From Personal to Collective —Energetics in Teams and Culture

Part 5 in The Frequency of Leadership Series

Your presence doesn’t stop at your skin.

The frequency you hold, whether grounded or scattered, steady or stormed, extends into the spaces you lead. It’s felt in how you open a meeting, how you respond to tension, how you listen or interrupt, how you breathe while others speak. This isn’t a mystical idea. It’s relational physics. Leadership energy doesn’t stay contained, it ripples.

What begins as an internal rhythm becomes a group pattern. And over time, that group pattern becomes culture.

Leadership presence is contagious. Mirror neurons in the brain are wired to pick up on the emotional states of others, especially those perceived to hold authority (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004). When a leader walks into a room holding tension, the team’s nervous system contracts. When that same leader enters with coherence, the team settles, even if nothing has been said.

This is the energetic dimension of leadership. It’s not about charisma. It’s about coherence.

Culture as a Field of Frequency

Culture is often described through values, mission statements, or behavioral norms. But beneath all of that is something quieter and more pervasive: energetic patterning.

Culture is the emotional atmosphere shaped by repeated signals. It’s how people feel when they’re not performing. It’s how teams navigate confusion, pressure, and silence. And it’s shaped most powerfully by what leaders practice, not just publicly, but privately.

A leader’s alignment, or disconnection, becomes a tuning fork.

Teams don’t just listen to what you say. They tune to how you are.

Take the example of Mateo, a founder of a social impact organization. He began practicing the 3-6-9 rhythm after noticing that his team often felt “on edge” by mid-afternoon. He realized the energy he brought into their 2 p.m. huddle, rushed, caffeinated, slightly irritable, was setting the tone. He started shifting his own rhythm, pausing for a 6-point breath before walking into the room. Within weeks, the change was noticeable. The team began arriving earlier to settle. Conversation slowed. Ideas surfaced. Mateo didn’t announce a new protocol. He simply returned to himself. And that return became a shared permission.

Culture doesn’t need mandates. It needs modeling.

Team Practices for Coherence

While the 3-6-9 rhythm begins personally, it can be extended into team life with subtle, human-scale practices:

• Shared Triads: At the start of a project cycle, invite team members to name three guiding energies they want to embody. These might be “curious, kind, precise” or “grounded, bold, patient.” Sharing them aloud helps align the group around presence, not just output.
• Energetic Check-Ins: Begin meetings with a brief, non-performative check-in. This could be one word, a breath, or a body cue. It’s not therapy. It’s just honesty. “I’m scattered but here.” “I’m focused and soft.” These signals create emotional transparency and reduce the noise of unspoken stress.
• Midday Sync Moments: One team of educators experimented with a shared midday pause, just 90 seconds at 1:00 p.m. Everyone stopped, wherever they were, to breathe or step outside. They didn’t talk about it. But they noticed more ease in their afternoon collaborations.
• Closing Loops Together: At the end of high-stakes sprints or emotionally charged meetings, invite a moment of shared closure. Ask, “What’s one thing you’re carrying? What’s one thing you’re releasing?” This helps metabolize intensity and prevents emotional residue from building up in the team field.

These moments are not about adding more work. They’re about shifting the energy of what’s already happening.

Presence is not an extra task. It’s the quality of every task.

The Silent Curriculum

We often think culture is shaped by what gets said. But it’s equally shaped by what goes unnamed. Nonverbal patterns, eye contact, tension, breath, tone, teach more than policy ever will.

A leader who reacts under pressure teaches that urgency is the standard. A leader who pauses teaches that presence is available even in the unknown.

Over time, these micro-signals become the silent curriculum of a team. They shape how safe it feels to speak up. How much space exists for dissent. How people relate to their own nervous systems in the workplace.

When leaders model return, they normalize it. They create a permission field, not just for productivity, but for humanity.

This is where the personal becomes collective. Not through slogans, but through signal.

And your signal, as a leader, speaks long before you do.

Let’s Keep Talking!

Peter Comrie
Co-Founder and Human Capital Specialist at Full Spectrum Leadership Inc.
Reach out to me at peter@fullspectrumleadership.com

Or connect with me here to book a call!

Reach me on Linkedin; https://www.linkedin.com/in/petercomrie/

Tags: frequency-based leadership, conscious leadership, 3-6-9 method, intentional leadership practices, inner alignment, leadership presence