How to Measure and Foster Team Flow
Abstract
Flow is the experience when we’re fully immersed in an activity, coupled with a motivated and energetic focus. At the team level, members experience flow together while performing mutually dependent tasks that serve the overarching goals of the team. Expanding upon this in prior research, team flow has been defined as a shared experience of flow during the execution of interdependent personal tasks in the interest of the team, originating from an optimized team dynamic that can be divided into prerequisites that promote it and experiential characteristics that describe the experience itself. Because of this distinction between the prerequisites that enable team flow and the characteristics that define the experience of team flow, it is interesting and important for those hoping to spark team flow to better understand how to create a work environment in which all of the prerequisites are present. Building on almost 15 years of academic and applied research, FlowConcepts has designed and tested a Team Flow Canvas in combination with the scientifically validated Team Flow Monitor as a set of tools to help teams effectively establish the prerequisites for team flow on a consistent basis in order to benefit from the positive experiences and enhanced performance of team flow. The Team flow Canvas helps team members set up a foundation for the positive team dynamics that ignite team flow experiences, and the Team Flow Monitor empowers team members to reflect on the prerequisites and experiential characteristics of team flow. Taken together, these tools allow team members, leaders, and coaches to quickly identify and work through the challenges that may be inhibiting team performance and effectively bring the team to a level of thriving and synergy that lead to high team performance. In this workshop, participants will learn about team flow and how to use both tools, as well as getting tailored, practitioner-oriented insights into the nuances of the tools and how they can inform insightful coaching of teams.
Learning objectives
- Gain knowledge and insight into the prerequisites and experiential characteristics of team flow.
- Learning how to create a positive, healthy, and highly effective collaboration climate by applying the Team Flow Canvas at a kick-off meeting for a new team collaboration.
- Learning how to reflect on the output of the Team Flow Monitor and from that derive positive interventions that boost experiences of team flow.
About Dr. Jef van den Hout
Dr. Jef van den Hout holds a Ph.D. in the conceptualization and measurement of team flow and from there an approach to spark team flow in professional organizations. Jef is the founder of FlowConcepts Research and Training Institute and an associate researcher/professor at Eindhoven University of Technology, Aarhus University, and Erasmus University Rotterdam. His current research interests are flow, team flow, optimal collaboration, sustainable performance, and challenge-based learning environments (e.g., innovation ecosystems or professional learning communities). Jef’s personal mission is to bridge the gap between science and practice. Therefore, he develops evidence-based interventions like the Team Flow Monitor and the Team Flow Canvas to spark team flow in professional organizations.
