Energy Audit

A VP of Operations describes being exhausted but says every item on her plate is 'critical.' She's been running at this pace for 18 months and knows something has to change but can't see what. She frames the problem as workload volume, but when pressed she can't name a single meeting she'd be willing to remove.

Position this as a diagnostic, not a decision tool. 'We're not going to figure out what to cut yet. We're going to map what's actually happening to your energy across your day and week - what charges you, what drains you, and how much intensity each has. Once we have the map, the decisions are usually clearer.' Clients who believe everything is critical will often reveal through the audit that the most draining items are not the most critical ones.

Watch for everything in the Neutral column. A client who rates most of her work as neither charging nor draining has likely numbed out - she's stopped tracking her own responses. That flatness is itself data worth naming. Also watch for high-intensity Drains in categories the client describes as 'part of the job' - recurring senior leadership meetings, for example, that she feels she can't question. The intensity rating matters as much as the D/N/C designation.

Start with the Drains column and ask her to sort them by intensity, not frequency. 'Which of these is the highest intensity drain?' Then: 'If that thing happened 30% less often, what would shift?' Don't go straight to 'what can you eliminate' - that's the question she's been stuck on. Start with what a partial reduction would produce. The surprising pattern question often surfaces the most useful material: ask her to read her answer aloud rather than summarize it.

A 42-year-old marketing director is seriously considering leaving corporate to consult independently. She's been in corporate marketing for 16 years and is competent but increasingly disengaged. She doesn't know whether the disengagement is about the specific company, the function, or the employment model itself, and she needs clarity before making a significant financial decision.

Frame this as a decision tool, not a complaint inventory. 'Before we talk about what to do next, let's map what you're actually responding to energetically in your current role. The audit separates what drains you from what charges you across six categories - the pattern will help us understand whether this is a company problem, a role problem, or a structure-of-work problem.' The D/N/C intensity ratings are particularly useful here because they separate mild annoyances from fundamental mismatches.

Watch whether the Drains are primarily in the Work Tasks category or in the People/Relationships and Environment categories. If tasks charge her and people drain her, the consulting model may reproduce the same people dynamics in a different context. If tasks are the drains, that's more likely a role or function issue. If environment items (open office, commute, meeting-heavy culture) dominate the Drains column at high intensity, a structural change would address those directly.

Start with the Charges column. 'Which of these would you carry with you into consulting?' Then: 'Which of your top Drains would consulting actually eliminate, versus just change the name of?' This moves from fantasy of the new role to an honest comparison. The surprising pattern she identified often reveals something she hadn't let herself admit about why the current situation stopped working.

A manager promoted eight months ago is seeing his team's engagement scores drop in quarterly surveys. His manager has asked him to address it. He's working harder than ever, holding more one-on-ones, running better meetings. He attributes the disengagement to a difficult organizational climate that affects everyone. His own energy is also declining, which he hasn't connected to his team's experience.

Use this as a parallel-track tool - he completes the audit about his own energy, and separately you discuss what his team's audit might look like. 'Let's start with your own energy map. What charges you in this role, what drains you, and how much intensity each carries.' The connection between his energy state and his team's experience is the insight this tool is positioned to surface - but let the data make that case rather than asserting it upfront.

Watch whether the items he identifies as Charges are primarily solo work - strategy, analysis, problem-solving - while the items in the Drains column are interaction-heavy: one-on-ones, performance conversations, managing conflict between team members. A manager who is energized by the work and drained by the people-management demands will transmit that to the team through subtle disengagement, regardless of how many one-on-ones he holds.

Start with the one-actionable-change he identified. 'Walk me through why you chose that one.' Then ask: 'If your team did this audit, what do you think would show up in their Drains column?' This is where the connection between his energy and theirs can be explored. Clients who are drained by managing people often haven't given themselves permission to name that, and this provides the opening.