCIndex is a solid platform for sculpting new DNA, higher system energy and higher performance.
Quanta's energy fractal method for changing individual, team and organisational performance is based entirely on the scientific reality and evolutionary power of initial conditions, as reflected in TheGCIndex. If we recognise each person as an initial condition with a unique but fluid DNA and energy level, we have a new basis for developing more effective leaders, teams and organisations.
Key to our energy fractal method is in knowing exactly how to modify the individual as an initial condition, altering the DNA and energy potential. See this as a conscious and intelligent 'genetic re-engineering' exercise.
Thus the answer to the 64,000 dollar question is simple. If you want to change the output, change the input.
Future blogs will provide further detail.