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Put Your Team in Flow

Why Use It

A high performance state is where individuals and teams operate most effectively. This state is most easily recognized in athletes who are in a “groove” or “zone,” or in artists who are in a state of “aesthetic rapture.” A key to improving productivity is to create high performance environments that stretch an individual’s skills, promote personal growth, and fulfill individual and group potential. As portrayed by this diagram, a high performance state occurs when people are given clearly defined tasks that balance their skill level with the challenge level of the task. Note: Even a usually boring job can be exciting and involving if the challenges are brought into balance with the person's skills.

How to Use It

Use the following steps to build an environment that puts you or your team “in-the-groove”.

Step	Activity	Description
1	Set clear goals and purposes	Focusing attention on a clearly defined goal or purpose is a critical first step. When people know what must be done, they feel more involved in the task at hand.
2	Match skills with challenges	Personal skills must be well suited to any given challenge. A low skill level matched with high challenging task creates anxiety and stress. Conversely, a high skill level matched with a low challenging job creates boredom and lethargy.
3	Provide clear and immediate feedback	Clear information and immediate feedback about how a person is performing are critical for identifying ways to synchronize skills and responsibilities.
4	Minimize distractions	Work to screen out distractions. This allows for total immersion and concentration on the task at hand. Focus, Focus, Focus!
5	Make the work fun	Do whatever it takes to make work fun and enjoyable. Make a game out of doing the best work possible or trying to find new approaches to transform even routine assignments.
6	Remove fear of failure	Aligning skills with the demands of the task minimizes the risk of failure. Disappointment and perceived failure are often the result of setting unrealistic expectations. Again, make sure expectations are in balance with skills.
7	Give participants control	A sense of personal control over one’s life significantly increases performance. Give each person the maximum amount of control over assignments.
8	Promote self development	The task at hand should offer team members an opportunity for personal growth. Learning new skills that can be used on future work assignments keeps people interested and motivated.
9	Celebrate successes	At the onset of the project, identify important milestones and design creative ways to celebrate them. The feeling of accomplishment will motivate team members to participate fully. A culmination celebration can also add needed positive closure to a lengthy project.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. Finding Flow. New York, NY: Basic Books.