When your eyes light up
Have you any idea what you look like when you are in flow? I guess not, because almost a definition of flow is that you are not looking in the mirror . You are so absorbed in what you are doing that time and the world stands still.
But I know what you look like. And so does everyone else. We can’t miss the glow in your eyes.
Flow is the core of an an organizational psychologist’s business
People often ask what an work and organizational does. They are puzzled Do we lay people down on a couch and mutter ‘there, there’. Do we explore your sexual fantasies about . . . I’ll let you fill in the gap.
Our business is flow. What is flow? What conditions of work are conducive to flow? How can we organize so that more people experience flow more of the time?
Embedded in the last question is a sub-speciality of organizational psychology. A special topic within organizational psychologists is understanding the web of connections that go on behind the scenes so that in work situation after work situation people are able to pursue goals and find the exhilaration of flow.
Is it possible to support a working culture where people find flow frequently? And if so, what are these institutions and what do they look like?
Unseen jobs in sky rise buildings
It is an interesting question because the people who think about these institutions are in what I call the hidden jobs. We see people at the checkout counter. We see the doctor. We see the lawyer. But there is a whole world of people in sky rise buildings that we never see at work. And even if we did, we would see little of what they do. Their desk, their paper, their computers look like any other. They are just like any other. It’s just what they think about is different.
That’s what is different. Some of us think about whether it’s possible to support a working culture where people find flow frequently. And if it is possible, what are these institutions and what do they look like?
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