My mother-in-law visited with family in Washington, DC over the weekend and when she came home she was sharing with me how everyone is doing. We ending up talking about her nephew who has worked for the Federal Government for quite a number of years and how she worries about his health due to his stress levels.

She talked about the other things he could do if he could just quit (really, it would be a retirement) that job. But I reminded her that even if he were to retire, he’s not the kind of person who can sit still and would likely find himself doing something else with the same amount of stress. Mom agreed and said it’s because of his Type A personality.

Personality Types

This of course, got me thinking about how having a Type A or Type B personality effects our leadership practice. I find it interesting that most of what has been written about these two personality types tends to focus on those that are Type A, with much of what is written about Type B’s being essentially described as “the opposite of Type A”.

Generally Type A personalities are described as: trying to do more than one thing at a time; having a sense of urgency, so much so that they are always in a hurry and are impatient with delays; generally competitive not only in sport situations, but also in work and social situations; prone to hostility, especially as it relates to the traits listed above. In contrast, those with Type B personalities tend to be seen as patient, easy going to the point of being seen as apathetic.

Type A Leaders

An understanding of these two personality types and which one we tend towards has implications for our leadership practice. I think we tend to see more extreme Type A’s in the workplace so we have more experience with which to understand the Type A leadership styles.

Since Type A’s tend to have high expectations and set high performance goals, these high expectations and goals can then lead to high performance and high quality which puts the Type A individual in a good light. However, the downside is that these high expectations and high performance goals can also lead to conflict, overload and burnout, not just for the individuals but for those around them.

Folks who are Type A have a need to be in control and because of this very often have trouble delegating. In settings where the focus is on empowerment, collaboration and the use of teams, the Type A’s need for control will be in direct conflict in many situations.

Type B Leaders

Those who are Type B personalities tend to do better in situations where delegation, empowerment and use of teams is the focus because they are able to let others help in the decision making process. However, many times leaders who are Type B are seen as weak and ineffective, especially when paired against those who are Type A.

Since Type B’s don’t possess the time urgency that Type A’s do, they can also be seen as waffling as they take their time and therefore allow for additional information to come to light before making decisions. However, this lack of a sense of time urgency can also lead to waiting until the 11th hour to complete work that needs to be done.

Personality Type and Leadership

From a leadership perspective, I think either extreme can be detrimental. This is certainly a case where “everything in moderation” is important. Leaders who are able to take the best characteristics of both types can prove to be effect. For example, recognizing a sense of urgency can be important, provided that it is tempered with patience. Setting high goals and expectations is also important, provided that they are shared goals and folks are empowered to figure out how to accomplish the goals in their own way.

As leaders, when we take the time for Self Reflection we can begin to recognize the characteristics of both personality types in ourselves. Once we can identify these characteristics, we can begin to put more emphasis on the helpful ones and less emphasis on the unhelpful ones. Over time this can move us away from tending towards one or the other and more to the point of the moderation that we seek.

Leader’s Reflection: Those who are either Type A or Type B personalities have characteristics that can be detrimental for leadership situations. However, both personality types have some characteristics that can be helpful leadership qualities. When we are able to take the best characteristics from both types, it can lead to effective leadership.

You also might be interested in:

1. Knowing Our Personality Type
2. How Are You At Self-Monitoring?
3. Characteristics of Flow: A Growth Opportunity

Effective leaders are really good at being able to read situations and accurately understand what is going on. They are also able to successfully adjust their behavior, based on the situation, to respond appropriately. One of the things that determines our ability to be able to accurately read situations and respond with the appropriate behavior is our level of self-monitoring.

The concept of self-monitoring was added to the psychology of personality back in the mid-1970’s when it was developed by Mark Snyder. According to Snyder, individuals fall along a continuum from Low Self-Monitoring to High Self-Monitoring.

Those falling on the high end of the scale tend to be able to read situations and use the cues they pick up from the environment or social setting to determine their behavior. Those that fall on the lower end of the scale either aren’t able to read the situational cues as well or don’t use them to change their behavior.

Continuing with my previous description on understanding why people behave the way they do, when we filter an event we’ve experienced using the rocks that we carry around (our values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations), those of us that are high self-monitors will add perceptions and judgements that are related to the external cues, where those that are low self-monitors will add perceptions and judgments that are related to their own internal conditions.

Importance of Self-Monitoring for Leaders

There is research that suggests that those who are high self-monitors tend to emerge as leaders with more frequency than low self-monitors. So if we accept this as true, leaders and those wanting to become leaders should be aware of our self-monitoring ability.

The first step is to use Self Reflection to understand our level of self-monitoring. When we see what is going on around us, do we ignore the situational cues and react the way we always react? (While this makes us consistent, we may be consistently responding inappropriately.) Or, do we adapt our approach and behavior based on the cues we are picking up?

Once we have an idea of our level of self-monitoring there are two areas that we can focus on to improve our ability to self-monitor; reading situational cues and adapting our behavior accordingly.

Picking Up On Cues

Some folks are just better than others at reading people and situations. But there is a sure-fire way to begin to be better at reading situational cues and that is to pay attention. Clearly, it is much harder to read another person if we aren’t focused on that person.

There is a whole sub-field of psychology that is devoted to reading nonverbal cues such as body language. If we aren’t paying attention to someone’s body language, we are missing some important cues to the situation.

This paying attention is even more important if we do much of our work by phone. I’ve spent thousands of hours coaching and mentoring people on the phone and when I pay attention I’m able to pick up cues in the conversation; the words they use or don’t use, the tone of their voice, their level of engagement.

If we pay attention we begin to recognize the cues around us. Over time, as we recognize different cues we can put together a “library” of cues that we see and the different behaviors we have tried in response to those cues. This is some what of a trial and error process. We may recognize the cues, but our reaction may be completely inappropriate. So the next time we recognize those particular cues, we need to try a different reaction looking for the one that has the positive outcome we seek.

Adapting Behavior

When we are able to recognize the cues in situations, we then need to be able to adapt our behavior to the situation. Again, some folks are just better at adapting their behavior than others. When you get used to being in situations where individuals are inconsistent in their actions and/or their messaging, you tend to get better at adapting your own behavior to the situation, sometimes out of sheer self-preservation.

The secret here is not acting in a way that dismisses ourself and who we are in order to just “look good” to others. Rather it is to understand the situation for what it is and to bring out those parts of ourself, or as I like to say dig a little deeper into the bag of rocks that we carry around, to find the most appropriate response to the situation that is still true to who we are.

In order to do this, we need to have a good understanding of who we are and what rocks (values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations) we are carrying around with us.

When we are able to adapt our behavior based on the cues of the situation, it allows us to seek positive results. This is really at the heart of what Stephen Covey talks about when he says that highly effective people Think Win-Win. When we are able to read situational cues accurately, it opens the door for us to change OUR behavior to produce truly win-win results.

Leader’s Reflection: Research suggests that those who are able to accurately read situational cues and adapt their behavior to those cues are high self-monitors and tend to emerge as leaders more often than those that are low-self monitors. Leaders can begin to improve their ability to pick up on situational cues by paying attention. Once we’re able to recognize situational cues, we need to adapt our behavior to the situation and seek win-win results by having a good understanding of our values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations.

You also might be interested in:

1. 6 Months of Reflection Leadership
2. Are You a Type A or Type B Leader?
3. Leaders Need to Monitor Their Own Behavior

To me, one of the most important aspects of Self Reflection is investigating our own personality traits. When I teach leadership in the classroom and get to the part where we talk about Self Reflection, I’m always amazed at the number of “aha” moments that happen for people when they start to discover their personality traits through various self-assessments. Time after time, the one area that continues to fascinate me is learning about our particular personality type through tools such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am neither a MBTI® Master Practitioner, nor for that matter, have I ever been administered the MBTI by someone who is certified. I have, however, found a number of assessments, both in books and online that allow us to get quick and dirty results to begin to understand which of the sixteen personality types we are.

What is the MBTI and Personality Types

As a quick review in case you haven’t heard of the MBTI and the sixteen personality types, it is a personality assessment that classifies individuals along four areas: Extraversion vs. Introversion; Sensing vs. Intuition; Thinking vs. Feeling; Judging vs. Perceiving. Based on where we stand in each of these areas, we have our own personality type which is expressed as a four-letter code such as INTP or ENTJ. So what we are talking about here is much more in-depth than simply someone just being extroverted or introverted.

There are a number of things that I find fascinating with learning about our personality types, but nothing is more surprising to me as when I see someone take an assessment, determine their personality type, then read more about the type and be utterly surprised to find that the description fits them perfectly.

These folks tend to be even more surprised when they find that there are actually others who are “just like them” with the same personality type. While we are certainly all unique and individual in our own way, it is interesting to find that others share our personality traits and can be more like us than we previously imagined.

Knowing Our Own Type

To me, the power of understanding our own personality type is not knowing that I happen to be an INTP, but knowing the particular traits of an INTP and how they relate with other personality types.

Once we know our personality type, we are able to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of our type. Then we can use this information to find situations that lend themselves to our personality strengths and steer clear of situations that would highlight our personality weaknesses.

Using Personality Types in Organizations

Organizations will many times administer personality type assessments so that they can make sure they have the right types of people in the right positions. The first experience I had with personality typing was when my brother-in-law had applied for an Assistant Comptroller position years ago and as part of the interview process had to take an assessment. In that case, they apparently checked the results, hired him and just “filed” the results.

Understanding the personality types of individuals can be useful for organizations. It can help when building high performing teams to integrate a combination of individual types that can compliment each other. I’ve also seen assessing personality types used to help with conflict resolution.

A former coworker shared his story with me where at a previous job he had been working at a very small organization that had less than ten employees. He was constantly at odds with one of his coworkers. Everything both of them seemed to do would aggravate the other.

Finally the owner sat both of them down and had them complete a personality type assessment so that they could understand their own personality type. Then the owner did the best thing he could, he made them share their personality type and the information about their type with the other. As my coworker explained, he didn’t like the other person any more, but they were now able to work together because each understood the other.

Leader’s Reflection: As leaders who know and understand our own personality type, we are able to leverage this information by taking advantage of situations that play to the strengths of our type and minimizing situations that are not suited to our type. When we are also able to know the personality types of those around us, it can help us to form and lead high performing teams made up of individuals that complement one another.

You also might be interested in:

1. Are You a Type A or Type B Leader?
2. What is Self Reflection?
3. How Are You At Self-Monitoring?

I’ve often said that Reflection Leadership starts with being able to take the time to stop and reflect on what is going on around us. But what happens when you feel like you can’t take the time to stop and reflect? I found myself in this exact situation this week.

There’s Work To Be Done

I’m currently working on the final stages of a large project that started a year ago that will culminate with a large number of deliverables 17 days from now. This project touches most of the organization and has required the efforts of a large number of people across many departments. My role has included shepherding the entire project along and more importantly this month, I am responsible for getting the last part of the project completed.

Because of team decisions made earlier in the project, we find ourselves with a large amount of work to do in the last three weeks of the year, which will require a small group of folks to work over the holiday week. A time that has traditionally been a slow time for us.

This week, as we try to not only make sure we will meet our first of the year deadline but also limit the amount of work that will need to be done in the last week, we are working feverishly. The beginning of the week didn’t start off well with the added drama that I talked about earlier that has upped everyone’s stress level.

Getting The Work Done

After working half a day on Sunday to get a jump on the week, I’ve worked four straight double-digit days, including over 16 hours on Monday. Having the knowledge that this project will be done after this stressful three-week period was justification for accepting what is going on this week. I certainly didn’t need to take the time to stop and reflect on what is going on. I just needed to plow through the work and get it done.

By Wednesday, my body had other plans for me. I woke up experiencing narrowed vision, not being able to see as well peripherally. I was having trouble eating and I had some serious heartburn. But, there was still work to be done. So I worked another 12 hour day plowing through.

After the way I felt on Wednesday, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sustain this pace for the next two weeks. I’m becoming more and more aware of the fact that I’m not as young and resilient as I once was. On Thursday morning I came to the conclusion that I really didn’t have a choice, I was going to have to take time to stop for reflection.

Taking The Time to Reflect

When the weather is warmer and I find myself in this type of situation, I’ll go for a bike ride in the morning along the beautiful Delaware River. The fresh air and the scenery rushing by allows my head to clear and my thinking to be more focused.

But going for a ride in the dark with the temperatures in the 20s was not going to happen, so I trudged down to ride the exercise bike for the first time in over a week.

Usually when I ride indoors I either watch a TV show or movie or listen to music and read. But this day, I knew I had to take the time I needed. I put on my Meditation playlist and just rode. During that ride, I was able to effective stop and reset my thinking so that I can start to better understand how to get the work done without succumbing to the stress.

Many times I’ve talked about the different parts of Reflection Leadership and that for leaders to be effective we need to practice all of the parts of Reflection Leadership. But sometimes we find ourselves in situations where the only important thing is self-preservation. If we are unable to preserve ourselves, we certainly can’t be effect leaders and, even worse, it could have some very serious physical and mental consequences.

What my week has shown me is that sometimes Reflection Leadership needs to be stripped down to its most basic essence and we need to actually stop and recognize what we are doing to ourselves and reflect on what we can do to continue to be productive without be self-destructive.

Leader’s Reflection: Reflection Leadership is all about being able to stop and reflect on what is going on around us so that we can have a clearer understanding of what we need to do to lead effective. But sometimes, when we are the most overwhelmed and stressed, Reflection Leadership means taking the time to stop and recognize that we need to preserve ourselves.

You also might be interested in:

1. Staying Focused When Things Get in the Way
2. A Giving of Thanks
3. 6 Months of Reflection Leadership

In my last article, I started to look at why folks behave the way they do. Very simply put, every event that we experience is filtered through the rocks that we carry around with us (our values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations).

After adding our perception and judgment to what we’ve observed, we make a conclusion that is again filtered by our current emotions and feelings and then we react. Most times we go through this process in milliseconds, so that it seems that we have an “immediate” reaction.

Reflection Leadership, and in particular Self Reflection, allows us to have better reactions to events when they happen, but it means having to pay attention to this reaction process.

How to Monitor Our Behavior

The first thing we need to do is to practice Self Reflection on a regular basis. When we understand what rocks we are carrying around in our bag, even the ones that are hiding way down deep, we are able to better choose which rocks we filter our experiences through.

The second thing we need to do is slow down our reaction time. Instead of instantly reacting to everything that we experience, there are times when we need to take the time to really understand what is going on. Most times we don’t have all the facts and we end up filtering our experience based on the wrong rocks.

Seeing the Whole Picture

I remember a story from Stephen R. Covey about him riding on a subway train with a man and his two young, unruly children. He was trying to read the newspaper, but the kids were acting out and being a complete distraction while their father seemed to be completely oblivious to the whole thing.

After not being able to endure it anymore, Covey gruffly asked the man if he could please control his children. The man, coming out of his preoccupation, replied that he was sorry, that they had just come from the hospital where his wife had just died and he was struggling with how to explain to his kids that their mother had died.

This is a great example of how having additional information leads us to use different rocks to filter our experiences. Instead of acting angrily to this situation, the reaction called for would be one of deep sympathy. So being able to slow down our reaction to make sure we have enough facts to appropriately understand the situation is important.

Emotions Can Get in the Way

Even if our understanding of the situation is complete and we come to an appropriate conclusion about the event, we need to recognize that how we are feeling and our current emotional state can still determine how we react.

For instance, I may accurately understand the request from a coworker and draw an appropriate conclusion based on the right rocks I have. But if I’m feeling rushed or overwhelmed from having too much work to do, my reaction to the request still might not be what I really want because of feeling harried.

Putting it All Together

Understanding this process of how we get from an event we observe to our reaction to that event allows us to make adjustments throughout the process. We need to make sure that we have an accurate information about the event we’ve observed.

With a regular and consistent Self Reflection practice we know what rocks we are carrying around with us so that when we filter our experiences, we do so with our appropriate rocks. Recognizing our current emotional state and our feelings gives us the opportunity to stop and modify our reaction when our emotions have the better of us.

As leaders, we need to act in a way that inspires others. Effective leaders tend to magically react to everything the “right” way. In reality it isn’t magic at all. Effective leaders understand this process and take steps to slow it down so that their reactions, in total, tend to be more appropriate especially in difficult situations.

Leader’s Reflection: Effective leaders understand the process that describes why we behave the way we do. They take steps, through Self Reflection to make sure they have an accurate understanding of the what they’ve observed, they recognize the rocks they are carrying around with them, and they take care to make sure that their emotions don’t hijack their behavior.

You also might be interested in:

1. Leaders Need to Be Aware of the Behavior of Others
2. Understanding Why People Behave the Way They Do
3. What Rocks Are You Carrying Around?

In previous articles I’ve looked at exploring what we value and how to live our values. But our values only make up a part of who we really are as individuals.

Jim Clawson of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia identifies the things that make up who we are as VABEs: our Values, Assumptions, Beliefs and Expectations. He suggests that we develop our VABEs over time and that they are so much a part of us that we aren’t always aware of them.

Many years ago I had a boss that described this idea differently. He had told me of a professor he had years early who had given him the original metaphor. I so enjoy his description that it has become part of the my explanation.

The idea is that going through life is like walking along a dirt path. As we walk along we are carrying a bag slung over our shoulders, much like the sack that Santa Claus would carry.

Collecting Rocks

Making our way down the path of life, we come across rocks on the path. These rocks would be Clawson’s VABES. Some rocks we pass by, some we pick up and examine. After examining a rock we may choose to discard it or we may decide to keep it.

The rocks (values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations) that we keep as we make are way down the path of life we put into our bag. I like to say that the what we carry over our shoulder is our baggage, though I don’t like the negative connotation that the word “baggage” carries with it these days.

Over time, the rocks that we collect become precious to us. In total, our rock collection makes up who we are as individuals. Sometimes as we walk along we find a new rock that may take the place of one of our old rocks. Maybe it’s something we learn that has us question one of our previous VABEs. With the new rock in our bag, we no longer need the old rock so we discard it on the path.

Examining Our Rocks

Our rocks come in different sizes. Some of our most deeply held values and beliefs tend to be large, almost bolder size rocks. Others are nice skipping stone size that we can easily hold in our hands.

As we make our way down the path of life we use these rocks in our interactions with others. When we communicate with others we do so through the filter of the rocks we carry in our bag. During each of our interactions we reach back into our bag and use different rocks. But we only use what we can see. Some of our rocks are only partially sticking out of the bag and some are hidden way down at the bottom.

Periodically we need to examine the rocks we are carrying around in our bag; all of them. When we know which rocks we are carrying around, we have more to choose from when we communicate with others. Instead of only relying on a few well-worn rocks, we are able to match our rocks with the current situation. This gives us a much wider range of responses to use in different circumstances.

Examining Other’s Rocks

When we are able to take the time to reflect on the rocks we are carrying around in our bag, we not only have a better understanding of who we truly are as individuals, we also begin to understand others. As leaders, it becomes imperative that we try to understand others by getting a glimpse of the rocks they are carrying around in their bags.

This is not an easy task because many of us hold our bags tightly closed, only allowing folks to see the rocks we want them to see. We need to feel comfortable before we let others see the rocks hiding further down in our bags.

Understanding the VABEs of others is not something that happens quickly. It’s a process that has to happen over time. If we tried to wrestle open someone’s bag full of rocks, they would feel threatened and attacked. They would protect their rocks from us and we would never get to see what was in their bag.

We gain an understanding of other’s VABEs by interacting with them in a genuine way. With a simple question like, “How was your weekend?”, you may tell me about the wonderful time you had playing with your kids at the park. From this I would get to see your rock that represents how much you value family.

Through organic contacts like this, over time we start to get a clearer picture of the rocks others are carrying around in their bag. When we have a better understanding of these rocks, we have a better understanding of what makes people tick allowing us to more effective work with, manage and lead others.

Leader’s Reflection: Our values, assumptions, beliefs and expectations make up who we are as individuals. As we make our way down the path of life collecting our rocks, we carry them in our bag mostly hidden from others. When we take the time to periodically reflect on what rocks we have in our bag, it gives us more responses for dealing with different circumstances. Since everyone is carrying around their own bag of rocks, to be an effective leader we need to spend time trying to see what rocks our followers are carrying.

You also might be interested in:

1. What Rocks Are Your Followers Carrying Around?
2. Finding What Motivates Followers
3. Understanding Why People Behave the Way They Do

Many years ago I started a practice of taking the time during this week of Thanksgiving to show my appreciation to those working for me. When I started working in Higher Education, this translated into showing my gratitude to my students for allowing me to be a part of their lives. This year, for only the second time in 18 years, I find myself in a position where I have no one working directly for me nor am I working directly with students. But this won’t stop me from showing my gratitude.

In a previous article, I described that to me the real meaning of life is to be able to discover how we want to feel and to create a life that allows us to have that feeling as often and as long as possible. For a number of years I’ve believed that this is the real meaning of life, but until recently I’ve not been able to clearly articulate what I want to feel. I’ve been narrowing it down for quite a while, able to understand the feeling but not able to articulate it completely.

A Tough Time

The past year has been hard for me. I’m currently in a position in our organization where I have to help get new initiatives launched. Most of these initiatives involve change that touches thousands of students and hundreds of faculty and staff. As you can imagine, this kind of change is rarely popular when it happens, though it is almost always very good in the long run. With all of this change, the team I work with tends to take the brunt of the unhappiness. After a while it starts to seem like no one really wants to hear from me.

On top of all this, the work itself tends to become all-consuming. Short deadlines tend to lead to an incredible amount of work to do each day. Working from home makes it way too tempting to just pop into the office for five minutes, only to leave three hours later.

A couple of months ago, I started to recognize that the work had become all-consuming, taking all of my mental energy. It was around this same time that I had one of my greatest “a-ha” moments. Being constantly “beat up” by folks that didn’t want to hear from me about more change was really taking a toll on my attitude. As I reflected on this, I was finally able to discover my “it”, the “what I want to feel”.

How I Want to Feel

The thing that gets me “going”, that really gets me energized is being able to feel the appreciation of others for helping them to become better. I’ve spent the last year actually getting the opposite. Not only have I not been getting appreciation from those that I work with, at times I’ve gotten open hostility. Which, of course, has been causing the opposite effect for me.

Recognizing that I needed to do something, I decided to carve out time for myself and go back to the area, topic, field, whatever you want to call it that has always given me energy: leadership. I started studying, practicing and working with “leadership” over 15 years ago and with my current position and workload has caused me to drift away from it.

Before moving into this position, I had started writing a book on Reflection Leadership but got side tracked by a new topic (social media in education). So in an effort to find an escape from my day job, I recently decided to start working on Reflection Leadership again. But this time, instead of just writing to myself I decide to start this blog. My hope was that as I suss out my thoughts around Reflection Leadership there would be others that would appreciate my work and help me to clarify my thinking.

What I’m Thankful For

The end of this week marks the end of my second month with the Reflection Leadership blog. I could not have hoped for any better results in the last two months. Everything I initially wanted out of this project has happened. I am extremely enjoying writing on a regular basis. It now gives me something constructive and engaging to occupy my thoughts and it has given me energy and renewed my passion for leadership work. Working on this blog has given me enough satisfaction that my day job has become infinitely more bearable. The reason for that is that my work on this blog again allows me to feel the appreciation of others.

Sometimes the appreciation comes in the form of a comment to something I post. Sometimes from a tweet on Twitter. Sometimes it’s just that I gained a handful more Twitter followers yesterday or someone influential retweeted something I posted. And sometimes it’s just that folks actually came and read what I had to say.

So during this week of Thanksgiving, I want to thank YOU for allowing me to be a part of your life and sharing my insights that hopefully help you to be better at whatever you do. I appreciate what you do for me by just being here.

You also might be interested in:

1. 6 Months of Reflection Leadership
2. Characteristics of Flow: Altered Sense of Time
3. Characteristics of Flow: Balance Between Challenges and Skills

This is the last in a series of articles about Flow. In each of the articles I look more closely at Flow, each of the individual characteristics, and how we can use Flow in our leadership practice. In this article I want to explore why understanding Flow is important for leaders.

As leaders we need to not only look after the best interests of those that have chosen to follow us, but in doing so we also need to be good role models. We need to practice what we preach and lead others in such a way that is in line with how we are leading ourselves.

In a previous article, I talked about what I consider the real meaning of life. To put it simply, the meaning of life is to discover how we want to feel and find a way to create a life that allows us to have this feeling as often and as long as possible. To me, the concept of Flow is a gateway to being able to discover how we want to feel.

The Leader and Flow

One of the driving factors of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s research was finding out why some people enjoy life and thrive while others languish in similar situations.

Flow describes why this is so. When we are able to experience Flow we are happier, have higher self-esteem and are much more satisfied with the work that we do. All of these are qualities that help us be a more effective leader.

When we are able to replicate these qualities over and over again, we are seen as someone who genuinely enjoys and is passionate about their work. Something that we, as effective leaders, need to convey to those around us.

Finding situations that create Flow is not always easy. There are plenty of distractions for us to worry about and when we get too caught up in all of these distractions, we can miss the Flow opportunities. Being aware of the characteristics of Flow allows us to keep an eye out for the opportunities.

Leading With Flow

Keeping those following us motivated and doing their best is something we need to do as effective leaders. When we understand the characteristics that make up a Flow experience, we can help those working with us to find their own Flow experiences.

In the long run, this will lead to happier and satisfied followers who are continually looking for the growth opportunities that Flow activities produce.

Unfortunately, in our current business climate we get so focused on the short-term bottom line we tend to focus on those things that don’t allow for Flow.

When engaging those that work for us we tend to focus on what they can accomplish; how much and how fast. Many of our organizational change efforts lead to the big three: what we can produce cheaper, faster, and/or for greater profit.

When our focus is on how much and how fast we are actually inhibiting Flow, and the less opportunities for Flow activities we create in our organizations the less happy and satisfied our employees are.

Instead of focusing on how we get the most out of our employees, overburdening and overworking them, we need to focus on how to get the best out of them. We need to look at ways to change the work and work conditions to help provide opportunities for Flow experiences.

When folks are able to experience Flow on a regular basis they start to lose the notion of “work” so that what they’re doing no longer feels like “work”. When that happens, we end up with people around us that are open to growth and finding the best ways to accomplish what needs to be done.

And that leads to folks being satisfied and enjoying the work. Of course, satisfied and happy workers tend to lead to better results and more productivity; the same things we are after when we focus on the how much and how fast.

Leader’s Reflection: When we are able to experience Flow on a regular basis we are able to live a happy and satisfying life. When we are able to experience Flow in our everyday work we find the work more satisfying. As leaders we need to be able to not only find ways to create opportunities for our own Flow experiences, we also need to provide those same opportunities for those working with us.

You also might be interested in:

1. Characteristics of Flow: A Growth Opportunity
2. Characteristics of Flow: Balance Between Challenges and Skills
3. Characteristics of Flow: Clear Goals

This is the tenth in a series of articles about Flow. In each of the articles I look more closely at Flow, each of the individual characteristics, and how we can use Flow in our leadership practice.

In the first article of the series, I talked about the idea of Flow as described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and introduced the nine characteristics of a flow experience. This time I’d like to examine the ninth and final characteristic which is that the activity we are engaged in is an opportunity for growth.

What sets Flow experiences apart from other activities is that the experience is expansive; we grow in some way as an individual because of our participation.

This characteristic is really the determining factor of whether or not we’ve been experiencing Flow. Each of the other characteristics must be present as well, but there are times and activities where the previous characteristics that I’ve described are present, but the activity failed to be a growth opportunity.

Not a Flow Experience

For instance, if I go shopping at the supermarket, my goals are clear (I have a food list of what I need to buy) and the feedback is immediate (I’m able to cross items off the list that are in my basket). But unless I’m shopping in a new store that sells exotic foods I’ve never heard of before, this shopping activity is routine and not expansive.

Likewise, I may not be a professional car detailer, but if I’m washing my car and my skills at car washing match those needed to get it clean I will have a feeling of contentment (as opposed to frustration). I could work so hard at it that I concentrate completely on cleaning the car, blocking everything else out around me. I may even experience as sense of altered time. But again, the activity is routine and not expansive.

Backwards Activities

Many of the characteristics of Flow also show up in activities that are, shall we say, less than expansive. Flow generating activities share similar experiences with activities like drinking alcohol or taking drugs, gambling and watching TV. These types of activities can actually have the opposite effect of Flow, a sort of backwards effect. When we focus on the present moment while experiencing Flow we are able to get a break from our worries and troubles, much like we can from having a couple of drinks.

Gambling can have the same results. I was at a conference in Las Vegas last year and noticed many folks that were spending hours upon hours sitting in front of the same slot machine. I’m sure they were experiencing some of the characteristics of Flow, but they certainly weren’t growing as part of the experience. Watching television can have the same impact.

Flow Leads to Growth

Certainly these activities are enjoyable, which is one of the main reasons that we want to experience Flow. What makes Flow different is that the experience makes us more than we were previously. Csikszentmihalyi’s research has shown that when we experience Flow it dramatic increases our self-esteem and the more we are able to experience Flow the higher our self-esteem is overall.

When we participate in activities where the other eight characteristics are present and we learn new skills, gain new knowledge, or help someone else to become better, we are happier and more satisfied. We are experiencing Flow.

Leader’s Reflection: When we are able to experience Flow on a regular basis we are able to live a happy and satisfying life. When we are able to experience Flow in our everyday work we find the work more satisfying. The defining characteristic of Flow is that the activity must be something that is expansive; something that allows us to grow in some way as an individual.

You also might be interested in:

1. Characteristics of Flow: No Worry About Failure
2. Characteristics of Flow: The Present is What Matters Most
3. Characteristics of Flow: Deepened Concentration

This is the ninth in a series of articles about Flow. In each of the articles I look more closely at Flow, each of the individual characteristics, and how we can use Flow in our leadership practice.

In the first article of the series, I talked about the idea of Flow as described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi introduced the nine characteristics of a flow experience. This time I’d like to examine the eighth characteristic which is that there is a loss of ego. During a Flow experience we become so engrossed that we completely lose ourselves in the activity.

As I’ve mentioned previously, when we are participating in an activity that potentially leads to a Flow experience, we get deeply engrossed in the task at hand. The key to this is to focus on the present moment. As we do, we are in total control of ourselves and ignore what is going on around us and our problems.

As we are participating in an activity we have such an intense feeling of being in control of our performance that we are actually hypersensitive to what is going on with our minds and bodies. In this sense we are extremely aware of ourselves.

For instance, a pianist is acutely aware of her fingers, yet doesn’t have the need to control each movement, the notes just seem to come from her hand on their own. Similarly, when I’m writing I don’t have a need to control my fingers on the keyboard and the words just seem to flow on their own.

But there is a paradox that when we are in Flow. We have this extreme awareness of ourselves and yet we also tend to lose ourselves. I’m not talking here about losing our inhibitions and acting in a way that doesn’t seem like us. Rather, I’m talking about losing our sense of self, our aloneness.

In fact, we really aren’t losing anything. Instead we’re actually gaining an understanding that we are part of something larger than ourselves.

When we are experiencing Flow it is very much an individual feeling that we aren’t able to share with others. No matter how individual we like to think we are, we have a built-in need to be a part of something larger; a family, a group, a team, a tribe.

As we are experiencing Flow we lose our own ego to the point of feeling part of something greater than ourselves. This is what gives us the feeling of happiness and satisfaction, knowing that we are part of something more while performing individually at our best.

The feeling we get when we know that we part of something greater than ourselves allows us to start seeing others for who they are, not what they can do for us. Which is why Flow is so important for leaders to understand.

Leader’s Reflection: When we are able to experience Flow on a regular basis we are able to live a happy and satisfying life. When we are able to experience Flow in our everyday work we find the work more satisfying. When we participate in an activity that is generating Flow, we are extremely aware of our minds and bodies but we also lose ourselves. This gives us a greater understanding that we are part of something greater than ourselves.

You also might be interested in:

1. Characteristics of Flow: Altered Sense of Time
2. Characteristics of Flow: Deepened Concentration
3. Characteristics of Flow: Balance Between Challenges and Skills