{"id":882,"date":"2021-05-27T12:57:30","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T02:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herrmann.com.au\/blog\/?p=882"},"modified":"2023-07-19T12:27:15","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T02:27:15","slug":"energy-management-optimising-teams-brainpower-whole-brain-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/herrmann.com.au\/blog\/2021\/05\/energy-management-optimising-teams-brainpower-whole-brain-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Energy management: Optimising your team\u2019s brainpower with Whole Brain\u00ae Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″ da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.9.10″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

It’s been over a year since the global COVID-19 pandemic began, and many remote teams are feeling like they\u2019re constantly running on fumes. Beyond the stresses of the health and economic situations, days spent on endless, back-to-back virtual meetings, sharing your workspace with family\u2026 it is easy to feel drained despite a partial return to the office.<\/p>\n

For years, a top productivity concern was time management – now it has shifted to energy management. Here are some of the best techniques we\u2019ve learned for energy management to support wellness and resilience and avoid burnout in remote or hybrid work.<\/p>\n

Managing Cognitive Load<\/h2>\n

The many apps involved in remote work can quickly overwhelm you with endless notifications that increase your cognitive load and in turn decrease focus and productivity (not to mention potential distractions from family, social media, or your cat\/desk-mate).<\/p>\n

One well-established technique to manage cognitive load is chunking out specific work within defined time windows, known as \u2018time-boxing\u2019, and blocking specific times in your calendar to protect those time-boxes. This ensures you aren\u2019t depleting your brain\u2019s capacity for productive work.<\/p>\n

Better still, categorising your calendar time boxes based on the type of thinking that is required can help you align different types of thinking to the best times to do that type of work.<\/p>\n

How do you know which activities to do when? Your HBDI\u00ae profile results will tell you which types of thinking you prefer most and least, both on a typical day as well as when you\u2019re under pressure. It also reports on the times when you have more or less energy, so that you can take that into account when planning your day.<\/p>\n

For example, if you have the most energy in the mornings, you should do the work that requires the thinking you least prefer when you start your day. This is because the thinking you actually prefer will be relatively easier to do when you have less energy, and could even re-energise you. If you leave the work you least prefer to when you have the least energy, chances are you won\u2019t end up doing it (or will do it poorly).<\/p>\n

Creating \u2018Flow State\u2019 Routines<\/h2>\n

Creating routines around specific types of thinking also helps you manage your energy to make your day more productive, as well as helping to eliminate decision fatigue and procrastination.<\/p>\n

For example, if you always design in the morning and do meetings in the afternoon, there are 2 fewer decisions to make when you start your workday. Wake up, get coffee, and start designing. Eat lunch, come back to your workspace, and open up Zoom. For those who were used to going into an office every day, these routines helped demarcate your day and get you into the headspace required for productivity. With our lives now a cacophonous mash-up of work and home life, you need to be more intentional about creating the space for flow.<\/p>\n

These methods are backed by growing research on the benefits of routines for flow states. The research of Ronald T. Kellogg, a cognitive scientist, has shed some light on the routines of writing and creative flow<\/a>. His work shows evidence that \u201cenvironments, schedules, and rituals restructure the writing process and amplify performance… The principles of memory retrieval suggest that certain practices should amplify performance. These practices encourage a state of flow rather than one of anxiety or boredom… The room, time of day, or ritual selected for working may enable or even induce intense concentration or a favourable motivational or emotional state.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Herrmann, we also require meetingless Mondays or meetingless mornings to protect for time-boxed \u2018deep work\u2019 that requires uninterrupted focus. Each team member selects a 4-hour block, scheduled into each Monday, that is universally accepted as \u2018protected time\u2019 that no one can book over.<\/p>\n

Understanding your thinking preferences<\/h2>\n

With the insights we gain from individual HBDI\u00ae profiles, we\u2019re able to ascertain to a certain degree whether we or a team member may be suffering from burnout based on their thinking and behaviour.<\/p>\n

Knowing the signs of burnout can be incredibly useful – prevention is always better than cure. Here\u2019s what you can do:<\/p>\n

If you preference The Analytical Mindset you may be approaching burnout if:<\/h2>\n