As a technology strategist and leader of TiER1’s Microsoft 365 work, I love data.
So, when I set aside two hours of focus time to write this article, and yet couldn’t get to writing it until over the weekend, I reviewed the data to see why I had come up short. During that “focus time,” I received 10 emails, three Teams messages, two Teams @ mentions, one attempted Teams phone call, two text messages, 10 Google Chat messages, and two alerts that my grocery orders were ready for pickup.
Sound familiar? It should. Countless studies have shown that workplace interruptions can account for 6+ hours of lost productivity every day. Research by Gloria Mark, PhD (University of California, Irvine) shows that employees work faster to complete tasks at the cost of their mental well-being. As Paul Hemp of the Harvard Business Review writes, “[this] can adversely affect not only personal well-being but also decision making, innovation, and productivity.”
The number of channels vying for our attention is at an all-time high, yet achieving and protecting flow is so important. When a person is in flow, they reach maximum creativity and productivity levels. Their well-being also improves. However, when we are out of a flow state, returning to flow has many hurdles. (Want to learn more about the psychological and physiological factors at play in achieving flow and engaging in deep work online? Check out this article by TiER1 researchers and consultants, Teresa Evans, PhD, and Walter Warwick, PhD.)
Companies not only should encourage their employees to find flow—they should also work actively to create and protect it.
Microsoft’s research and efforts to increase employee well-being have enabled more opportunity for flow (such as standardizing user interface patterns) and making space for better virtual connection (such as automating complexity with AI). From Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index: Annual Report on hybrid work: “It won’t be easy, but consider how to reduce employee workloads, embrace a balance of synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, and create a culture where breaks are encouraged and respected.” (Click to see Microsoft’s latest Annual Work Trend Index Report.)
Others argue we can recapture flow if we fight fire with fire: leverage technology to manage technology distractions. While analytical data and productivity tools can help in this endeavor, they are mostly passive and require intentional action and upkeep from individuals, teams, and organizations. For technology to help, we also need clear boundaries and expectations within the workplace.
I have the privilege of leading a cross-functional team of TiER1 consultants that delivers continuous value through a consolidated backlog. To remain experts in the Microsoft 365 suite, we leverage several tools to stay organized, collaborate, and complete tasks. We’re big believers in optimizing the technology you already own, and we help clients define and design solutions that are easy to use, easy to maintain, reduce task redundancies, and improve performance—ultimately maximizing their investment and optimizing the employee experience. (Did I mention I’m a consultant?)
Creating space for flow within my team is critical.
When my team is in flow, they have dedicated focus time to build top-of-the-line experiences for our clients. Flow also reduces feelings of boredom and burnout. Here are the practices we’ve leveraged to achieve better balance:
1. We adopted a shared service delivery model to increase quality work-life balance and to dynamically prioritize and delegate work. An intake form (using Microsoft Forms and Power Automate) for all incoming requests consolidated communications into one channel, removing many daily disruptions. By aligning on work to be done daily and reflecting it within a Kanban board, external stakeholders have clear visibility and accountability without needing to schedule tons of meetings.
2. Leveraging Microsoft Planner, the team organizes all work across the projects and products. Tasks are organized in two-week sprints, using due date to put tasks front and center, and leveraging key tags like “client meeting,” “at risk,” and “needs staffed” to help stay aligned. This reduces decision latency and redundancy, since the team can quickly refer to the board to see what they are working on or pull in something when they finish early.
3. Every morning, the team meets (using Microsoft Teams, of course!) to discuss task completions and upcoming work items, request help, and raise awareness where additional support is needed. Stakeholders requiring updates on their tasks are assigned to the task in Planner so that they can see progress. Recognizing that not everything can be resolved with a digital task on a virtual board, we have an open guest invitation to stakeholders to join us during our daily scrums to touch base.
4. During each sprint, we hold one design review and one demo day to get group feedback and learn from one another. By sharing our ideas and innovations, we increase our talent and skill pool rapidly, and create a safe space to share and grow.
5. At the end of each month, the team conducts a retrospective to discuss what is working, what isn’t working, and what to focus on improving next (plus ideas on how to do so). Again, it creates a safe environment to be heard and a chance to improve together.
Achieving flow at work
We’re already seeing several benefits from implementing these practices, including:
- increased adaptiveness (by planning and adjusting daily).
- increased value-add (by enabling focused, happy, and engaged teams who deliver quality work).
- decreased cycle time (by matching tasks to skills daily, reducing meetings, and minimizing task-switching).
- increased trust (by creating safety during uncertainty, which allows teams and clients to continue without all answers).
- increased productivity (by enabling all the above).
Want to achieve and maintain flow for yourself, your team, and your organization? In doing this work with our team, we’ve found the following practices to be essential.
Individual practices to achieve flow
Since distractions can suppress innovation and productivity, it is in everyone’s best interest to set healthy boundaries when working (and when you’re NOT working).
When pushback inevitably occurs, Caroline Castrillon of Forbes notes, “This is a sign that the boundary is necessary and that it’s working effectively… Employees who are the happiest and most productive are those who set boundaries. People who set limits gain respect because they show respect for themselves.”
Consider these practices:
- Set boundaries by communicating work style, work hours, and needs early and often.
- Set office hours on all your applications and devices.
- Update notification settings to reflect work hours and communication needs.
- Set at least two uninterrupted hours a day to focus.
- Decline meeting invites where possible; ask if your attendance is necessary.
- Set time to check emails and suppress email notifications outside that window.
Manager practices to facilitate flow
The journey toward better flow isn’t just the responsibility of the individual; the teams they work within also should expect to support these efforts.
Middle management carries additional burden, according to Eric Anicich and Jacob Hirsch in the Harvard Business Review: “By virtue of their structural positions, they are simultaneously the ‘victims and the carriers of change’ within an organization, receiving strategy prescriptions from their bosses above and having to implement those strategies with the people who work beneath them.”
Consider these practices:
- Reduce meetings.
- Consolidate communication channels.
- Set clear expectations.
- Give space and lead by example.
- Adopt agile practices.
- Create work agreements.
- Conduct retrospectives.
- Defer to quick, effective communication.
Organizational practices to sustain flow
Modeling desirable behavior should extend all the way up through the organization. Take advantage of data analytic tools like Microsoft’s Workplace Analytics as well as comprehensive survey tools to understand employee well-being. An organization that does not create space for individuals to set personal boundaries won’t benefit from an enthusiastic and engaged workforce, and risks increased turnover or worse—apathy.
Also, consider both the number or frequency of initiatives, communications, and tools delivered to employees, and effectiveness of those efforts. Can anything be consolidated or eliminated? Steps towards reducing noise can go a long way. (Check out this article from TiER1 consultant Anna Grome to learn more about assessing the digital employee experience.)
Consider these practices:
- Use anonymized data to better understand needs (e.g., overtime or late hours worked) using tools such as Microsoft Workplace Analytics.
- Automate time-consuming, repetitive tasks. To leverage effective artificial intelligence to catalog and organize content, consider Microsoft Cortex technologies.
- Provide flexible schedules where possible and offer high levels of autonomy and trust. If you establish the rhythms outlined above, accountability, collaboration, and creativity will not need to be forced.
- Consolidate corporate communications to one or few channels and keep communications clear and deliver consistently.
- Build robust, user-friendly virtual collaboration spaces and systems. Create physical spaces where one can focus without disruption.
Final thoughts on the flow of work
There are many opportunities to bring the flow of work back to the forefront within your organization. Providing clarity, space, and freedom for employees to embrace asynchronous collaboration and respect the needs of others takes a careful investigation of current work practices and environment. With the right intentions, tools, and resilience, there is a future where individuals and companies benefit from the creative energy that time to think and focus allows.
