Getting quality output from people is often not predictable, especially from knowledge workers and technical specialists doing non-linear work. But, what if you could practice a way to not only increase work quality, while also helping your people be more fulfilled? Answer: help them get in the flow!
What is Flow? It is a state of mind you achieve when you are fully immersed in a task, forgetting about the outside world. It is achieving a level of deep concentration. When you are in the state of “Flow” you are focused solely on the task and detached from all distractions, losing sense of yourself, others and time. And when you emerge from the flow state, you frequently feel happy or fulfilled and in control. This phenomenon was first described and studies by professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Director of the Quality of Life Research Center at the University of Chicago.
Flow can only happen when a person is able to balance challenges and skills; thus, avoiding the extremes of boredom and anxiety. Let us illustrate. Khun Lek wants to learn how to play piano. As she begins practicing basic scales she becomes bored. Her teacher helps her pick a harder piece of music thereby increasing the challenge in order to create a more optimal experience and develop greater skills through practice. When a new level is achieved, more challenging lessons are given. So, one way to help someone be “in the flow” is to incrementally add challenges to overcome boredom. The trick is to avoid increasing the level of challenge too quickly, thus creating anxiety in the person that he or she may fail.
Flow happens only when the level of challenge is neither too high nor too low. And the intensity of the flow experience increases as skill grows.
You can practice this yourself. Attack your biggest work challenges while remembering that flow is easiest to achieve when you: 1) have enough pressure to stay engaged (but not too much), 2) you believe that your skills are good enough to perform well, 3) you have distractions under control, 4) spend no effort in criticizing your work, 5) you are relaxed and alert, and 6) you are thinking positively.
So, this leads us to what you can do as a leader to help others get in the flow so they can also focus on key work output.
1. Help employees identify the tasks and outcomes that are most important and urgent. Be clear on your expectations and how much you appreciate quality output.
2. Help employees stay challenged by their key work responsibilities rather remain stuck in routine, less valued work.
3. Openly express your trust and confidence in their ability to get important work done. Dr. Csikzentmihalyi suggests frequent, helpful feedback aids people to get into the flow state.
4. Help reduce the number and extent of distractions so productive work can happen. In a study of computer programmer productivity, study participants valued supervisors that “respected them” and “got out of their way” so they could be most productive.
5. Avoid being a micro-manager through continuous checking and status reports. If the person is good enough for the job, let them do the job without criticism.
6. Help key employees stay healthy and alert by ensuring they can balance and work and life renewing activities such as eating well, making time for friend and family, and getting their sleep and exercise.
7. Communicate that you fully expect them to do well on the project, and that you are available for support if needed—that you are in their corner.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Out With The Old, In With the .... Better?
At this time of reflection and renewal, bridging from 2009 (not a banner year for so many) to 2010 (with hope and optimism that comes a new year), I thought it would be fun to gather a few crumbs of New Year wisdom from folks wittier than I. Enjoy, and have a wonderful, blessed new year....every one.
"Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go." - Brooks Atkinson
A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other." - Anonymous
"May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions!" - Joey Adams
"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." - Bill Vaughan
"He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; He who makes one is a fool." - F.M. Knowles
"We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential." - Ellen Goodman
"People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas. - Author Unknown
"The new year begins in a snow-storm of white vows." - George William Curtis
"Cheers to a new year and another chance to get it right." - Oprah Winfrey
And my favorite piece of advice touched my funny bone the other day...
"Dance like it hurts,
Love like you need money,
Work when people are watching." - Scott Adams
Blogging is work, right! Happy 2010 to all!
Brian
"Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go." - Brooks Atkinson
A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other." - Anonymous
"May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions!" - Joey Adams
"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." - Bill Vaughan
"He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; He who makes one is a fool." - F.M. Knowles
"We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential." - Ellen Goodman
"People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas. - Author Unknown
"The new year begins in a snow-storm of white vows." - George William Curtis
"Cheers to a new year and another chance to get it right." - Oprah Winfrey
And my favorite piece of advice touched my funny bone the other day...
"Dance like it hurts,
Love like you need money,
Work when people are watching." - Scott Adams
Blogging is work, right! Happy 2010 to all!
Brian
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Capture The Flag
This little story illustrates how there often seems to be such a wide gap between what employees know about what their leaders intend, and what the leaders think about what the employees are doing. The excerpt is from Chapter 49 of our book Attract, Engage & Reatin Top Talent: 50 Plus One Strategies Used by the Best.
"Disconnectedness between leaders and employees is reminiscent of an old game played at summer camps called Capture the Flag. On a typical sunny afternoon at camp, 80 or so rambunctious, pre-teen campers were divided into two teams. Each team was given half of the camp and a flag to plant somewhere in its territory. The goal was to sneak across enemy lines, capture the opponent's flag and carry it back into your territoy without being tagged and put into prison. For those who chose to immerse themselves in the game, the experience was exhilarating and full of intrigue, secretiveness and playful anarchy. For those who were disconnected from the activity, the game afforded the opportunity to sneak off somewhere to enjoy a little peace and quiet. The game was typically won by the intrepid souls who heroically applied their gifts of speed, diversion and guile to foil their opponents' defenses and carry the flag home to vitory. Most participants in the game did not know what they should be doing to help win the game and tended to wander around aimlessly or hide out and wait for it to be over. Some participants were either rankled or grateful to spend most of the time languishing in prison. Some did not learn the game was won until someone told them--perhaps hours later.
Capture the Flag is a metaphor about organizations that do not measure employee perceptions. In these organizations, leaders may not know what the troops are doing or how they are feeling about participating in the game. They may wonder why the troops are not more engaged or feeling a greater sense of urgency. Some leaders may overly rely on the most talented combatants to engage the enemy and come out victorious through speed an innovation. Employees may perceive that their leaders are so focused on beating the competition that they turn a deaf ear to the needs and ideas of the troops. Managers may be unclear how to use resources to gain advantage and wonder what role they should be playing to help win the game. And most organizational members are not clear if they are winning the game or not."
So what is the moral of the story? Disconnectedness is not good, in personal relationships, businesses or society. Since, in my work life, I offer services to leaders and managers who are trying to get the most "out of" their people--it is often best to first look how to get the most "in to" their people, by finding out how they feel, what they perceive and what might be done about it. Choices for profitable, engaging actions range from all-employee engagement surveys (we can help with that) "stay interview" tools (we can help with that) to focused tools for managers to use in having retention and high gain performance conversations with their key people (we can help with that, too).
It's not too late to retain your best, most critical people--and a time of economic upturn is when you are more than ever likely to lose some.
"Disconnectedness between leaders and employees is reminiscent of an old game played at summer camps called Capture the Flag. On a typical sunny afternoon at camp, 80 or so rambunctious, pre-teen campers were divided into two teams. Each team was given half of the camp and a flag to plant somewhere in its territory. The goal was to sneak across enemy lines, capture the opponent's flag and carry it back into your territoy without being tagged and put into prison. For those who chose to immerse themselves in the game, the experience was exhilarating and full of intrigue, secretiveness and playful anarchy. For those who were disconnected from the activity, the game afforded the opportunity to sneak off somewhere to enjoy a little peace and quiet. The game was typically won by the intrepid souls who heroically applied their gifts of speed, diversion and guile to foil their opponents' defenses and carry the flag home to vitory. Most participants in the game did not know what they should be doing to help win the game and tended to wander around aimlessly or hide out and wait for it to be over. Some participants were either rankled or grateful to spend most of the time languishing in prison. Some did not learn the game was won until someone told them--perhaps hours later.
Capture the Flag is a metaphor about organizations that do not measure employee perceptions. In these organizations, leaders may not know what the troops are doing or how they are feeling about participating in the game. They may wonder why the troops are not more engaged or feeling a greater sense of urgency. Some leaders may overly rely on the most talented combatants to engage the enemy and come out victorious through speed an innovation. Employees may perceive that their leaders are so focused on beating the competition that they turn a deaf ear to the needs and ideas of the troops. Managers may be unclear how to use resources to gain advantage and wonder what role they should be playing to help win the game. And most organizational members are not clear if they are winning the game or not."
So what is the moral of the story? Disconnectedness is not good, in personal relationships, businesses or society. Since, in my work life, I offer services to leaders and managers who are trying to get the most "out of" their people--it is often best to first look how to get the most "in to" their people, by finding out how they feel, what they perceive and what might be done about it. Choices for profitable, engaging actions range from all-employee engagement surveys (we can help with that) "stay interview" tools (we can help with that) to focused tools for managers to use in having retention and high gain performance conversations with their key people (we can help with that, too).
It's not too late to retain your best, most critical people--and a time of economic upturn is when you are more than ever likely to lose some.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Attract, Engage & Retain Top Talent
Brian has recently co-authored the book Attract, Engage & Retain Top Talent: 50 Plus One Strategies Used by the Best.
From the book's introduction:
"Forward-thinking leaders have discovered that an opportunity exists to thrive in the competitive marketplace by better engaging the hearts and minds of employees--and in Attract, Engage & Retain Top Talent we explore a myriad of approaches for doing just that. The ideas within these pages emerge from our experiences and lessons learned from organizations seeking to excel by unleashing the talent of their people. Leadership is both art and science. Building your organization into a prefered employer with an engaged workforce and a culture that retain the right people doing the right things requires inspiration and hard work. We hope that this book will serve as a blueprint or at the very least an idea generator for the creation or recreation of your desired place to work."
Click here to BUY NOW
"Forward-thinking leaders have discovered that an opportunity exists to thrive in the competitive marketplace by better engaging the hearts and minds of employees--and in Attract, Engage & Retain Top Talent we explore a myriad of approaches for doing just that. The ideas within these pages emerge from our experiences and lessons learned from organizations seeking to excel by unleashing the talent of their people. Leadership is both art and science. Building your organization into a prefered employer with an engaged workforce and a culture that retain the right people doing the right things requires inspiration and hard work. We hope that this book will serve as a blueprint or at the very least an idea generator for the creation or recreation of your desired place to work."
Click here to BUY NOW
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