1.  Working on the potential of individuals, teams and companies: the HPM (Human Performance & Potential Modelling) method

People travel to be amazed by the mountains, the seas,

of rivers, of stars and pass alongside themselves

without being surprised

(St. Augustine)

 

Fundamental concepts: the vision of the person as an energy system

The HPM method derives its acronym from its primary objective, Modeling, or “giving shape”, generating impulse, contribution and stimulus to the growth of the person, teams and organizations.

The method has two distinct spheres of application, connected to each other:

• growth of human potential: Human Potential Modeling, and
• performance development: Human Performance Modeling.

The method contains a conception of man as an articulation of physical and mental energies, micro and macro-skills, planning and aspirations.

The method identifies six specific “work cells”, on which each of us, regardless of our starting condition, can make progress, no matter if small or large. And, for every small achievement, new horizons open up that invite us to move forward, in a continuous exploration of what it means to progress, in its deepest sense.

“Entering” these six cells allows us to build serious and effective growth projects, be they the “liberation” from what holds us back, or the increase in our personal resources, both tangible (e.g. a better body) and intangible (e.g. increase in wisdom and life spirituality).

The amplification of the energies and abilities of an individual or of an entire group or company can project us towards new goals and new ways of being. Becoming fully aware of one’s potentials and fighting to reach them is an operation that has its own sacredness, beyond the numerical or professional result that may derive from it.

Understanding this is essential today to do serious corporate training, to be researchers or teachers worthy of the name, but also in coaching, in focusing (focusing development needs), in consultancy, in personal growth projects, when examining a person or an organization, understood as a complex of circulating energies, its human side, its vital spirit.

The HPM method groups together all the factors highlighted in a pyramid model (physical and mental energies, micro and macro-skills, planning and aspirations) and considers them aspects that can be trained, increased and which can be acted upon. We are therefore preparing to work on this model.

Below we show a graphic preview, which highlights the six specific work areas, each of which is explored in depth, but certainly not exhausted.

Exhausting every single area would be too big a claim, while opening a discussion and offering contributions and useful and operational tools on each one is already possible.

Human potential and human performance are two different but closely related areas of study, as are the foundations of a building and its upper floors.

No one would, with a modicum of common sense, build a skyscraper on unstable foundations. The work on potential is, as a metaphor, similar to the work of building solid foundations, while performances give us a sense of height, of how high we can go.

Each of us feels the need, sooner or later, to develop our potential, but also to access higher existential planes, to research, to grow.

We can suffocate this natural human instinct, but it’s like trying not to breathe, sooner or later the need comes out, and it’s good to listen to it.

The HPM model analyzes the human being as an energy system, a synergy of forces (physical and mental), the amplification of which can increase the degree of happiness, success and potential for achievement.

This complex system is composed of subsystems, which can have a variable state of charge, and function well or poorly, with intermediate degrees of efficiency and effectiveness.

To analyze the global potential of the person, not only on a physical or intellectual level, but as a human being as a whole, we need to locate which are the micro and macro-districts on which we can act and how these interact with each other.

We must also know how to move the analysis zoom from micro to macro, from particular to general, and vice versa.

Below is a brief summary of the main contents of the six work “cells”:

• the bioenergetic substrate and physical energies: it frames the biological part of the human being, the body and physical energies, the organic and biological state of fitness that supports individual energies; includes the analysis of bodily energies and the functioning of the organism, how it can be repaired or “enhanced”, the effects of lifestyle and the holistic approach to the body, attention to local economies (of specific physical districts) and to general energies;
• the psychoenergetic substrate and mental energies: this area regards psychological energies, motivational forces, the state of mental fitness necessary to face challenges, projects, goals and objectives. It aims to analyze and intervene on mental abilities, such as concentration, tactical clarity, strategic skills, perception skills, use of memory, sensorial amplification, up to the ability to live passions, review our way of being, take back control of our role in life with greater assertiveness, rethinking oneself, creating motivation in oneself and in the team, developing courage and perseverance, using a productive and positive thinking style;
• micro-skills: the micro-details that give depth to the potential, the psychological and psychomotor micro-skills that make the difference in a managerial or sporting performance, the micro-cognitive (reasoning) skills, which create a difference between an execution: mediocre, average or excellent, the relational and communication micro-skills on which quality work depends;
• macro-skills: the major tools (competencies, skills, abilities) that make up the profile of a role; the trajectories of change that the scenario around us undergoes, how to remain aware of it and in full control; the range of skills or portfolio of skills of an individual or a team, and how this must be revisited, retrained, trained, to live up to the objectives that each of us sets ourselves and the challenges we want to take on;
• goals and planning: the structuring of effort for something or against something concrete (an ideal transformed into a project); the ability to develop an objective into action, to set deadlines and intermediate goals, the focus of application of energies and skills, their translation into specific operational plans and expected results;
• vision, principles and values, mission: ideals, moral principles, dreams, aspirations, values, spiritual forces, the profound drivers that direct personal priorities, the anchors of sense and meaning that connect projects to a deeper level, personal choices, the sense of mission. It also concerns the primordial background of desires and impulses that drive our doing and acting, the sense of cause and – last but not least – our spiritual and existential experience, with a strong attention to the spiritual level a person can reach.

Each of these states or “cells” can have a certain level of “charge”, be “full”, “abundant”, well cultivated, well exercised, or instead be “exhausted”, deprived, weakened, impoverished, or even neglected and mistreated, malnourished, abandoned.

As the charge in the different systems increases, the overall energy of the person, the teams, and the organizations they comprise increases, with very tangible effects: results, performance, ability to decide, to impact and produce positive change. These results depend on the state of the different systems, the ability to cultivate and nourish them.

Their local condition and the interaction between the different “cells” can produce the maximum potential or present negative synergies, or damage and malfunctions that prevent human beings from expressing themselves fully.

Personal resources and individual potential can be “read” but above all amplified through serious work on the six areas.

On a managerial and sporting level, in teams and companies, the implications are equally evident: the mental and physical state of people, their motivation, their skills, their planning, their moral depth, make the difference between dull people or teams, and capable, strong, motivated people, teams or organizations, full of energy and enthusiasm, eager to face challenges and make real contributions.

An effective model for working on human potential

Asking yourself what your potential is and how much of it you have explored or achieved is not a trivial question.

This happens in some particular moments in life when it becomes important for us to achieve something, improve, and express ourselves.

When this happens, a feeling inside us changes. From external reality we begin to shift attention towards internal reality.

We ask ourselves questions, some of these may hurt, others open new horizons, but it doesn’t matter, since they positively challenge us. No question is useless when we think about the meaning of who we are and what we want, when we ask ourselves if and how we would like to build something to be proud of (a performance, or a contribution to others or to a cause), or simply to be different or better.

For many, the outcome of greater attention to personal potential is the desire to explore it, or leave a mark, start projects, be able to look back and be proud of how we have lived, of what we are and have been, and give a positive message to those who will follow us on the journey of life. For others, however, everything remains stuck in uninterrupted and self-destructive mental rumination. Blocked energies corrode and destroy rather than produce and generate well-being, life force, love and passion.

The difference between the two outcomes (growth and development vs. negative mental rumination) lies in having a model and support that helps you better identify goals and the paths to take to get there.

Failures, falls, blocks, errors are an integral part of this journey, but their occurrence does not change their value in the slightest.

What differentiates a man from a stone is that “being compressed”, buried, being transported without wondering where, or remaining pressed and immobile, is acceptable for the latter but not for the former.

Man has an intrinsic need to “fly”, to express himself, to “research”, to give meaning to his life, and even to every single day or action.

Those who deny this need for expression and growth apply one of the most self-destructive psychological mechanisms that exist, identified in literature as self-silencing: silencing oneself, killing one’s aspirations, putting a cap on one’s dreams, stopping believing in something, thinking that everything is useless, that it’s not worth it, that the difficulties are too many, or that the world has always been like this after all.

Lies. Lies we tell ourselves to avoid entering (just to use another technical term) “cognitive dissonance”, the uncomfortable condition we encounter when we realize that something in our life is not going as we would like, or that we could be better or simply different. Cultivating human potential is instead a moment of liberation.

There are also medical implications: when a person lacks mental energy, or no longer has any values or ideals to support him, or lacks the skills to cope with life, the body suffers and can become ill [1].

Wanting to progress, asking questions, “who, what, where, with whom, why”, is an inevitable goal or step for every sensitive soul.

Giving impetus to the journey of life always makes sense. It can happen whether you only want your own personal evolution, or whether the path is aimed at a professional and corporate improvement.

Both journeys have depth and value. Both are worthy of attention and support, because a stagnant and lifeless person is not useful to anyone, just as it is not useful to have incapable and unmotivated companies and teams.

The strongest teams in the world, and the greatest champions of all time in every discipline, or the greatest thinkers in history, are such because they continue to ask themselves questions and do not escape “the call of nature”, the ancestral drive that tells us about evolution, which pushes us to progress, to be better.

Without a model to help us find directions for growth, our effort can be noble but in vain. We run, we hurry, we invest time and energy, but often without a good orientation map. The result is enormous dispersion.

A good model, on the other hand, helps you find your way more quickly. If a model does not offer stimuli, directions and orientations, it is completely useless, like finding your way on a wrong or upside-down map.

Furthermore, a model of human potential can be used in concrete projects of business coaching, consultancy, corporate training, sports coaching, but also in counselling, leadership courses and training.

Ever since man has existed, he has strived to build maps to orient himself and not get lost. We have maps of the deepest layers of the earth, of the seas, of the cosmos, but – strangely – we are not provided with effective maps to orient us in our personal development or in the unexplored territories of human potential. Accompanying people on this journey is, for me, an honor.

Energy economies: working on local districts and overall energies

The human being has its own global energy economy, a set of delicate balances from which emerges its degree of overall “power”, the ability to deal with cases, actions, challenges, small, large, simple or complex problems, dominating them, or – otherwise – being crushed by them.

The alchemy of entire personal energies is decidedly complex.

Local districts of the human system also have their own local economy. We can examine not only the whole, but also specific parts.

The energy economy concerns both macro-districts (e.g. physical and mental) up to, going down in scale, touching very specific micro-economies.

Local economies exist in physical districts, such as a shoulder, a knee, a stomach, and every other organ.

The same goes for economies linked to mental skills, such as concentration or decision-making clarity. The mind has its own general economies that lead it to function well or poorly, as well as economies in specific cognitive areas, e.g., creativity. Each district (both bodily and cerebral) is also an open system, and is affected by the districts with which it interacts. The complex of individual energies is therefore articulated and connects to the performances that the person may or may not generate.

Each organ lives on exhaustible resources, has its own holding capacity and its own stress and breaking points, which cannot be ignored. For example, in rheumatology the concept of “joint economy” is studied, i.e. the “economy of the joint” [2]. Each area of the body, like a knee, has its own local economy, and we can ask ourselves how much a person can run without inflaming it, what physical activities strengthen or damage it, what type of nutrients are needed to keep the cartilage in good condition, and again how to lift a heavy object without damaging the knee.

Asking people to perform without studying (1) the state of the overall energy economies, and, (2) the local economies most directly involved in the specific performance, is like asking a horse to run without checking whether it has eaten or whether it has hooves. It means not caring and squeezing it and then throwing it away, and this is not our philosophy.

We are not even of the opinion that it is good to massage the horse for a year until he wants to run (useless do-goodism), but we also do not think it is useful or right to whip him to squeeze out every last bit of reserve energy. What is needed is a careful training strategy.

The approach is to remove (1) hypocrisy and do-goodism, (2) unnecessary aggressiveness, and (3) improvisation.

To technically work towards the expected performances, we must cultivate personal development and energetic condition, respecting both the sacredness of the person and the sacredness of the objective.

Changing behaviors, carefully studying the state of a physical and/or mental district, taking it into account in one’s lifestyle, allows you to better manage the energies and condition of both the district and your entire personal activity.

Optimizing the “specific economy” of physical districts, reducing trauma or damage to a minimum, allows us to expand people’s operational possibilities. Specific research shows how by taking local economies into account and optimizing gestures and behaviors it is possible to allow those who have suffered trauma to return to work or train. This attention to local and overall energies and economies must be extended well beyond the disease front.

The same reasoning “by districts” also affects the economies of mental and cognitive functioning. For example, we have an “economy of decision-making skills”, an “economy of anxiety”, and also an “economy of attention”, or an “economy of relational skills”. If we talk a lot and forcefully for work, we realize that we no longer feel like talking about work, perhaps during a break, and we would like to avoid other obligatory relational activities. This is an example of it.

We touch energy levels first-hand every time a variable is called into action, for example, for the attention economy, we note its existence every time a speaker goes on stage or a teacher teaches, and we notice how we can stay attentive.

If we haven’t slept for days or have a severe toothache, or headache, we will have no attention span, our economy will have been deprived, our energies will be emptied or absorbed by something else.

And again, the teacher’s skills and interest in the topic will have an impact, in a changing relationship and with balance dependent on many variables.

The final message, even in an introductory context like this, is that – to work seriously on human and organizational potential – we need the ability to move the level of analysis from micro to macro, and vice versa, with a strong zoom ability, a mental stretching which is itself a training work.

[1]A logical consequence that we cannot hide is that medicine should therefore also deal with these phenomena, joining psychology and other sciences, in a single discipline of the overall functioning of the human being.

[2]See for example the study by Pasqui, F., Mastrodonato, L., Ceccarelli, F., Scrivo, R., Magrini, L., Riccieri, V., Di Franco, M., Gentili, M., Valesini, G ., Spadaro, A., (2006), Occupational therapy in rheumatoid arthritis: short-term prospective study in patients treated with anti-TNF-alpha drugs . Occupational therapy in rheumatoid arthritis: short term prospective study in patients treated with anti-TNF-alpha drugs, Rheumatism, 58 (3), pp. 191-198.

Human Potential by Dr. Daniele Trevisani – relevant keywords of the article

• Human Potential
• Personal Development
• Self-Growth
• Performance Optimization
• Mindset Coaching
• Leadership Development
• Emotional Intelligence
• Goal Setting
• Mental Resilience
• High Performance
• Behavioral Change
• Self-Discovery
• Motivation Strategies
• Coaching Techniques
• Neuroplasticity
• Cognitive Enhancement
• Strength-Based Development
• Personal Energy Management
• Psychological Well-being
• Empowerment Strategies
• Transformational Coaching
• Self-Efficacy
• Adaptive Thinking
• Decision Making Skills
• Stress Management
• Self-Motivation
• Productivity Boosting
• Mental Clarity
• Focus Enhancement
• Peak Performance Training
• Confidence Building
• Emotional Regulation
• Growth Mindset
• Self-Actualization
• Personal Effectiveness
• Goal Achievement
• Success Coaching
• Strategic Thinking
• Behavioral Psychology
• Performance Psychology
• Inner Strength Development
• Resilience Training
• Self-Leadership
• Coaching Methodologies
• Self-Awareness Techniques
• Life Balance Strategies
• Vision and Purpose
• Change Management
• Mental Toughness
• Holistic Performance Improvement