A leader's role in creating "flow" at work

This is the third in a series of articles derived from academic assignments and insights I have gained from the 'Organizational Psychology' degree program I am in. While the tone and format of the writing will often be academic in nature, I believe there are tremendous opportunities to apply these ideas in the workplace setting. I look forward to hearing from and engaging with you all on the content and ideas! -Mike

In the search for happiness in life and work, is flow the missing piece?

??Whether at leisure or at work, human experience and happiness is at its peak while in flow. Although flow probably came naturally to our primitive ancestors, modern humans must create the conditions for flow for themselves in order to find happiness in life and work (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Employers should strive to create environments that are conducive to flow for individuals and the organization as a whole. This may be the most fundamental role of management and leadership in any organization, and is one that Industrial Organizational (I-O) Psychologists are well suited to support.

?Flow occurs when consciousness is well ordered and psychic energy is focused on the task at hand in pursuit of a meaningful goal. Because the mind is so consumed by the present, it is able to tune out distractions and wandering thoughts, as if nothing else matters and entropy has been suspended (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Studies have found that people report the highest levels of happiness while in the flow state. By extension, it seems likely that experiencing flow is one of the most reliable ways to be happy in life and work. One must be careful however, to avoid overindulgence in activities which produce flow with negative externalities such as addiction and gambling (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

For much of human history man’s daily efforts were focused on survival. The efforts required to find food and shelter while fighting off things trying to kill you would have resulted in a near constant experience of flow and, assuming you were successful, happiness. As humans gradually built modern civilizations, however, they effectively eradicated the natural human conditions for flow. Today, survival requires very little skill or effort. In order to experience the same sense of meaning that our ancestors found naturally, we must create and pursue artificial challenges that put us in a similar mindset. Consider the choice of words when a tech entrepreneur talks about her company’s, “fight for survival.” Although there is no survival risk, the experience of flow derived from her complete focus on her work may feel remarkably similar to that which her primitive ancestors experienced on the plains of Africa.

Much like the entrepreneur, we can all find flow and happiness in our work. Given their focus on questions such as how to maximize employee engagement and build high performing teams, I-O Psychologists and employers should be particularly aware of the concept of flow and it’s applications in the workplace. Because flow occurs when one is working towards achieving a goal which matches their skills and abilities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), employers should strive to put workers in roles which they are interested in and capable of, but which stretches their abilities. The tools used by I-O Psychologists are well suited to support these efforts. Job analysis and effective hiring practices can ensure that employees have the appropriate skills to match the challenges of the job. When work produces too much anxiety, training can be applied to increase their skills and move the worker back into the flow state. When boredom sets in, workers can be given challenging work, or moved to a new challenge where they have a lesser developed skillset. When personality factors are a barrier to flow, workers can be taught to develop an autotelic self so they may experience flow more regularly. By teaching workers how to set goals, become immersed in the activity, pay attention to what is happening, and learn to enjoy the immediate experience, we can make them more autotelic, and thus more likely to deliver strong results while experiencing flow and happiness in their work (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

At a macro level, this same theory can be applied to organizations. Much like the jam band who is so consumed in flow that they feed off each other’s energy and play for hours without stopping, teams of workers in any domain can find the conditions necessary for shared flow. Achieving this requires the right combination of personalities with the right skills applied to the right challenge at the right time. This is an ambitious paradigm shift that will require transformational changes to company structures, policies, and cultures in order to be successful. Once again, given their understanding of motivation, leadership, organizational theory, teams, and more, I-O Psychologists are well prepared (Conte, 2019). If we are successful at creating work environments that maximize flow people’s happiness at work we may also achieve an even greater good—maximizing people’s happiness in life.