“To establish a place where engineers can feel the joy of technological innovation… and work to their heart’s content.” – Masaru Ibuka, co-founder of Sony
Recently the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrated its 4th Stanley Cup win culminating with my favorite player Syd Crosby being named the MVP. But that’s not all. What was amazing about this win was the fact that the Penguins did it with a rookie goalie in Matt Murray playing beyond his years. He shed some light into the secret behind his heroic performance on ice saying, “you just try to stay in the moment”.
Jedi or 10x leaders are able to perform at extraordinary levels because they are “in the moment” or in the state of “flow”. According to positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ‘flow’ is a state of heightened focus and immersion in activities such as art, play and work. In the state of flow doing these things become effortless and almost automatic; just like a musician lost in the music he or she is composing.
According to the SHARP model*, for managers and employees to be the state of flow, absorption or the “A” in the SHARP is key. Absorption is to take inward control and recognize that peak performance, and peak life experience, result from doing one thing well at any and every single moment in time. Slow things down, increase your awareness and become absorbed. By being absorbed 10x leaders are able to raise the level of engagement and fulfillment to make the ordinary extraordinary.
So what’s the trick? The connected world and always-on lifestyle is making this even more difficult. According to Gloria Mark, professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, office workers are interrupted or self-interrupt every three minutes during the day, with distractions coming from both digital and human forms. As is common nowadays we tend to keep one eye on the smartphone during meetings. I admit sometime during the day even I operate in this half in half out mode.
The magic word is mindfulness training. According to a UNC study, Intel in 2012 held a mindfulness training program called Awake@Intel in which participants reported that their average levels of stress had decreased by two points and happiness increased by three points. Furthermore, they reported a two point increase in “having new ideas, insights, mental clarity, creativity, the ability to focus, the quality of relationships at work and the level of engagement in meetings, projects and team efforts”.
Introducing meditation classes within your company is another way to promote mindfulness. Just check with Laszlo Bock, Head of Google’s People Ops meditation classes at Google called “Search Inside Yourself” now has a wait list of six months. A word of caution, you might want to experiment with your team before expanding to corporate mainstream.
With mindfulness, instead of feeling time deprived and always trying to catch up, suddenly you have this feeling of time affluence. It will enable you to have engaging relationships and fulfillment with work. Companies will see a rise in employee engagement and productivity.
Suvit Chansrichawla, next-generation HR consultant under the brand Serendipity&Co., partner of the Curve Group in Thailand.
*SHARP model developed by ex-Harvard Professor Tal Ben Shahar and his colleague Angus Ridgway ex-McKinsey Head of Leadership Development.
