Future Work/Life is my newsletter in which I share future of work insights for business and career growth. If you find it interesting, please share it!
One consequence of remote and hybrid work’s rise?
Many people report feeling disconnected from others.
While it’s possible to build a connection over a video call or even through social media and messaging apps, there’s nothing like sitting in the same room as someone else and looking into their eyes. Reading and reacting to their body language. What for millions of years has been our sole experience of communication - the human-to-human kind.
Now, while the majority – if not all – of people recognise this as a primary benefit of congregating with colleagues, clients and collaborators, it isn’t a guarantee.
Synchrony
In reality, creating a feeling of connection relies on more than just being in the same physical space – it requires synchrony.
Here’s how Bruce Daisley explained what synchrony means on this week’s podcast:
“Synchrony is when we feel like we're on the same wavelength as someone. It's transformational. You know, it's a bit like when you're in person with someone you're talking to, and you see a flash of recognition in their eyes, or you see them light up. When human beings feel synchrony with each other, it seems to be the thing that connects us.
One of the biggest things that seems to protect us from loneliness and ill health is a sense of connection with other people. But if a group of people don't feel they share something in common, it doesn't have the effect.
So, you know, if you suddenly say to someone, you need to turn up and go to this cycling group or this gardening group, if you're not interested in cycling or gardening, the effect is lost from it. So synchrony is the sense of feeling and connectedness with each other, and you see colossal evidence of the impact it has on humans.”
Whether you’re in the office, at an offsite, or even online, designing moments and experiences of synchrony is critical to cultivating a high-performing work culture.
You’ve heard of Flow. You may even have experienced it. Here’s a quick summary of why it matters so much, taken from my book, Work/Life Flywheel:
Flow State
Once Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi identified a name for the feeling that is both elusive and addictive, the idea of ‘flow state’ (flow) became etched into people’s consciousness.
Descriptions of flow often lead us to picture high-performance athletes ‘in the zone’ or perhaps musicians or artists in an optimal state of creative concentration. However, as the neuroscience behind flow has become better understood, it’s clear that harnessing it in any aspect of your work/life can provide exponential gains.
Flow characterizes those moments in life during which we achieve complete concentration on a task. We have a heightened sense of awareness. Our sense of self vanishes, and our perception of time changes. Seemingly at once, time slows down, but hours disappear in minutes. We feel what Zen Buddhists call the ‘paradox of control’ – control without controlling.
The whole experience is intensely, intrinsically rewarding.
Research from Harvard University, the University of Sydney, McKinsey and DARPA has shown that you experience 500% improvements in productivity, 490% increases in learning speed and a 430% boost in creative problem-solving when in a flow state. In other words, it’s a skill worth learning.
Learning that skill is possible if you understand its’ triggers, which break down into four categories – internal, external, creative and social.
The first three of those apply to getting into the zone individually. When it comes to building synchrony and harnessing flow to improve team cohesiveness and performance, you need to focus on the social triggers.
Group Flow
There are occasions for relaxed social meet-ups and casual conversations. But as group interactions become less frequent, how can you maximise the value of collaborative sessions?
Create the following conditions (which happen to be social/group flow triggers).
Shared goals: Make sure everyone understands and is aligned with the session’s objectives.
The right level of complexity: The challenge should be significant enough to engage everyone’s full attention but not so complicated that achieving it is impossible in the time available.
Full attention: Solving the problem requires everyone’s attention – no taking a call mid-meeting and certainly no responding to emails.
Equal participation: Not only should everyone’s voice be heard, but the whole group should share a common language, meaning you need a relatively level playing field when it comes to subject matter expertise.
Open communication and close listening: You need to listen carefully to what everyone is saying. Collaboration is an opportunity to create new perspectives, not reinforce opinions.
‘Yes culture’: Constructive disagreement and divergent opinions are a natural and essential part of business, but in a collaborative session, it’s far more effective to build on someone’s point, not shoot it down.
Novelty and unpredictability: There are few things worse than when you feel like you’re constantly covering the same ground. Ensuring that ideas are always progressing and introducing something unexpected can force everyone to pay close attention.
Blending egos and deep embodiment: The best collaborative sessions require us to leave our egos at the door. If the group trusts one another to find the best solution collectively, you create the potential for magic to emerge.
Control: We should aim for the right balance of openness to others’ opinions while maintaining the confidence that we can express our own.
Many of these sound like common sense. I mean, why wouldn’t you encourage equal participation during a productive, creative team meeting? The reality, of course, is that biases take over. Hierarchical structures are intentionally or unintentionally reinforced. External distractions get in the way.
As a leader - or frankly, just a conscientious and ambitious team member - the trick is to design the sessions intentionally. That doesn’t mean sucking the life out of it by planning every single moment. Instead, set expectations and be clear about the rules of engagement. Explain the goal of the meeting and articulate the positive outcome if, collectively, you find synchrony and get into flow.
Interested in hearing more about applying these lessons to your business?
Get in touch if you’d like me to come and speak with you and your team.
Cheers,
Ollie