Two big questions have been following me for a number of years.

1. How can we shift the paradigm and the experience from work life no balance to work life integration?

2. How can we restore soul to work at the corporate and individual levels?

Then along comes Flow. A state of maximum engagement based in the intrinsic meaning of work.

I’ve adapted Csikszentmihalyi’s flow model to work with individuals and organizations – helping them create meaningful work, higher levels of engagement and achievement. Take a listen here. The password is leadchange5. (Thanks to Mike Henry Senior and Kelly Ketelboeter for organizing this webinar at Lead Change.)

This is just the beginning. Learn

• The handful of drives that lead to meaningful work and create a state of flow
• How to assign roles for maximum flow
• How to design the organization for maximum flow
• How to apply the flow model in your consulting and coaching practice

For more information click here and fill out the form at the bottom of the page.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Work-Life-Flow: Webinar Recording is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

Are you a Mom and a Professional?  Do you suffer guilt over not being a “better” mom?  Then consider these words of wisdom from my son who was 15 years old at the time. May they relieve some if not all of your guilt. (For working Dads who are Moms too.)

I returned to work as a manager in a Fortune 100 company when J. was 3 months old.  By the time he was two I was a full time graduate student.  I left for school early Monday, stayed overnight, and did not return home until Tuesday around 8:00 P.M.  I always brought J. a special treat from the bakery near school.  I can picture him now, sitting in his high chair at the kitchen table, Dad by his side, excitement blazing in his eyes, smiling from ear to ear.  “Did you bring me a treat?”  Always.

For the following 6 years I ran a consulting business, attended classes and worked an internship.   Psychology texts became bedtime stories, allowing me to study and us to spend time together.  At the age of five he asked about my dissertation, “Mom, if you took all the pages and put them in the driveway would it be longer than the car?”  Made me laugh.   I had him copy all my papers from the computer’s hard drive to a CD when he was 7.  He labeled it “Psycho Mom.”  Made me laugh. 

I felt guilty that I wasn’t home more - baking chocolate chip cookies together, arranging art projects, and taking trips to the park. Friends and co-workers assured me that my son, my husband and I had wonderful relationships and no one was suffering. It was the quality not the quantity that mattered.  None of this relieved my guilt very much.  But I was compelled.  I loved my work, and I did not want to stop or slow down. 

When Jordan was 15, I considered taking a job and no longer running my own business so I could spend more time at home. The teenage years are so very important and kids that age are vulnerable in so many ways.  Jordan, my husband Bob and I talked about the change.  Jordan was practically dumb-founded  “Why would you ever want to do that?  You love your work.  You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t work, or did something you don’t love as much. You’d be unhappy, and that would make the rest of us unhappy.  Things are good just the way they are.”  That young man stopped me in my tracks.  I had not valued one of the most important life lessons he was learning.  Be who you are, your authentic self – and the rest will be okay, hard perhaps but okay.

Jordan is 19 and a college freshman.  When the year began people asked how he was adjusting.  The word “adjusting” never occurred to me in relation to my son and college.  He is an amazingly social person and very independent. He began doing his own laundry at 12.  At 14 he cooked meals for himself and often for friends.  He shopped for groceries before he could drive.  He loves college – the independence, the freedom, the life. 

Recently a friend whose son is also a college freshman discovered that he had not attended classes at all second semester.  Instead he slept late, played video games and partied with friends at night.  I asked Jordan what advice he might give my friend about her son.  “Get him out of there,”  he said.  “That kid doesn’t know how good he has it, and they shouldn’t be wasting their hard earned money sending him to college right now.”  My son – I am very proud of who he is and what he values even if he didn’t have as many fresh baked chocolate chip cookies in his day. 

We all give our children many gifts.  Enjoy the ones you are giving them.  Some day they will let you now how they’ve received and grown from these lessons.   

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

A Working Mother's Guilt Relieved is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

Work life balance is a myth for many people. Sixty percent of executives report working at least 50 hours per week. That doesn’t include the additional time they spend thinking about work. Ten percent work more than 80 hours per week. This situation is even more intense for 92% of working women who go home after a full day of work and manage household and family responsibilities.

So how do we cope? The answer is flow, but flow is better than mere coping. It’s about enjoying and finding meaning in what we do and doing what we enjoy and find meaningful. Flow refuels us.

The term was coined by Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi of the positive psychology movement. When in a flow state you are immersed in the task and fully focused. Some refer to this as “being in the zone.” It may happen when you are playing music, imagining a new product or solving a difficult problem with your team. Flow increases your reserves. How? Picture yourself floating on an inner tube down a river. There is no resistance. You move effortlessly. While you float your system is replenishing its supply of energy.

For flow to happen, the activity itself must be intrinsically meaningful to the person who is engaged in it. For me there is nothing more profound than being with someone who is gaining personal insight, growing and becoming more authentic. It is as if I am watching a flower blooming in fast motion – a most beautiful sight. It energizes and uplifts me. Is every moment like this? No. I have to manage office expenses, schedule appointments, and empty the trash These mundane tasks are the rituals that help us prepare for and appreciate the flow.

How Do You Know

What Makes You Flow?

If you’ve been there you know it. You are in a state of harmony. All the gears are engaged and synchronized. Work is effortless. A trial lawyer who loves to compete and win is in the flow when she is preparing her case. Her heart pumps faster. Ideas just pop. After working 12 hours she has plenty of energy to care for her two young sons. A landscaper is in the flow when she presses the dirt firmly around the flowers and the scent of damp earth fills her nostrils. When an architect is in the flow it seems that the building draws itself.

Experts can select and administer specific assessments that identify what makes you flow. It is critical to find someone who can work with you to interpret results in terms of your career passions and your flow. Personality assessments can identify whether you refuel by engaging with others or by turning inward, by operating in the realm of emotions or the realm of logic. Certain career assessments will determine whether autonomy is more important to you than security, whether pure challenge wins out over working on behalf of a cause.  Click here to read how you can discover what makes you flow.

The goal is not to structure your life so that you are in the flow all the time, but to make sure you are there enough to refuel. Schedule your non-flow activities in ways that allow you to replenish. If you’re an introvert attending an all day meeting, go for a walk by yourself at lunch. If details are difficult, have lunch with a friend after working on your taxes.

What makes you flow? Are you in a job that calls on your flow state? Does work deplete your energy?

Have a question or comment? Please send it in. I promise to respond. Have a story to share? Please write in so others can learn from you.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Work-Life Out of Balance? Try Flow Instead. is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology