Spotlight on: Flow
I love psychology. I studied it and have always been fascinated by human behaviour, especially in the context of the workplace. With Understorey, I’m drawing on my Organisational Psychology background to support entrepreneurs and organisations to better their people, culture and strategy practices. Because without people working well, organisations can’t thrive.
Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of flow gripped me early on. The theory has stuck with me, and I’ve continued to think about flow in my work, in conversation, when I play games and sport, or read. Now, I’m exploring flow within the context of purpose-driven organisations. Specifically, does it occur more often while individuals are working towards a purpose larger than themselves?
So, what is flow?
When Csikszentmihalyi first developed the concept of flow, he was looking to understand what contributed to a life that was worth living. We’ve put a link to his TED talk at the end of this article. At the core of it, he wanted to know what made people happy. He and psychologists and researchers since then have found that higher quality of flow is associated with being happy and enthusiastic, and with increased life satisfaction (1). Being in flow more often provides people with meaning, purpose and harmony in their lives (2).
According to this theory, flow occurs when an individual experiences “the holistic sensations that people feel when they act with total involvement”, or a multidimensional psychological construct that includes absorption, intrinsic interest and enjoyment (3).
Csikszentmihalyi describes 8 characteristics of flow
Complete concentration on the task
Clarity of goals/reward in mind and immediate feedback
Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down)
Intrinsically rewarding experience
Effortlessness and ease
Balance between challenge and skills
Merging of actions and awareness; losing self-conscious rumination
A feeling of control over the task
Flow has a range of benefits - it can result in greater levels of top performance, including high efficiency and high effectiveness (4,5), as well as increased skill development and improved performance (6). It has been associated with higher levels of creativity, for instance within music (7), and has shown to positively influence perceived learning and student satisfaction in their learning (8). The benefits can extend into our workplaces - for individuals who work within for-purpose organisations, being in flow can help illuminate and progress the social or environmental mission they strive for, and provide a sense of fulfilment.
Flow has fascinated researchers from across disciplines - it has been studied in online customer experiences (9), online learning environments (10), online shopping (11), online advertising (12), computer-games (13), and email and programming use, among many other areas. It has also been studied in the context of sports (14), which is where athletes are said to be “in the zone”.
The Conscientious Flow
All of us experience flow. As mentioned above, it mainly occurs when we do things we love, and there is a balance between challenge and skill. However, do some of us experience it more than others?
Csikszentmihalyi’s research uncovered some interesting observations about autotelic personalities, people who have a set of traits that makes it easier for them to enter a state of flow. Csikszentmihalyi describes these types of people as internally driven, exhibiting a sense of purpose and curiosity. Moreover, “an autotelic person needs few material possessions and little entertainment, comfort, power, or fame because so much of what he or she does is already rewarding… they depend less on external rewards that keep others motivated to go on with a life of routines.” The word autotelic comes from the Greek words auto (self) and telos (goal), and accordingly these people are less influenced by outside circumstances and focus on their own experiences as goals within themselves.
The Big Five personality traits, which most psychology students learn about in their first year of university, provide further research on autotelic personalities and flow. Of the Big Five traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism/ emotional stability), those higher in conscientiousness are more likely to spend time trying to complete challenging tasks, linking with a key characteristic of flow: complete concentration on the task. Conversely, studies have found that individuals higher in neuroticism may exhibit more stress and anxiety, which can inhibit the state of flow (15). Social entrepreneurs, who found their own organisation, often exhibit high levels of conscientiousness. As such, given the right circumstances, they may be more likely to enter the flow state.
To me, this conscientious, autotelic personality sounds very similar to people who have founded or work within not-for-profits, social enterprises, for profit for purpose businesses and other for-purpose organisations. (Check out our profile of for-purpose workers here). Often, for-purpose organisations work in ‘wicked’ or highly complex areas, and are internally driven by a desire to improve conditions in this area of focus. They do work that is intrinsically motivating and fulfilling, often not for money, power or fame. Could this mean that those working in the for-purpose sector have more opportunities to enter the flow state?
How do we go with the flow more often?
We’ve explored how flow is valuable to our work, particularly for people working towards a purpose. For a sector that also faces inadequate rewards, personnel burnout, and mission myopia, cultivating flow will help to address the everyday, lived challenges of working in this area. Here’s a Top-5 list of things you can do to get into the flow state more often.
Do things you love. It could be that you love writing articles or a blog on environmental issues, mapping ideas, or configuring spreadsheets. If it’s challenging, you feel intrinsic reward, and time is slowing down or speeding up, you’re on the right track.
Meditation and/or mindfulness. This is really about being present in what you are doing on a day-to-day basis. Along with increasing the likelihood of you entering the state of flow, your well-being and overall health can benefit too. Give your complete concentration to the task. Try to focus on the journey, not the end outcome.
Stretch yourself. Further develop a skill that you have. For example, if you’re a founder of a social enterprise and facilitate community workshops, try addressing a more difficult audience, or alter your usual presentation style. If you play music, learn some new scales. Learn a new recipe. Find an activity where you can practice and improve meaningfully over time.
Try working in groups. If you lead a for-purpose organisation, collaborate or partner with another organisation on an idea. Working with groups, partners, employees or volunteers can be highly rewarding, particularly if you’re working on something you’re passionate about, and which is slightly challenging - mainly because it feels like you’re all working together towards a purpose.
Care for your attentional health. Take note of how connected you are to the internet and your smartphone, and balance your time being connected with time to focus on tasks. For instance, as co-founders of Understorey, we aim to take the time to respond to emails and notifications, but also block out time to work on content. Being hypo-connected (to little) or hyper-connected (too much) can impede you from entering a state of flow. (16).
Particularly in this time of global pandemic and uncertainty, having access to flow - as both a resource and a safe space - is more important than ever. I hope that this article has shown you why flow interests me so much, and its potential synergies with work within for-purpose organisations. You can learn more about flow by checking out Csikszentmihalyi’s TED talk. We would also love to connect if you have founded, lead or work within a purpose-driven organisation.
Understorey envisions a world where purpose-driven organisations achieve and exceed their goals for social and environmental impact.
If you would like to learn more about how we can help, or just chat about some of the challenges you and/or your organisation may be facing, feel free to contact us at hello@understorey.co or through our contact form.
