013 | BOLD Leader Flow Triggers

Have you ever been “in the zone,” where projects felt almost effortless? If you’ve ever experienced this, you were in a state of Flow. This term was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his seminal work Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Flow triggers can be a powerful ally for anyone in leadership.

“You know that what you need to do is possible to do, even though difﬁcult, and sense of time disappears. You forget yourself. You feel part of something larger.” —Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

McKinsey Consulting conducted a 10-year research study where they found that top executives reported being five times more productive when in a state of Flow. If we could increase the time we spend in Flow by 15-20% (by increasing Flow triggers), overall productivity in the workplace would almost double, researchers found.

But what is Flow?

“Flow is an optimal state of consciousness, a peak state where we feel our best and perform our best.” -Steven Kotler

One of the leading voices today in the area of achieving Flow is Steven Kotler, author of “The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance” and “17 Flow Triggers.”

From his bio: STEVEN KOTLER is a New York Times bestselling author, and award-winning journalist. His articles have appeared in over 70 publications, including: New York Times Magazine, Wired, Discover, Popular Science, Outside, GQ, and National Geographic. Kotler is also the co-founder and director of research for the Flow Genome Project, an organization dedicated to decoding ultimate human performance.

In this episode of the Lucrative Leadership Podcast, Gene and I explore several of these Flow Triggers and how the Six Bold Steps of the Leaders First Process can outline a structure to achieve Flow.

Flow Triggers and the Six Bold Steps

While Flow has been proven to be a powerful ally in the world of business leadership, very few leaders understand how to achieve it. The 6 Bold Steps create a structure where Flow triggers are allowed to flourish. Below is a summary of the 6 Bold Steps with the corresponding Flow triggers.

Bold Step #1: Step Up To Responsibility

In Step 1, leaders agree to step up their game and own their personal responsibilities. This requires the hard, often painful, work of examining their beliefs and behaviors. To lead together, leaders have to agree to protect the organization’s best interest, even at the expense of their department.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #1:

The Challenge/Skills Ratio (Psychological Trigger)

Flow is achieved when the task or responsibility is slightly beyond your comfort zone or skills. When leaders step up to the responsibility at hand, they must find the balance between tasks which are too difficult (causing anxiety) and those which are too easy (causing boredom).

A Rich Environment (Environmental Trigger)

Leaders can more easily achieve a Flow state by structuring the environment in which they work. By creating environments that are unpredictable and complex, it can actually work at increasing Flow. How? If you do not know what to expect in your environment, you pay more attention to what is happening next. If we are forced to calculate a lot of information coming toward us quickly, it forces us to be more attuned to the moment.

Risk (Social Trigger)

Risk means the potential to fail. Creativity increases with a greater risk of failure. When leaders step up to their specific responsibilities, the potential for failure increases, which in turn increases the amount of creativity and innovation.

Bold Step #2: Defining Critical Outcomes

In step 2, they craft a common language, sustainable statements, which we call critical outcomes. Outcomes express the core competencies aligned with the organization’s strategic vision and the customer’s expectations.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #2:

Clear Goals (Psychological Trigger)

Clear goals allow our minds to stay focused on the present task. The goal of having clear goals is to “know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. (Kotler)”

Shared, Clear Goals (Social Trigger)

Flow happens only when teams are 100% clear on their shared goals. Shared goals have a dual purpose: Open for creativity, yet focused enough to achieve a solution.

Familiarity (Social Trigger)

Teams can more easily achieve Flow when they use common terms and language. Each member of the team must work from the same knowledge base to avoid confusion. Confusion kills Flow. When team members are on the same page, it leads to momentum. Momentum leads to Flow. Step #2, defining outcomes, is critical in getting everyone headed in the same direction.

Bold Step #3: Granting and Accepting Accountability

In Step 3, leaders negotiate who, on the leadership team, will have the primary accountability for designing and executing each outcome.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #3:

High Consequences (Environmental Trigger)

Risk and survival are positive factors when it comes to achieving Flow. When danger is involved, our sense are heightened. This response works in favor of finding a Flow experience. By granting and accepting accountability (Bold Step 3), an element of danger is created.

Sense of Control (Social Trigger)

When accountability is granted, the leader is also granting a sense of control to that team member. When a team member accepts accountability, they are stepping into the control they have over a critical outcome. Accountability and a sense of control encourages both autonomy and competence.

Bold Step #4: Integrate Roles

In step 4, – Working together, the leaders begin an intuitive process to collaborate and design a structure they are able to support and explain to others. Leaders decide their roles for each outcome and agree how and when communications occur that define future and past actions and decisions. They create the first drafts of the reporting structure.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #4:

Intensely Focused (Psychological Trigger)

Flow is the direct result of intense concentration over a long period of time. Focused attention, as opposed to multi-tasking, leads to high levels of Flow. Flow requires one singular area of deep focus. Once a leader’s role has been determined, they are able to give the full attention to this area.

Equal Participation (Social Trigger)

Flow is best achieved when team members share equal roles in the project. Team members need to have a similar level of skills. You don’t want to mix the “professionals” with the “amateurs.” Step 4, integrating roles, helps in getting the right people at the table and achieving Flow within the team.

Bold Step #5: Designing The Strategic Reporting Structure

In step 5, engaging the entire organization in ongoing discussions improves the design. Conversations serve to clarify and reinforce the meaning of the outcomes that make the organization sustainable.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #5:

Serious Concentration (Social Trigger)

An effective reporting structure and feedback loops (Step 5) helps to focus team members on what is important and maintaining concentration on the project. This type of concentration can be seen in the sporting world, where it is necessary for the demands of a fast paced sport. Like a time out during a stressful game, constant feedback loops can help keep the team concentrated at the task at hand.

Good Communication (Social Trigger)

According to Kotler, “nothing blocks flow more than ignoring or negating a group member.” When leaders spend quality time on designing an effective reporting structure, good communication can be achieved among team members, leading to Flow.

Bold Step #6: Tracking Performance

In Step 6, tracking performance is used to discover the best practices for the delivery of each outcome to the customer.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #6:

Immediate Feedback (Psychological Trigger)

Immediate feedback is related to defining clear goals, according to Kotler. In the Leaders First process, creating a successful performance tracking system (step 6) ties all the way back to defining the organization’s critical outcomes (step 2). By providing opportunities for immediate feedback, it focuses attention on goals and outcomes, leading to Flow.

Conclusion:

Flow should be the goal of any leader who wants to achieve extraordinary results in business and in life. Flow is the roadmap to discovering greater clarity, focus, accountability, and commitment in your organization. Kotler’s 17 triggers are an excellent way to achieve Flow in the workplace. However, leaders may find the implementation process difficult. The 6 Bold Steps of the Leaders First process allows leaders to create a structured framework in order to implement these Flow triggers into a team environment.

To learn more about the 6 Bold Steps, the Leaders First process, or about the BOLD Leader Flow Project, contact Susan Hasty to schedule your appointment.

Resources & Links:

http://www.slideshare.net/StevenKotler/17-flow-triggers

http://www.flowgenomeproject.com/

https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow

Leaders First: Six Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction by Gene Morton

About the Hosts:

SUSAN HASTY

Susan Hasty, CEO coach

Susan Hasty is the CEO of 360 Profit Masters and the host of the Lucrative Leadership Conversations podcast. Susan considers herself a “maverick leader” on a mission to inspire and equip leaders to ignite their leadership genius. Susan co-founded 7 business ventures over the last 35 years. Her passion is helping business owners and CEOs improve their own clarity, focus and commitment to build more sustainable organizations empowered to make economic liberty a reality. She is certified in Neurolinguistic Programming and is a Strategic HR Business Partner by the Human Capital Institute. She is a member of the Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Network of International Leadership coaches.

Ready to your business more profitable? Schedule a free call with Susan Hasty

GENE MORTON

Gene Morton, organizational pyschologist Gene Morton is an organizational psychologist based out of Colorado. He is also an award winning author of the book, Leaders First: Six Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction. Over the past 40 years, Gene has consulted on more than 100 projects in 85 organizations with leader groups engaged in complex mergers, reorganizations, leadership turnarounds, and system redesigns.

He developed the Leaders First Alignment Process to provide leadership teams the model they need to gain clarity as the organization evolves. His passion is mastering the complexities of organized and collaborative leadership.

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December 19, 2016/3 Comments/by admin

art marr

New Perspeicte on Flow from affective neuroscience (and simpler triggers too!)

Below is a brief explanation of how a simple variation of mindfulness procedure can elicit peak, ecstatic, or ‘flow’ states, as well as a new, simple, and radically different explanation of flow. It is based on the work of the distinguished affective neuroscientist Kent Berridge of the University of Michigan, who was kind to vet the argument for accuracy and endorse the work (in preface in linked MS below). The attached documentation is here to justify the simple procedure which can only be validated through personal trial. In other words, the proof is in the procedure. I would be delighted to have your comments and criticisms.

Assumptions
1. Opioid systems (pleasure) are activated when the covert musculature is inactive or relaxed, and suppressed when the covert musculature is active (a state of tension).
2. Dopamine systems (attentive arousal) are activated upon the perception or anticipation of positive act-outcome discrepancy (or novelty) and are suppressed when present or anticipated outcomes are predictable or negative (boredom, depression).
3. When concurrently activated, opioid and dopamine systems interact and co-stimulate each other, and result in self-reports of ecstatic or peak experience.

Prediction
Concurrent procedures that induce relaxation (e.g. mindfulness protocols) and attentive arousal (e.g. meaningful behavior) will result in the co-activation of both systems with self-reports of arousal and pleasure that are subjectively reported as ‘flow’ or ‘peak’ experiences.

Proof
Self-reports of peak or flow experiences without exception occur during states of relaxation coupled with the continuous anticipation of high and positive act-outcome discrepancy (e.g. creative, sporting, and other meaningful behavior). (pp.82-86 of linked book below for analysis of the flow experience). Besides its face validity, the hypothesis also provides the procedural means for its easy falsification. (pp. 47-52). To wit, simply consistently engage in mindfulness (a relaxation protocol) while consistently pursuing meaningful behavior, and you will feel alert, aroused, and feel good to boot. That’s it.

The Psychology of Rest
https://www.scribd.com/doc/284056765/The-Book-of-Rest-The-Odd-Psychology-of-Doing-Nothing

Meditation and Rest
from the International Journal of Stress Management, by this author
https://www.scribd.com/doc/121345732/Relaxation-and-Muscular-Tension-A-bio-behavioristic-explanation

Kent Berridge: Affective Neuroscience and Biopsychology Lab
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~berridge/
April

This is a great article! Now I know some characteristic of being in a flow state. The article is really helpful for giving me new information. The same in here https://www.cwilsonmeloncelli.com/flow-blog-2/ which discuss more flow states and I like it.
art marr

Why the Flow Model is illogical: A contrarian perspective on Flow from the perspective of affective neuroscience

On the surface, the graphical representation of the flow channel is simple to understand. When you arrange a demand/skill match, flow happens. For any task, the problem is that although demand moves up or down dependent upon the exigencies of the moment, skill should be relatively stable during or within the performance, and only change, and for the most part gradually between performances. Thus, one may accomplish a task that from moment to moment varies in demand, but the skills brought to that task are the same regardless of demand. What this means is that for any one-performance set, skill is not a variable, but a constant. That is, one cannot adjust skill against demand during performance because skill can only change negligibly during performance, or in other words does not move. Thus, for performance that requires any skill set, the only variable that can be manipulated is demand. For moment to moment behavior the adjustable variable that elicits flow is demand and demand alone. But that leaves us with figuring out what demand exactly is.
A demand may be defined as simple response-outcome contingency. Thus, if you do X, Y will occur or not occur. It is thus inferred that demand entails a fully predictable means-end relationship or expectancy. But the inference that the act-outcome expectancy is always fully predictable is not true. Although a response-outcome is fully predictable when skill overmatches demand, as demand rises to match and surpass skill, uncertainty in the prediction of a performance outcome also rises. At first, the uncertainty is positive, and reaches its highest level when a skill matches the level of demand. This represents a ‘touch and go’ experience wherein every move most likely will result in a positive outcome in a calm or non-stressed state. It is here that many individuals report euphoric flow like states. Passing that, the moment-to-moment uncertainty of a bad outcome increases, along with a corresponding rise in tension and anxiety.
Momentary positive uncertainty as a logical function of the moment to moment variance occurring when demand matches skill does not translate into a predictor for flow, and is ignored in Csikszentmihalyi’s model because uncertainty by implication does not elicit affect. Rather, affect is imputed to metaphorical concepts of immersion, involvement, and focused attention that are not grounded to any specific neurological processes. However, the fact that act-outcome discrepancy in relaxed states alone has been correlated with specific neuro-chemical changes in the brain that map to euphoric, involved, timeless , or immersive states, namely the co-activation of dopamine and opioid systems due to continuous positive act/outcome discrepancy and relaxation, narrows the cause of flow to abstract elements of perception rather than metaphorical aspects of performance. These abstract perceptual elements denote information and can easily be defined and be reliably mapped to behavior.
A final perceptual aspect of demand that correlates with the elicitation of dopamine is the importance of the result or goal of behavior. Specifically, dopaminergic systems are activated by the in tandem perception of discrepancy and the predicted utility or value of result of a response contingency. The flow model maps behavior to demand and skill, but not only is skill fixed, so is the importance of the goal state that predicates demand. However, the relative importance of the goal state correlates with the intensity of affect. For example, representing a task that matches his skills, a rock climber calmly ascending a difficult cliff would be euphoric if the moment to moment result was high, namely avoiding a fatal fall, but would be far less so if he was attached to a tether, and would suffer only an injury to his pride is he were to slip. Finally, the flow experience correlates also with a state of relaxation and the concomitant activation of opioid systems along with a dopamine induced arousal state that together impart a feeling of euphoria, which would also be predicted as choices in flow are singular and clear and therefore avoid perseverative cognition. It is the sense of relaxation induced pleasure and a feeling of attentive arousal that constitutes the flow experience.

I offer a more detailed theoretical explanation in pp. 47-52, and pp 82-86 of my open source book on the neuroscience of resting states, ‘The Book of Rest’, linked below.

The Psychology of Rest
https://www.scribd.com/doc/284056765/The-Book-of-Rest-The-Odd-Psychology-of-Doing-Nothing

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