I had something else planned for the newsletter this week, I was writing about my FEEDBACK research and then I found myself diving deep into the world of Human Design, so I switched the script. My client, Bridget Brown of The Advisory Guild (permission was granted to share) asked me to take a look at her Human Design chart to help her strategize an upcoming work presentation. I thought sharing part of our strategy and how it came about would provide an opportunity to walk you through my approach to readings and illuminate how you can use Human Design as a really helpful and laser focused actionable tool in all aspects of your life.
Bridget was seeking direction on strategy for a series of daylong presentations to a team at a client’s organization. The plan was to create a presentation and experience that would clearly explain Bridget’s role, would meet the needs of the team along with the intention of leadership, tackle complex problems currently facing the team, and allow for plenty of space and potential for collaboration and connection. Already understanding the introductory aspects of her design - Type, Strategy, Authority, Signature and Profile, we were able to really focus on Bridget’s energy center of communication, which in Human Design is the Throat Center.
The Human Design Body Graph includes 9 Energy Centers. When you create your Body Graph on my website, the Energy Centers are the different shapes descending from top to bottom of the Graph starting with a triangle and ending in a square. The Throat Center is the square third down from the top. All of the Energy Centers flow to the Throat Center. It is through the Throat Center that we communicate our ideas, desires, and motivations.
Energy Centers can be Defined - colored in, Undefined - white (but with Defined Gates - the colored in little circles with the numbers) or Open - completely white without any Defined Gates. Each of these aspects hold meaning and insight into how we can most effectively communicate and make decisions. Bridget has an Undefined Throat, which provided us with many clues on how to organize her presentation to meet her goals and allow her to shine in her role and area of expertise with ease, creativity and effectiveness.
Undefined Centers are thought of as our greatest teachers in Human Design. It is where we are the most open to the energy of others. We have the most flexibility here as our approach to whatever is guided by these centers is beautifully inconsistent and open to influence. While this can be challenging to harness, especially, without a psychologically minded perspective, our Undefined Centers are the places where we have the potential for the most growth and also wisdom.
Having an Undefined Throat can often feel like needing to talk a lot to be heard. A discomfort with silence and a worry that you are not being heard at all. A pressure to get your point across, or to speak even when you are uncertain or have nothing authentic to contribute. Also, conversely, an Undefined Throat Center can create so much worry about being heard, that there can be a tendency to shut down and not speak very much at all. People with Undefined Throats are here to learn that the anxiety, pressure, and stress they have about speaking up and speaking out does not belong to them. It is energy about using their voice and the fear of communication that they pick up on from others. Remember, Undefined Centers are susceptible to the energy of others.
People with Undefined Throats have such powerful ideas to contribute that when they do speak, it lands best if it is at the right time and to an audience that is ready to hear what they have to say. This ability to read the energy of the room in terms of communication is a GIFT! It enables those with an Undefined Throat the ability to be most effective when they communicate in a spontaneous way and respond to their audience instead of speaking with a fully flushed out agenda. They excel at answering unexpected questions and knowing exactly what needs to be addressed in the moment. Undefined Throats give their attention to others and know what to share, when to share it and when to listen. Cool, right?
Undefined Throats are not connected via channel to other Energy Centers so communication may be flavored by any of the other Energy Centers. This is why Undefined Throats are said to be inconsistent in their communication style. It’s not that they are inconsistent communicators, it is that they are open to other centers when it comes to communication. They may communicate from an emotional place, then from an intellectual place, in relation to their identity, self worth, etc. Their power lies in the flexibility of expression.
Here’s how we used Bridget’s design to create an actionable strategy for her presentation.
First we considered Bridget’s other Defined and Undefined Centers along with Type, Strategy, Authority and Signature to see how they all impact each other. Then we kept these in mind as we refocused on the Throat Center. For example, Bridget also has an Open Emotional Center. This is a beautiful pairing to her Undefined Throat Center as it enables her to pick up on the emotions of others. This ability matched with the ability to sense how others are feeling about their communication and being able to respond to that in the moment can be a really powerful combination. By being open to how others in the room are feeling and whether or not they wish to communicate, Bridget can use her gift of spontaneous communication to speak to the room in a way that is clear, compassionate and gives others a chance to be heard and valued.
Knowing that when most aligned Bridget communicates best from a place of response to her audience and in the moment, she decided upon a loose outline for the day instead of a detailed fully flushed out set of notes. We then strategized ways to keep her in this most aligned role using the question, how can we encourage participants to keep you on your toes and in a place of response to their energy and needs?
Structuring the day in a way that encourages participants to ask questions is key. This meets Bridget’s goal to have the team be fully heard, along with keeping Bridget in her wisdom of communicating in response and with spontaneity. We also talked about touchstones Bridget could use to remember to check in with how she is feeling at different points during the day to honor her flexible and open nature when it comes to communication and emotion. Is she anxious or stressed? Feeling uncertain? Feeling like she is rushed to say something? Not feeling heard? And use this to inform how the participants might be feeling and respond accordingly.
Bridget is well versed in her design and has experimented with enough of the framework to trust that she experiences more ease and clarity when using her design to inform her work strategy. But she did not get here overnight. It is a big ask right out of the gate to trust that speaking to a group from a place of pure response instead of detailed planning is what is most effective. Yikes! But in Bridget’s experience she trusts that this strategy yields the best results for her, keeps her in flow and feeling at ease and aligned. In short she knows this works better because she has tried it.
This is just one of the many ways our communication can be improved by using the framework of Human Design. You can imagine how effective understanding your design and the design of others can be in terms of leadership and organizational communication. And the impact goes much deeper than I have shared here. Human Design illuminates how each of us uniquely best connect, communicate, make decisions, and experience joy. It really has so much to offer.
Send me your questions, I would love to talk about how Human Design can help you!
xxx
LAS
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