Why flow matters more than passion

Metadata

• Author: leaddev.com
• Full Title: Why flow matters more than passion
• Category: #type/articles
• URL: https://leaddev.com/culture-engagement-motivation/why-flow-matters-more-passion

Highlights

• Coined by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in 1975 in his book Flow, flow state is the phenomenon in which a person is fully immersed in an activity that leads to focus, energized involvement, and enjoyment. A person in flow state is no longer thinking of multiple things, or even their sense of self, but is singularly focused on a task or challenge. Many people report it is the happiest feeling in their lives.
• What is flow state? Coined by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in 1975 in his book Flow, flow state is the phenomenon in which a person is fully immersed in an activity that leads to focus, energized involvement, and enjoyment. A person in flow state is no longer thinking of multiple things, or even their sense of self, but is singularly focused on a task or challenge. Many people report it is the happiest feeling in their lives.
• 1. Flow state can exist when there is clarity of purpose. It should be clear to your staff why they’re doing the work they’re doing. Even if the task itself feels arduous, they should understand the greater value, and why the organization is doing it.
  2. Flow state can happen when the work is challenging, but not impossible. As managers, we should be making sure the work is the correct level for the person’s skill set at that time. We should be trying our best to find something that challenges the individual, set up support for anything that pushes their boundaries, and create automation where possible for tedious tasks. All work should have clear expectations and outcomes.
  3. Flow State is associated with trust. A person must feel a sense of control over the work. They should know what they are allowed to change and affect on their own and be given the trust to do so. In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor explains why this is important: ‘The most successful people in work and life are those who have what psychologists call “an internal locus of control”, the belief that their actions have a direct effect on their outcomes. People with an external locus, on the other hand, are more likely to see daily events as dictated by external force.’
• 4. A person in flow state should get immediate feedback on their process. Many times folks will get this feedback from programming itself: Did the program run, did tests pass, what happened at breakpoints, etc.? But a manager should also be giving feedback regularly so people know if they are on track with their work or if something needs to be adjusted. In the book Accelerate, a common theme in analyzing productive teams was small, iterable work with fast feedback cycles.
• 5. A person will struggle to reach flow state if they are not compensated fairly. Otherwise, they will be consumed with the inequity and it will be challenging for them to focus on the task. In his book Drive, Daniel Pink finds that in order to reach intrinsic motivation at all, pay must be fair: ‘Getting the internal and external equity right isn’t itself a motivator. But it is a way to avoid putting the issue of money back on the table and making it a de-motivator.”
• 6. A manager has to believe in their staff. There are several studies that show people can perform better or worse depending on how those around them perceive them. In 1963, a study looked at similarly performing rats running mazes. Before the rats ran the maze, human handlers were told that particular rats were slow, even though they weren’t. The rat in question then underperformed. And the rats that humans were told were stellar, ran faster. It turns out that the small ways that the humans were handling these rats changed based on these preconceived notions of them. And it actually affected the rats’ confidence in themselves!