Supplement 1: Flow Experience

Flow—joy, creativity, the process of total enjoyment with life.

—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Flow, the Secret to Happiness”

Chapter Warm-Up

Prechapter Reading Materials

• “Flow, the Secret to Happiness” (Csikszentmihalyi 2008)
• “Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: U. of C. Professor Developed Concept of ‘Flow’ Frame of Mind” (Goldsborough 2021)
• “Happiness and the Art of Innovation” (Rodrigues 2006)

Prechapter Exercises

• Review the eight-channel model of flow (FightMediocrity 2015).
  • Can you think of a course (or project) you have completed at Penn State Berks that has caused you to experience the “High Skills / Low Challenge” (“Boredom”) quadrant? Explain.
  • Can you think of a course (or project) you have completed at Penn State Berks that has caused you to experience the “Low Skills / High Challenge” (“Anxiety”) quadrant? Explain.
• Read this quote from Rodriguez (2006): “Think about a new work assignment. How complex and challenging is it relative to what you’ve done before? Are the goals clear? If it’s too complex and too fuzzy, and if you’re at all like me, you’ll end up sitting around scared out of your gourd, your IQ will drop by 100 points, paralysis will set in, and not much will get done. On the other hand, if you’ve done it a dozen times before, you’re likely to do it in a bored, rote way. Either scenario leads us away from innovative behaviors and outcomes.” Reflect on this quote as it relates to your HM 430 project. Identify two conditions that will help your creativity and innovation in the next several weeks as you plan and implement a real-world pop-up restaurant.

Flow

The psychological concept of flow was developed by Hungarian-American social theorist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and describes a state of heightened focus and immersion in activities such as art, play, and work. It is a state in which team members are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. Csikszentmihalyi’s theory argued that individuals are happiest when they are in a state of concentration or complete absorption with an activity or situation. Importantly, a state of flow is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation where a person is so fully immersed in a task at hand that they experience great absorption, engagement, fulfillment, and skill, sometimes referred to as “being in the zone.” Scientists, athletes, authors, and persons who engage in meaningful work tend to experience flow from a continued state of hyperfocus and complete engagement with their projects.

According to Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi (2014), there are five factors that contribute to the experience of flow:

1. Intrinsically rewarding process and outcome
2. Clear goals and a sense of progress
3. Clear and immediate feedback
4. Match of challenge and skill
5. Intense focus on the present

The achievement of a flow state is not a conscious decision or set of actions. By its very nature, flow necessarily occurs without conscious effort. Consequently, it is the role of team leaders (student manager, hospitality manager) to create conditions conducive to members’ experience of flow.

Flow and real world projects

You may be wondering why this business guide began with a chapter on the psychological concept of flow. The idea of being completely absorbed with a task or situation is important when it comes to planning, developing, and implementing a successful pop-up restaurant. Team members should be fully absorbed in the very experiences or conditions of hospitality that they are designing for guests. This level of immersion can, however, lead to challenges in the design process, due mainly to diverse and strongly held ideas.

Commitment to the conditions associated with a flow experience will help keep a deliberate and purposeful focus on project goals a healthy challenge. These challenges, in turn, become associated with the team process and keep members, individually and collectively, motivated toward successful completion.

Because planning a pop-up restaurant can be a time-consuming and challenging project, flow theory suggests that it is important that team members have the following:

1. A shared passion for the project
2. A shared and clear understanding of desired goals/outcomes
3. Skill sets appropriate to and matching assigned tasks
4. An ability to focus on and take ownership of work to be completed
5. Desire for team over individual wins

KEY TERMS

• Eight-channel model of flow
• Flow

REVIEW Questions

1. Based on your reading of this chapter, what is meant by the term flow?
2. What are some characteristics one might observe from a person experiencing flow?
3. How can flow contribute (positively or negatively) to a team’s function?
4. Review the eight-channel model of flow. Based on your understanding of the concept of flow, why does flow occur at “high-skill, high-challenge” levels?

Activity Activities

1. Form small team(s) of five to eight members. Log in to Canvas. Click on the “Sweep the Pineapple Suite” page. Follow the instructions and complete the activity. Notify the instructor once you have successfully completed the exercise.
2. You will receive a reflection sheet from your instructor. Based on your understanding of the flow experience discussed in this chapter, describe your and your team members’ behaviors. Do you think you experienced flow while performing this activity? Explain.