The superhero secret

“May the force be with you.”

You may or may not have watched the Star Wars series, but this iconic quote from the franchise would have definitely caught your attention. It actually takes the form of a greeting like ‘Farewell’ or ‘Pleasant tidings’ or 'Bon Voyage'. But in the context of human potential, and all our endeavours to achieve it, this phrase has always held a special meaning.

There is a force inside all of us, which, when activated, makes us feel invincible. The hardest of tasks give us an inexplicable thrill in such instances. While others may marvel at how you are managing to work so hard, the task seems effortless from your own interpretation. Time seems to slow down or even stand still, and you do not even notice how the time has passed, since you are so deeply absorbed in what you are doing. We also call it as being 'in the zone'.

This ‘force’ seems like divine intervention, a spiritual transcendance, or connecting with a higher power. And it is one of the rare areas where science and spirituality seem to converge. The term for this ‘force’ is ‘flow’ and it is actually a very important area of study for the benefit of individuals and organisations today. Flow is a very special resource, and you cannot have enough of it when you want your organization to thrive.

World Cup 2011: The Dhoni masterstroke before the strokeplay

The state of flow is often visible when athletes, or sports teams are at peak performance. And it is very much around in the most grandest of sporting triumphs. Consider the final of the ODI World Cup 2011, when India was facing Sri Lanka, and chasing a rather steep target of 274 (considering it was the final).

Captain MS Dhoni was in the dressing room, as he did not like to sit out during a match. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli were batting in the middle. And Yuvraj Singh was to come next.

Interestingly, Yuvraj had a great tournament, and done well for his team, unlike Dhoni. But at that juncture, Dhoni knocked on the glass window to gesture to coach Gary Kirsten (who was sitting outside) that he would come next instead of Yuvraj. Gary just nodded his assent. No more communication or debate needed.

There was something in Dhoni’s body language that day, which prompted Paddy Upton, India’s mental conditioning coach to say to Gary:

“Do you realise Dhoni is going there to fetch us the World Cup?”

There is a lot that this story can tell us. The captain’s courage to stand up and take what was clearly a risky decision entirely on his shoulders (and a previous record that screamed caution). The coach’s complete faith in the captain to deliver. And the body language of Dhoni, which emphatically exclaimed that this was his moment through and through, and he was ready to take it up. That was apparently what led Upton to make that bold prediction.

The result was that fantastic 79-ball unbeaten 91, which took India to their second World Cup victory after 28 years. It is still the largest total successfully chased in a World Cup final. And to think that in the tournament previous to that, India hadn’t even made the quarters! We never tire of the above six, do we?

Flow for the corporate superhero

The study of flow owes a lot to the work of psychologist Mihàly Csìkszentmihàlyi, which involved research on thousands of subjects, from sculptors to factory workers. His conclusion was that people who were fully employing their core capabilities to meet a goal or challenge created this “flow.” Those fortunate to experience it were visibly more productive and happier in their workplace as compared to the rest.

“They automatically set goals for themselves to increase their capabilities (rather than waiting for the management to impose them), thereby tapping into a seemingly limitless well of energy.”

And for activities where they achieved flow, they would willingly do them repeatedly, even if they were not being paid to do so. As we saw in the case of Dhoni, they are willing to take calculated risks as well. Mckinsey surveyed 5,000 executives over 10 years to come up with interesting insights on how flow is generated in teams at the workplace.

They came up with three categories of responses. The very first is to have a clarity of role, a clear understanding of objectives and also access to the knowledge and resources required to get the work completed. This is put under the category of Intellectual Quotient (IQ).

The second set of answers were more team oriented. People felt flow when they had basic trust and respect with each other. If at all there are differences of opinion, they are constructive in nature and resolved amicably. Sense of humour is apparently a great trait for leaders in building team performance and so does the feeling that ‘the team is together – through thick and thin’. These come under Emotional Quotient (EQ). If there is faith and trust in a team, they will achieve the most challenging of tasks. If not, lots of energy is lost in negative feelings, acrimony, politics, etc.

But in Mckinsey’s study, these two factors, while important, are not at all enough. In fact the third element of flow is the most critical, which has the highest correlation with flow. And that is meaning quotient (MQ), Susie Cranston and Scott Keller from Mckinsey state in their article:

“The peak-performance experience involves high stakes; excitement; a challenge; and something that the individual feels matters, will make a difference, and hasn’t been done before.”

If the meaning quotient is low, and employees do not view the job as much more than a paycheck, their productivity is extremely sub-par, even if they are the best you have hired from the market.

How much difference does flow make? At senior levels, Mckinsey research estimates that flow (with high IQ, EQ and MQ) can enhance productivity by five times. Most organisations in the survey claimed that employees are in peak performance or flow state just 10% of the time. Just a 20% increase in the time would nearly double their productivity.

I remember interviewing a very senior corporate leader years ago who gave me a very important quote:

“If you spend your Saturday’s looking forward to Mondays, you are in a great job. If the reverse is true, do look for change as soon as possible!”

In an environment where organisations are employing remote work and there is a burning debate on whether 9-5 office timings are really how we should continue, think of how flow matters. Not just for how employees perform in an organization but also for how they manage their work life balance. And not to miss how it turns the concept of hard work on its head! For more on achieving flow, do come back next week!