The 21st century worker is in a bit of a funk. Gallop reports in it’s 2024 state of the workplace that workers continue to experience elevated levels of stress, worry, anger, and sadness, higher than pre-pandemic levels. It’s not all on the worker. The conditions are still toxic, despite attempts to shift where people work towards hybrid or remote offerings. Research from Goodhuman and Gallop find that wellbeing hinges on shifting management practices as well. While this is an important start, we all know that good managers can’t exist alone as an island. Mangers are part of a broader ecosystem that needs to be supported. But what are the flow-state conditions for thriving employees and how do organizations build an ecosystem that supports flourishing?
We recently concluded a retreat where our team reflected on how we work and the implications for what it looks like when we’re each flourishing. We started by telling stories of the moments this year when we’ve found ourselves deeply in flow, and the impact that resulted. The fun part: we named the conditions that were present for ourselves and started to discover a few themes across our experiences. We concluded by identifying ways in which we will honor the ways we work best, both individually and collectively. I’ve never felt more proud of a team conversation because we are truly reimagining ways of work that are tied to our full humanity. Here’s how we plan to expand on these lessons in 2025.
We’re creating more space in our schedules to be present, by doing fewer things.
We started by asking ourselves: when did you find yourself lost doing something, where you felt a sense of mastery or accomplishment, and it was your choice or you felt a sense of permission? These questions were adapted from Marcus Buckingham’s red threads framework (Love + Work book). They led us to a better understanding of our own flow state experiences.
A consistent theme that emerged was the need for spaciousness, i.e. literal time for expansive thinking, deep work, or to do nothing and allow our minds to wander. It’s less about where we work, and more about how we use the time. We found through our stories that our best ideas, heightened moments of creativity, and most impactful work all came in moments not when we were rushing, but present. We’re committing to fewer meetings on fewer days, but with more expansive times for the most important conversations centered around product design and strategy. For those small tasks that still need to be completed (we call them rubber balls), we’ve designated specific times when we’ll tackle those so that our days aren’t overwhelmed with task completion at the sake of more important work.
We intend to actively seek out wonder and awe.
Most knowledge workers are in the business of creating and producing things. Yet, managers find themselves bogged down in the mundane and therefore are unable to dedicate the necessary think time to getting into flow. Cal Newport writes in his book Slow Productivity, we shouldn’t underestimate the ability of our surroundings to transform our cognitive reality. Our team talked about travel, walking in the woods, biking, hiking, simply getting out and changing our surroundings as an impetus for much of our breakthroughs. Whatever it takes, managers need to know for themselves what change of perspective (sometimes inspired by change of scenery) will inspire their next creative breakthrough.
We will continue to create safe spaces for one another to thrive.
A powerful theme that emerged was the phycological safety that each of us felt when we found ourselves in flow with other people. It’s so much smoother to work, particularly across lines of difference, when you’ve established a baseline of trust and acceptance. Conflict becomes less high stakes because you’ve weathered storms together and lived to tell a better story. This trust becomes the foundation for risk taking, a crucial component of ideation. If you’re a manager looking to take your team to the next level, creating safety for all your team members is the starting point. Otherwise you’ll never truly have everyone’s best version of themselves at the table.
As you head into the new year, now is as good a time as ever to recalibrate with your own teams about the ways you work, and whether or not it’s actually working for everyone. I’m grateful to be a part of a team at ManagerEQ where we regularly ask ourselves is the way we’re working, working? We’re building a movement to change how we work, and we believe managers are the key lever. To learn more about our work and get involved, connect with us at www.managereq.com.
