We have all
experienced it. That feeling of complete
focus, where you are entirely absorbed in a task. You
glance at the clock, 1 pm. You look at
the clock a moment later, 3 pm. You’re
not sure where the past 2 hours have gone, but the amount of work you have
completed is impressive. This phenomenon
is known as Psychological Flow.
Employees who have experienced psychological
flow describe feeling completely involved in their work, a sense of ecstasy,
greater inner clarity, timelessness, and a thorough focus on the present. Furthermore, after experiencing flow,
employees note they have an intrinsic motivation to seek it out again. Engaging a state of flow is motivation to
replicate that experience in the future.
Put simply, employees who operate in this state are at their happiest at
work.
Psychological Flow is a mental state in
which one’s perceived challenge level matches up with their perceived skill
level – with both being perceived as high.
Why do you want to
improve flow in your workplace?
In workplaces that are not
conducive to flow, employees report feeling constrained by fixed-hours, a lack
of control over their work, and a lack of meaning, and that they don’t make an
impact. This typically results in
lowered morale, poor time management, and can lead to burnout. Silicon-Valley giants like Microsoft and Apple
have already adopted a work model that promotes psychological flow, in order to
create more compelling connections with their customers and get the most out of
their employees.
Ericsson, for example, has
applied principles of flow to create performance contracts for its employees
and increase meetings between employees and managers. It may seem counter-intuitive that more
meetings would lead to greater productivity, however Ericsson saw exactly that
happen. Their employees began to
understand their own strengths and weaknesses, were given consistent goals to
work towards, and were provided frequent feedback on how they were performing. It is no wonder they also began producing
better results.
How can you help
employees achieve flow?
The implementation of
management practices that promote psychological flow has been spurred in the
last few decades thanks to a wealth of evidence-based research. Recent models of psychological flow
highlight 7 main conditions that must be met for an employee to achieve a state
of flow.
Preconditions to Psychological Flow
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1.
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Knowing what to do
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2.
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Knowing how to do it
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3.
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Knowing how well you are doing
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4.
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Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved)
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5.
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High perceived challenges
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6.
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High perceived skills
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7.
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Freedom from distractions
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Since there are certain conditions that facilitate and
increase the chance of inducing flow, employers can take advantage of tailored
interventions to facilitate employees attaining flow states. Building on these preconditions to
psychological flow, there are several ways organisations can design practices,
policies, and procedures that aid flow. While
you can’t (and shouldn’t try to) force flow
on others, implementing these seven management practices in your workplace can
improve your employees’ chances of achieving psychological flow during their
work day.
1. Start a
one-on-one or group dialogue with employees about how flow can benefit them and
their work
According to lead psychological flow researchers, awareness
is a pre-requisite for flow, as knowing the benefits that accompany the state
is a step towards achieving it. This
could be a one-time seminar, workshop, meeting, or even ongoing quarterly or
monthly discussions. Managers at Ericsson
set up one-on-one meetings with their employees as many as six times a
year. Even just sending this article to
colleagues can provide enough awareness to drive individuals towards a flow
state.
It is important to consider the psychological safety of your
employees, ensuring they feel calm and protected during these discussions. If they feel as though their performance is
being overly scrutinised or assessed, it is less likely they will be conducive
to achieving flow.
2. Provide clear
goals that align with your vision for managers and employees
When people know what they need to do, and how to get there,
they are more conducive to psychological flow. Utilising SMART goal setting tools can help
provide tangible goals to employees that are easy to measure and reflect upon. By
providing goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely
(SMART), employees have the preconditions covered for attaining a state of
flow.
3. Give your employees freedom to pursue these goals on
their own merits
While it is important to set boundaries about
how your organisations goals are achieved, an effective way of driving flow is
allowing employees to feel as though they are being challenged, and that they
are utilising their skills effectively. Giving your employees freedom does not mean
letting them do what they want, but rather showing confidence in their ability
to meet goals using their own strengths and methods. Empower staff to decide which
projects they believe meet their challenge / skill balance.
4. Promote challenging
and engaging work
Flow
is more likely to occur when performing a task or activity wholeheartedly, or
for intrinsic purposes. If your
employees treat their work as a chore, they will never achieve a state of flow.
Even if you manage to create a pleasant
workplace culture, this does not necessarily guarantee flow. Research has shown that performing enjoyable,
yet passive activities such as watching TV or staring out the window do not
typically induce flow. The individual
needs to be doing something active and
challenging to enter ‘the zone’. Therefore, it is important to encourage
employees to fully utilise their skills while completing their work. By feeling challenged, engaged and stretched
to the limits of their abilities, their productivity will increase.
5. Offer ongoing feedback to your employees
In order to be clear about their work,
and if they are doing the right thing, you and your managers need to be
providing consistent feedback to your employees. This is especially important if providing your
employees with extra freedom to work according to their own merits, as feedback
allows you to shape their work towards your vision, without taking away the
feeling of freedom and confidence. You can try implementing feedback as part of
the initial one-on-one meetings and general dialogue around flow in your
workplace.
When providing feedback, frame it in a
positive light. Unless an employee is
really struggling or doing something wrong, positive feedback will encourage
them to feel more confident in their work. If they are doing something wrong, or
out of line with your goals and vision, you may want to gently nudge them
towards the right path by encouraging behaviours that do fit your requirements.
6. Listen to feedback from your employees
Listening to what your colleagues have
to say in a non-judgmental, “no consequences” environment will allow them to
report to you how challenged they feel in their work. In addition, by listening to others, you will
have the opportunity to hear directly from them what key aspects may be missing
from the flow prerequisites in your organisation.
7. Make sure your vision is long-term and relatable
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, it
might be worth sitting down and re-evaluating your team’s vision. If the goals you outline for your employees and
your current overarching vision are focused on short-term profits and pleasing
the ‘higher-ups’, your employees are not going to be able to relate, and
psychological flow will suffer.
Take Starbucks as an example. When it
first started out, Starbucks’ vision was to provide the highest quality coffee
products, while nurturing the customer’s experience of buying and drinking them.
However, after huge initial growth, the
leaders of the company became obsessed with growth and expansion, sacrificing
the overarching vision for short-term profits. Unsurprisingly the quality of their product
plummeted, and their share prices and employee retention along with it. When Howard Schultz returned as CEO in 2008,
he sat down and re-assessed his company’s vision. He then worked with his management teams to
make drastic changes to return to a long-term, customer and employee-oriented
vision. A lot of these changes were based on the principles of psychological flow.
Some of the changes Schultz pioneered
included referring to employees as partners, and the creation of one of the
most generous employee benefits programs in the world. Starbuck’s revamp, focused on employee and
customer experience, saved it from an impeding economic disaster.
These steps are not a one-size fits all solution but
can act as a springboard for long-term sustained competitive advantage in your
organisation. Prioritising the implementation of flow principles ensures
employees can continue to operate at a highly productive and effective level.
Perhaps most critically, helping employees achieve a state of psychological
flow ensures they are at their happiest at work.
Do you believe that you operate in a state of
psychological flow at work? Take this quick quiz now to find out.
Psychological Flow Quiz
Think back to the last work task you completed, did you feel that:
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Yes/No
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1. You were able to meet the demands of the task?
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2. The task made you happy?
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3. You knew what to do at every step of the task?
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4. You did not worry about the judgement of others?
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5. Time was flying very fast?
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6. You didn’t care what others thought of you?
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7. What you did was under your control?
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8. Time seemed to flow at a different speed?
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9. You were excited to tackle the task?
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If you responded "yes" to 6 or more
of these questions, it is likely that you were engaged in a state of
psychological flow!
Do you believe that your organisation would benefit
from employees who can reach psychological flow? If so, please simply contact Psych
Press now to learn more about our services and
how we can help you across the talent life-cycle.
