If one truly cares about the bottom line in the broadest sense of that term, the first priority is to eliminate obstacles to flow at all levels of the firm and to substitute practices and policies that are designed to make work enjoyable.
~ Good Business, page 81.

I believe that CEOs and their employees both want the same thing—to be truly happy. So how do you create a happy and productive workplace? Create conditions that foster flow.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Good Business shows how to foster flow in the workplace. His ideas apply to both CEOs and their employees. He finds that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow—which consists of 8 elements:

• Goals are clear;
• Feedback is immediate;
• There is a balance between opportunity and capacity;
• Concentration deepens;
• We live in the present;
• We feel a sense of control;
• The sense of time is altered; and
• Ego disappears.

Flow requires a balance of challenge and skill. If the challenge is too great for one’s skill level, the person will experience worry or anxiety. If the challenge level is too low, that person will experience apathy or boredom. Find the right mix of challenge and skill and the CEO or employee will experience flow—the highest state of happiness. Csikszentmihalyi graphs it like this:

(from Good Business, p. 72.)

It’s important to note that flow is a moving target. What once was challenging and interesting is soon mastered—which presents the danger of boredom setting in again. The key is to find tasks that increase in complexity over time—enabling one’s skill set to grow and evolve.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 at 1:47 pm and is filed under management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.