We might be relishing this bank holiday’s extra day of leisure, but in fact the majority of people surveyed by Milhaly Csikszentmihalyi say they are more often happier and more satisfied when working. In his book Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008) he says the recipe for having flow in what you do
The phrase might not be familiar, but you are probably very familiar with flow. When you are immersed in something, so involved that you lose track of time, you fail to notice physical discomfort, maybe you even forget to eat and drink. Mountain climbers often say they experience flow when climbing, surgeons describe complex surgery as “more addictive than heroin” and musicians and top athletes are likely to regularly experience flow.
But flow is possible in the workplace too. If you and your colleagues have flow, instead of watching the clock, work days zoom by, instead of forcing yourself to do dreaded tasks, you polish them off with ease and competence? So what do we need for flow?
According to Csikszentmihalyi we need five things:
1. A task we have a chance of completing — difficult enough, but not so complex we feel beaten before we begin
2. The opportunity to concentrate on what we are doing – a time and place to work, free from distractions or discomforts
3. A task which has clear goals — we know what to do, how it will be measured
4. A task that provides immediate feedback — it is no good waiting 11 months for an annual appraisal we need feedback that is closely linked with what we are doing
5. A task that gives us control over our actions — so we dictate how, and as much of the schedule as possible.
If we have these things, then we are more likely to experience flow where we work effortlessly because the task matches our skills and resources, our self awareness disappears because we are so focussed and our sense of duration of time alters, either speeding up or slowing down depending our situation.
So if you want to create your own flow, or manage your staff’s flow, here are three suggestions:
1. Find a challenging activity that needs skill and regularly increase the skill level as capacity builds, so as to maintain interest
2. Define clear goals, and feedback mechanisms — in our work we find that this is the thing most desired by staff, the easiest to achieve and the most often overlooked. How often have you been asked to “Take a look at x,” or “See if you can do something about y.” Unless you set clear goals and define how you will measure success at the outset, you chances of achieving what you want are seriously reduced.
3. Build opportunities to concentrate — if you have an office and your staff work in open plan areas, make sure you go and work at one of their desks once in a while. With the phone, ringing, colleagues chatting and the constant flow of people traffic you would be amazed how hard it is to concentrate. Ask your staff regularly, what is distracting from their work and see if you can eliminate distractions.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper Collins.
The phrase might not be familiar, but you are probably very familiar with flow. When you are immersed in something, so involved that you lose track of time, you fail to notice physical discomfort, maybe you even forget to eat and drink. Mountain climbers often say they experience flow when climbing, surgeons describe complex surgery as “more addictive than heroin” and musicians and top athletes are likely to regularly experience flow.
But flow is possible in the workplace too. If you and your colleagues have flow, instead of watching the clock, work days zoom by, instead of forcing yourself to do dreaded tasks, you polish them off with ease and competence? So what do we need for flow?
According to Csikszentmihalyi we need five things:
1. A task we have a chance of completing — difficult enough, but not so complex we feel beaten before we begin
2. The opportunity to concentrate on what we are doing – a time and place to work, free from distractions or discomforts
3. A task which has clear goals — we know what to do, how it will be measured
4. A task that provides immediate feedback — it is no good waiting 11 months for an annual appraisal we need feedback that is closely linked with what we are doing
5. A task that gives us control over our actions — so we dictate how, and as much of the schedule as possible.
If we have these things, then we are more likely to experience flow where we work effortlessly because the task matches our skills and resources, our self awareness disappears because we are so focussed and our sense of duration of time alters, either speeding up or slowing down depending our situation.
So if you want to create your own flow, or manage your staff’s flow, here are three suggestions:
1. Find a challenging activity that needs skill and regularly increase the skill level as capacity builds, so as to maintain interest
2. Define clear goals, and feedback mechanisms — in our work we find that this is the thing most desired by staff, the easiest to achieve and the most often overlooked. How often have you been asked to “Take a look at x,” or “See if you can do something about y.” Unless you set clear goals and define how you will measure success at the outset, you chances of achieving what you want are seriously reduced.
3. Build opportunities to concentrate — if you have an office and your staff work in open plan areas, make sure you go and work at one of their desks once in a while. With the phone, ringing, colleagues chatting and the constant flow of people traffic you would be amazed how hard it is to concentrate. Ask your staff regularly, what is distracting from their work and see if you can eliminate distractions.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper Collins.
