The science of managing high performing teams

Riding a 70-metre tall wave puts a surfer like Maya Gabiera on the top of the world. A sense of unity connects her body, the board and the wave. A deep trust wells up while time slows down. That’s the experience psychologists call flow. 

Flow is familiar from extreme sports, creative arts and individual acts of genius. But can flow experiences exist at work, in teams? Psychologists say yes. Once you create the right conditions, your team can work in flow.

Adjusting structures, attitudes and habits is "like preparing the soil for planting," according to Jef van den Hout and Orin Davis. They’re the two psychologists who wrote the book on Team Flow.