What to do for happiness & high performance?

psychology of flow

SUMMARY

Athletes, surgeons, lawyers, nurses, hairdressers and chefs. For everyone happiness is essential for high performance. But how exactly does it work? This article analyzes happiness at work according to the theory of flow of the psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. He characterizes flow as a mental state in which a person is completely absorbed in his or her activities. Peaking with your passion, ultimate job satisfaction. You also see this in athletes. Only in flow can you rise above your own abilities.

WHY READ?

The insights in this article are helpful:

if you want to increase your own job satisfaction and performance,
if you – as a team or project manager – want to contribute to the performance of your people,
if you want to discover your flow killers,
if you want to optimise your work situation for top performance.

HOW CAN YOU INCREASE YOUR PERFORMANCE?

Your performance will be maximized if you focus on what you find most valuable to do. That has a major impact on your motivation. You can increase your performance by:

not setting the bar too high; you learn a lot, but you constantly put yourself under stress, your work will cost you energy (this situation often occurs when you just got a new job; after a few months you get better at your work and you reach flow),
avoid working on a routine basis, on autopilot, without attaching challenges to your work; the chances are that you will become lazy and bored and make mistakes,
constantly challenging yourself in your (normal) work, to set the bar a little higher each time, so that you get a little better at your work; you then get into flow and you improve your performance every time.

Focus on flow. Then you maximise your performance.

WHICH FACTORS BOOST YOUR FLOW?

Hairdressers have a very high score on flow because their work situation is almost optimal:

goal: a popular business with great colleagues, top hairstyles and enthusiastic customers,
feedback: customers immediately indicate after each haircut whether they are satisfied,
skills: practice makes perfect; a hairdresser improves his/her skills every day,
grip: independent work and the scissors are never out of service.

It is not without reason that these four factors emerge from Csíkszentmihályi's flow research. How does your work situation score? What school grades would you give your work on the four factors? If you know that, you can work very specifically – possibly together with your manager – on more flow and top performance.

FLOW-BOOSTER 1: GOAL

Do you have clear work goals every day or week that give focus to your work? Or is it all a bit vague what you have to perform? People assess their work situation well on goal if:

there are daily or weekly work goals and targets,
the goals are practical and clear,
they naturally link challenging goals to activities.

Is your sense of purpose low? Then analyze what you have accomplished last month or week. And try to beat yourself. Just like athletes are always happy when they improve themselves. You can also start with the dream or future vision of your company. Suppose you translate that vision into a number of concrete milestones in time, what could be a first step? Tip: celebrate short-term successes, especially in times of work pressure.

FLOW-BOOSTER 2: FEEDBACK

You need feedback for flow and good performance. Am I doing well? How can I improve the quality of my work? People rate their work situation well on feedback such as:

the feedback is concrete and precise,
the feedback comes quickly and directly,
they can and may ask for feedback themselves.

Do you score low on feedback? Then ask for it. To customers or to colleagues who are better than you. For example, by asking them: what grade (1-10) would you like me for the quality of my work? what am i doing right and what should i hold onto? In which areas could it be improved and do you have any concrete tips for this? You will find that others like it if you ask them this. Use it to your advantage.

FLOW-BOOSTER 3: SKILLS

Practice, practice, practice. And keep raising the bar a little higher. That is what challenging and suitable work is all about. People assess their work situation well on skills such as:

there is sufficient challenge at work,
they have the right skills to do the job well,
they always want to improve themselves.

Do you want to make a greater use of your skills in your work? First think about which talent you want to use (even) more often. For example, your organizational skills, your creativity, your commercial side, your empathy? Tell that to others (promise is debt). What do you want to excel in?
What else can you do? Take a course or ask someone to coach you. Learn first, perform later.

FLOW-BOOSTER 4: GRIP

Do you have a grip on the result? Or are you always dependent on others or on systems that don't work? People assess their work situation well on grip if:

the influence on the result is large,
they can organize their own time,
they decide for themselves how they carry out their work.

Do you experience little grip? Then check what kind of work is on your plate. Make a list of tasks and divide it on your calendar. What do I do every Monday, etc. Focus on the things you can do on your own. This way your 'pile of work' turns into a concrete schedule and you have a clear focus every day. You can check things off your list again. You need that. It gives you satisfaction. And grip.

More info about flow and job satisfaction:

the book Flow, the psychology of optimal performance (1999), by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
the book Optimum point (2008) by Max Wildschut
the City & Guilds survey of 1,250 British workers, showing that hairdressers and chefs are happiest at work, and civil servants & architects least satisfied
the Schorem barbershop in Rotterdam, where the job satisfaction of the barbers radiates. The photos accompanying this article are also theirs.

ROADMAP

What are the steps you can take for top performance and a lot of fun at work?

Name what you are good at, what you have a natural predisposition for,
What challenge can you attach to that? Please be specific (what to achieve),
Ask a pro to give you feedback, advise or coach you,
Go practice, practice and practice. Every time raise the bar a little higher,
Celebrate the successes and thank everyone who helps you.

These steps aren't difficult, but can be tricky if you're hitting burnout, feeling like you can't do anything, or being unappreciated if you're ambitious. Then you have to take it seriously first.

DO IT ALONE OR TOGETHER?

The motivation for happiness and top performance can only come from 1 person, and that is yourself. But… you also need an environment in which that is valued or encouraged. So that you are not the only one who wants to get the most out of it.

Do you want to get started with the whole team? Then it is essential that your manager also wants to go for it. It can then be smart to bring in a team coach who will ensure that there is sufficient focus on job satisfaction, that everyone wants to learn and that a winning spirit is created. No manager is ideal. If he or she is mainly interested in hard targets, then bring in a people-oriented coach. If you have a team leader who gives a lot of personal attention, bring in a performance-oriented coach. In the end it's all about a nice balance.

Are people in your work environment not waiting for someone with your qualities and ambition? Then go away. It makes no sense to hire a coach. At most, to analyze together what you want exactly. So you can use that in your next step.

Check the A*Life Academy for a workshop, coaching or teambuilding.

BY: HAROLD SMITS

Harold Smits is a psychological economist and likes to make complex matters simple, interactive and personal. He has been involved in job satisfaction, growth and innovation all his life. After a career in marketing & training, he started his own business in 1999, with individual coaching, teambuilding, live assessments and large-scale change processes. In 2005 he founded the Flow Academy together with Max Wildschut, in which they certified coaches as official flow coaches.

Why is Harold such a fan of flow? It's practical, to-the-point and personal. Ideal for any manager to use as an instrument when coaching your team. It's about the person & about the performance and the goal is very simple: happiness for everyone and scoring together!