Blog Entries in FEBI Learning Lounge

Hey all - I am John Swain - just dropping in to introduce myself to the dialogue.  I am 3/4 through the FEBI certification process and still exploring its usefulness in my leadership consulting practice.  I was intrigued with FEBI when Ginny introduced it about 4-5 years ago and even more interested now given the new insights on adult development through the neuroscience breakthroughs that connect our behaviour more tightly to our neuro pathways.

I look forward to checking in the Learning Lounge ... Read More

We recently caught up with Andrew Elowitt, one of our FEBI Certified Coaches.  Andrew has been keeping himself busy with a thriving consulting practice, New Actions, and a book to be released this winter.  We asked Andrew to tell us about how the FEBI and Energy Patterns have been supporting his practice…

"I recently used the FEBI during an executive management team retreat for the North American business unit of a ... Read More

“Freud. Jung. Schlockbauer.” Thus begins my own story of an encounter with a remarkable psychologist you’ve never heard of who was the inspiration behind me becoming a psychologist. It’s also a classic “triple” as master story instructor, Doug Stevenson, would teach me in his workshop: Story Theater. Triples – where the 3^rd term is a surprise from the way the 1^st two lead your mind, and is a great technique in stories and humor. Doug would know; he has a long ... Read More

Q: How I can support a team over a long term development – towards their strategy/vision and business development. What techniques can I use?

A: Our idea of “energy balance” in using the FEBI is not that a team or an individual uses every pattern equally.  But rather that they use their strengths to be what they’re great at, and bring out enough of their weaker patterns to stay out of trouble. That’s the same principle I’d offer ... Read More

As a yet uncertified FEBI practitioner, you can imagine my surprise when one of my clients results came back at:  Driver 139; Organizer 140, Collaborator 138; and Visionary 120.  Remember that the scale stops at 140.

I immediately sent a HELP email to Anthony, and here is a summary of his reply:

We’ve been having lively discussion in our FEBI cert session around the difficult emotions that can surface when someone receives a FEBI report with Very Low scores in it, and reads some of the language around what Very Low can mean. I’d like to offer first, how I’d handle this now as a coach and second what we’re considering as a change in the FEBI report based on your comments. 

A question was posed on the FEBI cert webinar today around how long it takes to change one's use of the patterns.  A way to frame up what "change" means is to think of it as a shift of habit: I'm used to using a certain pattern in this situation and now I want to use a different pattern.  What we know from neuroscience is that learning is mediated by making new connections in the nervous system, and that the system needs ... Read More

Ever had one of those days?  It starts with a traffic jam, continues with phone calls and emails at work until finally BOOM…bring on the rage.  We can all think of times in which our own anger meter rises close to or over the top.  So what happens to us when we experience rage?  An article in this month’s edition of Psychology Today asked the question of how rage changes our physiology.  Here is what they found:

·Read More

FEBI Certified User Rhonda Morton has just gone live with her new website, www.possibilityapplied.com for her consulting firm, Savannah Consulting. Rhonda’s work focuses on whole-brain intelligence, managed disruption, collaborative creativity, intuition and imagination, unbridled capacity and passionate engagement. As a solo-preneur for nearly 25 years, Rhonda utilizes her experience writing for Fortune 100 companies, advertising agencies and non-profits, along with her passion as an artist and innovator, to help her clients reach their ... Read More

I am reviewing the FEBI reports for the first team I will work with--tomorrow! In one of the reports, under "primary style" and "backup style", nothing is indicated.  I am not sure how to interpret this. The person's preferences were all "low", with the exception of the organizer pattern, which was "moderate". It would seem that no pattern was strong enough to elicit a combination of patterns to make up a style. What would be the best way to approach ... Read More

I'm working with a few teams right now, setting up "packages" formatted like this:

1. Individuals take FEBI and I send them their reports.

2. Team comes together for an introductory workshop (experiential, designed to let them "feel" the energies and to play and think about them with right-brain activities.

3. I coach individuals one-on-one.

4. Team comes together for a facilitated group meeting where we will work with the team's overall energy patterns to create an action plan for how to work better ... Read More

Q: How much do the answers on the FEBI reflect how you want to see yourself vs. how you actually behave and feel? It seems crucial to have conversations with others to test the veracity of the FEBI report.

A: Conversations with others absolutely help to bring the FEBI report to life and tease out its insights.  I usually start a FEBI coaching session by testing the FEBI results against a person's own experience, as well as my experience of their energy.  If ... Read More

Q: What if I, or a person I'm coaching, want to see a development table other than the one in the FEBI report?

A: We include the development table for the weakest pattern - and any low scoring pattern - in the FEBI report, as our research has shown that in more than 3/4's of the cases, the areas for development that others perceive in a person relate to one's 4th pattern.  However, as you say, sometimes it's another pattern that's ... Read More

Some great questions have come up in this spring's FEBI certification webinar, and this is a good place to post a few answers. 

Q: All of my patterns were moderate and fairly close together.  What are the implications of this vs. when patterns are far apart?

A: It's common for scores to be in the moderate range; the FEBI report is scaled so that about 65% of the scores will fall in this mid-range (note: when we launch FEBI 2.0 later this ... Read More

Dear Clients, Friends, Colleagues and Acquaintances,

You know our commitment to research around the FEBI and energy patterns, and this year we’re excited to launch a two-part study to make the FEBI even stronger and better understand its connection to another instrument, the NEO.

Which one of these 4 requests would get you to join us?

Click here to take the FEBI 2.0. I bet you don’t have what it takes to complete ... Read More

Near the end of our FEBI certification webinar yesterday, I was asked how I would – in a 30 sec pitch to a client - differentiate the FEBI from other assessments. What are 3-4 key talking points? Great question! Here’s my answer:

1-       Connects Being with Doing

Creates an immersion experience where leaders feel on the inside how they need to ... Read More

Loeke Richter, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Just starting to use FEBI in my professional life, I like to share the wonderful experience I had with a 3-woman pilot group. One of the goals of my assignment is to make them- forced to work together due to reorganization- a team, inside/outside. Their manager‘s biggest worry is that that don’t show a strong coming out as a team. I only have 4 sessions with ... Read More

Just reconnected this week with a former client - a seasoned CFO who had been around the financial world as AIG was falling apart and Wall St. was in meltdown. I was curious to get his impressions of the role in leadership in all that mess – was it a failure in leadership? And, if so, what could we be doing ... Read More