FLOW AT WORK

How to find optimal experiences for yourself and others

1 Heidi Gorell-Hay Mirror Professional Development

C ONTENTS
Sandys Story ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 What is Flow? .................................................................................................................................................... 3 How to achieve flow at work ............................................................................................................................ 4 One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals ............................................................................. 5 Sandy .............................................................................................................................................................. 5 Yourself ........................................................................................................................................................... 5 For others ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 There must be a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Sandy .............................................................................................................................................................. 6 Yourself ........................................................................................................................................................... 6 For others ....................................................................................................................................................... 8 The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback .............................................................................. 9 Sandy .............................................................................................................................................................. 9 Yourself ......................................................................................................................................................... 10 For others ..................................................................................................................................................... 10 No interruptions ............................................................................................................................................... 11

2 Heidi Gorell-Hay Mirror Professional Development

S ANDY S S TORY
Sandy is a toll booth collector you know the people who stand at toll booths on the highway and collect money. Many would consider this to be an incredibly boring, repetitive, thankless job. But Sandy loves it. She was even featured on a TV show about happiness, as an example of a happy person. She really, truly, loves her job. And heres why: she has set herself a challenge that she has 15 seconds to bring a smile to the face of each of her customers. Her position description is about giving correct change, opening the boom gate, and keeping traffic moving quickly. However, Sandy has made it about much more than that, and in doing so, has created a job she loves. She didnt find a job she loves, she created it for herself.

W HAT IS F LOW ?
Sandy seems to have found flow in her work. Flow is the name of a best-selling book written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1990. Its not a new concept, the state of flow was described by Aristotle. Recently, the themes and ideas have been discussed in numerous books, articles, and blogs. Flow is that feeling you get when you are so focused on an activity that you lose track of time. Its a pleasurable experience, where you feel completely in control, and are being challenged in a way that is achievable. It is also described as being in the zone, or really into a task or activity. People commonly find flow participating in sports, creating music or art, or playing video games. According to Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist who studies happiness, finding flow often is key to happiness. He says The best moments usually occur when a persons body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen. The more time an individual spends in a state of flow, the happier they are. There are nine elements of flow: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. There are clear goals every step of the way There is immediate feedback to ones actions There is a balance between challenges and skills There is hightened awareness of what you are doing You are completely focussed, and not aware of anything else There is no worry of failure Self-consciousness disappears The sense of time becomes distorted The activity becomes an and end in itself

The first three elements are the criteria for flow activities. The others are about how you feel and act when in flow. People report being in flow at work more often than in leisure. This makes sense. As you can see from the list above, flow needs small achievable but challenging goals, and you need to know how well youre progressing along the way. Very often, these conditions are found while working. Of course, it depends on the work being undertaken. 3 Heidi Gorell-Hay Mirror Professional Development

From a business perspective, staff who are in a flow state are highly productive. Theyre completely focussed on the task at hand, making fast progress, and usually creating high quality work. They are achieving. Also, theyre not distracting anyone else. At 5:00 they look around and see others packing up and think home time already? When someone keeps on working because they just want to get this finished first they are probably in flow. They know if they stop now, they wont be in flow tomorrow morning, which will make the task harder. Flow is a pleasurable state that we like to maintain for as long as possible before its broken. Flow also makes work easier. It becomes less of a struggle, you dont need to think about what to do next, you just know. There is no wasted time. This is the opposite of an employee who is spending time looking out the window, getting coffee, and chatting to other staff (although this is fine in moderation. We all need some downtime to be productive). Unfortunately, workplaces are rarely designed to nurture flow. Workers usually deal with interruptions, tasks that are either too hard or too easy, have limited control over how to complete a task, or even which task to work on. Flow requires autonomy, not fear of failure. To improve productivity and morale, businesses need to make some changes.

H OW TO ACHIEVE FLOW A T WORK

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O NE

MUST BE INVOLVED IN AN ACTIVITY WITH A CLEAR SET OF GOALS

S AN DY
The goal that brings Sandy into flow is getting her customers to smile in 15 seconds. Sandys goal is very clear, she knows exactly what shes trying to achieve. She knows if she hasnt achieved it. Flow isnt necessarily about achieving goals; its about knowing what the goals are. Sandy has direction and purpose.

YOURSELF
Have you heard that the best way to set goals is to make them SMART? This stands for specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant and time bound. There is no vagueness or ambiguity. See the diagram below make sure your goals are crystal clear. SMART goals Specific What is the task or activity? What exactly are you trying to achieve? Be as clear as possible. Measurable How will you know when you achieved your goal? What measures are there along the way? Clear and immediate from the task itself is essential to flow Achievable Your goal needs to be within your control and cabability You won't achieve flow if the task is too hard Relevant How relevant is your goal to the business, and your own bigger picture? Do you consider this worthwhile? Time-bound When will this be finished? (Although crucial to goal setting, timeframes aren't necessary Short, achievable deadlines can help with flow Of course, not all SMART goals will provide the conditions for flow. You also dont need to consciously be aware of all the details of your goal. But it is important that the activity itself has clear goals. To achieve a 90% customer satisfaction rate this month is a SMART and worthy goal. The task might be to find out what this customer wants and deliver it to them before they leave. This provides you with much more focus and is in the moment.

WRITE A SMART GOAL FOR A TASK OR ACTIVITY AT WORK

FOR

OTHERS

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If you are managing someone else who is lacking direction and structure, work them to come up with clear goals. Vagueness, ambiguity, and undefined expectations are a source of great frustration for a lot of employees. Many people need to see the big picture to understand the relevance and importance of the task they are working on, but flow is more about the here and now. Encourage staff to notice the small, individual tasks they do. However, there is a balance between setting clear goals and micro-managing or interfering. There needs to be a degree of autonomy to achieve flow. As youll see in the next section, the activity needs to be challenging and drawing on developed skills. A new staff member may need some assistance is setting clear goals, until their skills increase. However, if you insist on the staff member following your step by step instructions, they are no longer being challenged. Have faith that if they have the skills, knowledge, and motivation, they will achieve. Always work with others in setting goals, so that their unique skills can be complemented with appropriate challenges.

WHAT CLEAR GOALS ARE YOUR STAFF WORKING ON?

T HERE

MUST BE A GOOD BALANCE BETWEEN THE PERCEIVED CHALLENGES OF THE TASK AT HAND AND HIS OR HER OWN PERCEIVED SKILLS

S AN DY
Sandy is unique because she has created her own challenge specifically to meet her own strengths to make people happy, albeit briefly. She may not have done this consciously, but it is a perfect match for her. Sandy is using her specific skills to achieve a specific goal. Prompting customers to smile isnt something just anyone can do. How often do you give or receive customer service that brings a true smile? Its reasonably challenging, and requires skills and knowledge many people dont possess. If she wasnt highly skilled, didnt believe she could do it, or wasnt working toward the goal of making people smile, she wouldnt be in flow.

YOURSELF
Find out what your strengths are. What are you good at? Consider previous activities where you found yourself in flow. Are you creative and artistic, athletic, musical, a good listener, patient, a problem solver, creative, good with animals, a writer? If youre not working with your skills, you wont achieve flow. You need to match skills and challenge to reach flow. There is a certain Goldilocks effect: the activity has to be not too hard, and not too easy. Below is an excellent 6 Heidi Gorell-Hay Mirror Professional Development

diagram from Csikszentmihalyi about what happens when challenge and skill level are mismatched. Relaxation is important, but its not flow. Watching TV, daydreaming, or aimlessly cruising facebook dont take a lot of skill for most people. These activities arent interesting or exciting, and you wont feel a sense of achievement or completion. The opposite of relaxation is anxiety, where everything seems too hard and too much. You may feel overwhelmed. Sometimes anxiety cant be avoided, such as when meeting a deadline or starting a new project. Overcoming anxiety can result in growth, increased confidence, and learning what to do (or not do) next time. Anxiety has high level of stress, which is beneficial in small doses. However, high levels of stress over a prolonged period time usually results in burnout. Flow is a balance right in the middle of relaxation and anxiety. The opposite of the flow state is apathy, or I dont care. If youre in apathy, you have a long way to go to reach flow.

The other key point is that challenges and skills are perceived. Have you ever thought that something was too hard, but it turned out that it wasnt? That you didnt think you could do it, but you did? Flow involves significant challenge, and isnt meant to be easy. But did you ever feel good about doing something that was easy?

WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT ?

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY?

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HOW HAVE YOU PREVIOUSLY FOUND FLOW?

FOR

OTHERS

In my work as a trainer and mentor, I have met far more employees regularly in a state of apathy or anxiety than in flow. Anxiety at work may be caused by targets that are too high or deadlines that are too short. Looking at the diagram, you can see that this depends on the individuals skill level. Highly skilled employees may thrive on the challenge of meeting their KPIs, but others may feel overwhelmed and stressed. Remember that skill level is the perceived skill level, and confidence plays a large part in this. If someone doesnt think they are up to the task, theyll feel anxious. In this situation, confidence-boosting will help more than anything else. Staff may also need training to increase their skills. Those in the states of apathy, boredom or relaxation need more challenges from their work. They can do more, and want to do more. No one enjoys apathy or boredom, and relaxation becomes boredom pretty quickly. Unfortunately, these employees may not be seen as valuable, because they arent reaching their true potential. Give them new tasks or projects, and see what happens. Some jobs are just boring, and lack sufficient challenges. These may include assembly line workers, receptionists, toll-booth operators hang on, Sandy is a toll booth operator! Support staff in these roles to set their own challenges, but make sure you dont come across as patronising or demeaning. Have them think about their own unique skills, and challenges that meet those skills. They may come up with new goals around quality, time or service. Encourage them however you can. Also, remember that skills change over time. An activity that once provided flow will eventually become mundane. Think about when you were learning to drive. At first, the challenge far outweighed your skill. You probably felt anxious (or at least the person driving with you did!) Once you got the hang of it, driving was lots of fun. You were still aware of indicating, keeping the correct distance, and braking at the appropriate pace. After that, driving became completely routine. You are now unlikely to find flow from the act of driving itself, but may do so by exploring new areas, driving off-road or chatting with passengers. As skills increase, challenges also 8 Heidi Gorell-Hay Mirror Professional Development

need to increase to keep the balance. Athletes always push themselves faster, higher, stronger, the same goes for your team.

THINK ABOUT ONE MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM. WHAT SKILLS DO YOU THINK THEY HAVE?

HOW ARE THESE SKILLS BEING CHALLENGED?

IF SKILLS OR CHALLENGE NEED TO BE ADDRESSED , WHAT CAN YOU DO ?

Both individual and group activities can promote flow

T HE

TASK AT HAND MUST HAVE CLEAR AND IMMED IATE FEEDBACK

S AN DY
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The faces of Sandys customers give her clear and immediate feedback. A smile tells her she has met her goal. And she doesnt have to wait to find out, there is no delayed gratification. Sandy knows if what shes doing isnt working, and can then try something else straight away. Feedback is from the task itself, not from others, and assists with maintaining flow.

YOURSELF
Feedback is often confused with praise. People might wait for their boss to give them a pat on the back, or for a customer to go out of their way to say thanks. If youre waiting for feedback from others, its almost never immediate, and rarely comes at all. This type of feedback doesnt contribute to flow, though it does help with confidence and a feeling of worth. The type of feedback that contributes to flow is feedback from the task itself. As Im writing this, Im receiving feedback about how the words look on the page, and if I think Im conveying the message I want to. Ill have to wait for feedback from others, to see if anyone reads it and finds value. That doesnt help with getting into flow. Creative activities are usually good for providing clear immediate feedback. Photographers, artists and chefs are receiving constant feedback on their work. Its easy for a painter to tell if there work is going well or not. If its not, they can make changes immediately. They dont have to wait, and can therefore stay in flow. Sometimes, it might be necessary to break a task down to determine how its going. For example, an administration assistant might be answering the phone, dealing with requests from other staff, and completing data entry. Shes not often in flow, instead varying between feeling overwhelmed and bored. To fix this, find a task that does have all the conditions of flow. It might be focussing wholly on serving a customer, coming up with improvements to a procedure, or working on a project.

WHAT FEEDBACK, RESULTS OR ACHIEVEMENTS ARE THERE IN YOUR WORK?

FOR

OTHERS

The point of feedback is that it helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows them to adjust their performance to maintain the flow state. Make sure that staff have tasks that are intricate enough that clear and immediate feedback is possible. For example, it might be difficult to achieve flow while working on the tasks of filing or data entry. There is no real feedback other than the pile to be filed or entered gets smaller, until something else is added. Tasks that are more complex have greater opportunities for feedback, such as word processing or customer

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service. Its easier to tell how well the task is progressing, and make adjustments as necessary. This is crucial to flow. You also need to allow staff to fully focus on the task at hand to be able to seek feedback. Full concentration is one of the elements of flow, and its very hard to gather quality feedback when distracted. If someone is writing a report, they need to concentrate not only on the words or numbers, but how they are progressing with the task itself. They can ask themselves is this going well or not, and what can I change? Create an environment where people are able to concentrate on feedback. See the next section on interruptions. Feedback from you will not help others flow. However, your feedback can help them to find feedback on their own. Feedback needs to be specific, not just good job. Break down the specific tasks and comment on them. This way, the staff member knows what to look for next time, and will be more aware of the feedback they are already getting. Of course, regular and precise feedback from a manager is critical for other areas of well-being!

CONSIDER THE SAME STAFF MEMBER AS PREVIOUSLY. WHAT FEEDBACK CAN THEY RECEIVE?

NO

INTERRUPTIONS !

Interruptions kill flow. Its estimated to take up to 20 minutes of focused, conscious activity to get into flow. This means no talking to colleagues, checking email or social media, or answering the phone. You know how annoying it is when someone comes to chat to you just you were really getting into a task? That probably means that your state of flow has been interrupted, and will take some time to get back. Authors advise turning off the automatic spelling and grammar check when writing. Time management experts advise turning off your email alerts. Recent research has shown that multi-tasking isnt actually that productive, and thats why. Flow is impossible when multi-tasking. Concentrate on one activity at a time. Do whatever you can to reduce or avoid interruptions. Dedicate some time and use it wisely. Try to find a time of day that usually has fewer distractions. This is why many people prefer to start work early or stay back late because they can get some work done while its quiet. If youre working in a team or group environment, see if you can all get together to arrange a no-interruptions time frame. For example, from 10am to 12pm each day, no one calls, emails, starts a conversation or holds a meeting unless absolutely necessary. If you need help from a colleague, or to give someone direction, do that before this time. When scheduled in this way, everyone will benefit from non-interrupted flow. And imagine how much youll all get done! 11 Heidi Gorell-Hay Mirror Professional Development

Of course, distractions are a way of interrupting yourself. If you can, turn off your phone, your internet browser, and avoid being tempted to get a coffee or chat to the person next to you. Concentration can be difficult at first, but once youre in flow, you wont even have to think about it.

WHAT INTERRUPTIONS DO YOU CURRENTLY FACE ?

WHAT STEPS WILL YOU TAKE TO OVERCOME INTERRUPTIONS?

Futher reading Csikszentmihalyi, M (1990), Flow, New York, HarperCollins

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