I intend to read Mihaly’s seminal work
“Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience” but based on his Wikipedia page, it
would seem that he has provided clues for leaders on what kind of working environment
would maximize the chances for employees reach the state of flow. In addition to the challenge-skill balance, Mihaly suggested another eight
component states needed:
. Merging
of action and awareness: To be completely absorbed in the task at hand.
. Clarity
of goals: A clear purpose and good understanding of what to do next.
. Immediate
and unambiguous feedback: Continuous feedback to adjust our actions and to
always know how well we are doing.
. Concentration
on the task at hand: Avoiding distractions to focus on the task at hand.
. Paradox
of control: An absolute sense of personal control exists, as if there is no
limit to what we can do.
. Transformation
of time: Time is distorted and either slows down or flies by.
. Loss of
self-consciousness: Being so involved in the activity that do not care to
protect our ego.
. Autotelic experience: Being in Flow is an intrinsically
rewarding activity so the activity becomes an end in itself, done for its own
sake.
So in what kind of working environment
or culture would such self-actualisation flourish?
For Rishad
Tobaccowala Chief Growth Officer at Publicis Groupe, the first condition is for
employees to be “allowed, encouraged, and helped to align their passions and
skills. They are then motivated to
learn, take chances, grow, and communicate in ways that benefit not only their careers
but their organizations” (Restoring the Soul of Business, 2020, p.46).
Rishad then
provides a couple of required cultural characteristics:
Encouraging authenticity to help people work in their own minds so that their passion for work ends up motivating them to become experts
Awareness of the intersection between passion and comparative advantage between colleagues in order to funnel people into jobs and tasks that place them in this intersection.
Another key factor
for being in a state of ‘Flow’ or self-actualising is a strong sense of purpose
or meaning for the activity(ies) at hand. As Rishad explains (p.44) meaning is best
conveyed through stories and they should aim to:
Increase skills and competence through continuous learning
Offer more chances to innovate through new connections
Make better “emotional” communicators to motivate and empathise.
For leaders aiming
to initiate a working environment conducive to the state of flow and
self-actualisation, it starts with adapting the recruitment and internal career
management strategy.
Do you hire people for what they know or what they can know?
As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explained in his Flow model, if an individual’s activities does not challenge his/her skills enough, he/she will be in a state of apathy, boredom or relaxation at best. Clearly not in a motivational state.
In his book “The
Wealth of Knowledge” (2002, chap. 11, ‘A new culture: Developing a knowledge perspective’)
Thomas Stewart refers to the talent development process of ‘Stretch’. The attributes leaders should look for are: Ability
to learn, self-initiation, propensity to collaborate, humility, confidence –
the ability to connect thinking to action and vice versa - and “intellectual
linking” - the ability to connect an idea or experience to an opportunity or
problem. <<All are fostered by
making sure leaders [..] have “stretch” assignments to build learning into the
job. P&L responsibility and autonomy
are the most important elements of stretch>>.
An organisational culture conducive to self-actualisation must be also a culture conducive to collaboration: A less hierarchical, flatter and relationship-rich environment where knowledge siloes are things of the past, and ‘interpersonal trust’ replaces rigid and overpowering organisational structures. Such a culture is the antithesis to the obsolete culture defined by my 20 cultural traits not conducive to knowledge sharing.
