The Way and The?Ride

You have a task to do. Not your favorite task, but it's okay. The problem is that you don’t have time to do it, and it cannot be delegated. It all depends on you. The usual stress symptoms appear in your body. You ignore them, and tell yourself to get your act together.?

After some struggle, you finish the job, just to realize that another even more exhausting challenge awaits you. And after that another. With little or no time to rest, you reluctantly start on the next project. You always find the way, but rarely enjoy the ride.

The treadmill syndrome is well known in many organizations. You run and run, but get nowhere. You constantly feel that you are not doing enough. You need to do more. You find it hard to make your own choices and have difficulty saying no. You feel stuck and disengaged. Perhaps the worst thing is that you know it could be different.

The metaphors of movement that prevail in an organizational culture indicate how engaged people can be in their work. The treadmill is a metaphor for meaningless and endless work where nothing moves. In my research, I found other metaphors related to movement, such as carousel, rollercoaster, journey, expedition or game. Maybe you will recognize some of them from this short description:

The carousel. Round and round it goes, like the treadmill, but nicer and more socially involving. Some people ride the high horse, others get sick from the spinning. You can get on and off as you like, you can choose your place, but cannot influence the speed and schedule. You get onboard, stay for a while, and leave again. No matter how many rounds you take, you have no real impact.

The rollercoaster. There are ups and downs, and you feel you are getting somewhere. The loops and turns imitate real movement, but in fact you will end up in the same place you started. You have to take the good with the bad. As with the weather, you prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It can be fun at first, but after a few rides, you start to get bored and long for something else.

The journey. The idea is to move from one point to another as smooth as possible. At least that is the intention. Unexpected hurdles can derail the project, and minor details can block the route to major goals. Still, each move is planned, evaluated and adjusted. The outcome is often more achievement than fulfillment, management weakens engagement, and new opportunities are routinely rejected due to project tunnel-vision and flat-mindedness.

The expedition. You are on an adventure and allowed to find your own way. It is the same energy that goes to solving small problems as to the big ones, so why not go for the wicked problems and larger than life solutions? Idea development and human transformation go hand in hand. It is a constant movement towards a higher state of consciousness, wider scope of mind, and better quality of thought. Beyond expectation and imagination. You enjoy most of it.

The game. You have fun exploring the possibilities and playing the roles. Together with peers, you move purposefully. It feels meaningful to be part of a continued game that will have impact, even when you are no longer part of it. Wonderful work leads to beautiful business with less direction and more celebration. You may run the same distance, but do it with more excitement and greater impact. The ride leads the way.

No matter what movement dominates your organization, one thing is clear: You cannot invite people to a fairground with silly rides anymore. We want work to be more than exchange of labor. We demand an engaging purpose and the freedom to move within a sustaining and challenging context. We want the way to be an exceptional ride.

The way is about navigation and performance; where to go, what to do and how to do it. The behavioral aspect of movement. The ride is about sense making and engagement. The experiential aspect of movement. Both are essential for creating flow and progress.

Flow is the mental state in which you are fully immersed in an activity and in the zone. It often happens when you do something you enjoy and in which you are competent. The presence of flow is an indicator of engagement. The experience of both flow and progress is a known source of happiness at work.

If your intention is to promote well-being, full engagement and positive impact, consider applying the brain-friendly approach. It is designed to make the desired movement as easy, fun and rewarding as possible. The brain-friendly approach inspires you to engage in what you want. Moving towards a burning desire is more uplifting than trying to escape a burning platform.?

The brain-friendly approach proposes six actions to establish a positive and progressive movement: tap into what is already there, go where the energy is, do it together, challenge the path of least resistance, include the act of change in your comfort zone, and continue until it feels natural.

Resonance is the X factor of an impactful movement. What resonates with people will be integrated in the process. Create a playful atmosphere, where you can try new ideas, replace tools with toys, turn push into pull, and transform performance pressure into playing pleasure.

Real change comes from engaged people on the move. Yes, it's okay to move in circles, just make sure they are growing. Why not make your next task a stunning ride that moves you the way you want?

The brain-friendly approach is part of conscious innervation and the transperiental matrix.