Establishing a culture conducive to the state of ‘Flow’ and self-actualisation

In my previous article, I suggested that organisations should aim to establish a working environment conducive to their employees reaching their Ikigai.  Well others have made similar suggestions and maybe the first one to do so in a constructive way was MihalyCsikszentmihalyi  who in 1975 introduced the concept of “Flow” or the “state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation”.   At work, this state is attained when an individual gets the right balance between challenge and skills.   I will conjecture that someone who has reached his/her Ikigai at work – a sense of purpose and constant motivation – is much more likely to be in a state of flow on a regular basis.  And equally, the more someone is in a state of flow at work, the more likely he/she is to reach Ikigai.

The diagram below shows the 8 mental states in terms of challenge and skills levels according to Mihaly’s flow model:

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.