Flow Leadership: Tapping into flow - to up-level team performance

By Tom Werder and Freeman Michaels

Navy Seal Six teams use it.??Super Bowl teams use it.??Jazz musicians use it.??And cutting edge, market-leading corporations use it. Great teams operate in a flow state.??

Flow is a leadership skill that dramatically uplevels team performance.??Even though all executives have experienced flow, few know how to do it intentionally, much less lead a team with it.

Flow is an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.??

In layman’s terms, Flow is those moments of rapt attention and total absorption when you get so focused on the task at hand that everything else disappears. Action and awareness merge.??Your sense of self vanishes. Time passes strangely.??And performance just soars.

Motivation and productivity, creativity and innovation, learning and memory, empathy and environmental awareness, cooperation and collaboration all converge in a flow state.

We have all heard the expression “work smarter, not harder.”??What if you could naturally and elegantly accomplish your vision and goals without working harder or experiencing burnout???What if you could motivate your teams to be up to five times more productive, up to six times more creative, and twice as proficient at learning???All of this while being more relaxed and deeply enjoying the effort.

Few people consider flow in their professional life.??If they achieve the state at all, it typically happens by accident.??There is no control over it.??It often visits people sporadically and unexpectedly.

Very little attention is paid to organizational teams and flow states. What is even more dumbfounding is how remarkably simple and easy it is to generate flow intentionally in a business environment.??Flow triggers can be woven into day to day activities and emphasized in business systems efficiently and effectively.

It is simple…install flow triggers in your systems.??

I know this sounds too simplistic.??Gratefully, it is simplistic and powerful at the same time.??You are probably already using some flow triggers, but probably not optimally.??

Here are the most potent flow triggers for teams.

Passion-Purpose-Mastery

Passion produces focus.??Purpose shifts focus from our self to something outside of us or the task at hand.??This makes it easier to “get out of our head” and into the zone.

????Flow System: Align personal purpose with team purpose.??Insure that each person knows their purposes and how it dovetails with team and business purposes.

Complete Concentration

Flow follows focus.??Our attention has to be in the present moment.??Task-specific focus becomes the gateway to the meter of action and awareness which helps move from the conscious to unconscious mind.??This provides a good reason to eliminate distraction for periods of time so Flow can occur.

????Flow System: Identify work tasks that require concentration and design 90 to 120 minutes of uninterrupted time for these tasks.?

Small, Clear Goals

Clear goals tell us where and when to put our attention.??Action and awareness can start to merge.??These are small, everyday goals that tell a person how they are doing frequently during the day.??The goals have to be relevant and challenging to provide feedback.

????Flow System: Create small, clear goals that answer the question, “how am I doing” throughout the day.??People thrive on knowing how they are performing during work.

Immediate Feedback

A direct-in-the-moment coupling between cause and effect.??This is an extension of Clear Goals.??Clear Goals tell us how we are doing, feedback tells us how to do it better.

????Flow System: Use a coaching or mentoring style to support direct reports.??Meet frequently, present the measured result to the individual and support them rather than being punitive.

The Challenge-Skills Balance

This is an important Flow trigger.??We pay most attention to the task at hand when the challenge of that task slightly exceeds our skill set.??If it is too great, we get overwhelmed.??If too easy, we stop paying attention.???This sweet spot keeps attention locked in the present.

????Flow System:??Break work or projects into small tasks.??Assess the skill level the individual has for the task and set a goal slightly higher than performance.

High Consequences

A certain amount of danger aids Flow.??Risk increases the amount of norepinephrine and dopamine.??This includes many types of risk, not just physical danger.??It could be social environments, creative environments, or intellectual environments.??To reach flow, you have to take some risks.

????Flow System:??There is risk inherent in work.??Identify the risks and have the staff and team relate to the risk openly and explicitly.?

In summary, flow is the source of extraordinary performance in teams.??It is easy to utilize.??It is easy to weave into business systems.??It is a profound and gracefully way to lead and manage.