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Coaching approaches

Flow coaching

Flow coaching uses Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's research on flow, the state of total absorption in an activity, to help you find work and tasks that match your skill and stretch you without overwhelming you. Csikszentmihalyi set out the model in chapters, including a 1988 chapter on the experience of flow. Research on flow is strongest on the experience itself, including studies that track flow at work. No controlled trial of flow coaching turned up in a Crossref search.

What it is

Flow coaching starts with a moment you remember being fully absorbed, and asks what was in it: the challenge, the skill you were using, the feedback you got, and who was there. It then looks at where your current work sits relative to that picture, and which small change would bring a task closer to the experience you want.

The approach treats flow as something you can notice and arrange, not as a reward you wait for. It draws on the idea that absorption comes from a balance between challenge and skill, and that clear goals and quick feedback help. Sessions test those features against your own week, so the conversation stays close to what you actually do.

Where it comes from

Csikszentmihalyi set out the experience of flow, and its significance for human psychology, in a 1988 chapter (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988). Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi (2002) later described the flow model of optimal experience and optimal development.

Experience sampling research came later, and one study followed 40 architecture students across a 15-week semester (Fullagar & Kelloway, 2009). Flow coaching as a named practice is newer, and no outcome study of it turned up in a Crossref search.

The principles underneath

Challenge meets skill

Flow is most often described where the challenge is high enough to stretch you and your skill is high enough to meet it. Engeser and Rheinberg (2008) study this balance.

Absorption in the present

Flow is a state of being fully involved in what you are doing, with attention on the task rather than on yourself.

Clear goals and feedback

The model names clear goals and feedback as features that help flow happen.

Noticing it from the inside

You can learn to notice flow as it happens, which makes it something you can plan for rather than only hope for.

How a session runs

  1. Describe a recent time when you were absorbed, and what the task was.
  2. Note what you were doing, which skill you were using, and how the challenge felt.
  3. Compare this with a task that leaves you bored or anxious, and what is different about it.
  4. Pick one change: a little more challenge, a skill to practise, or clearer feedback.
  5. Plan a specific activity for the coming week, and note when you were absorbed and what mood followed.
  6. Review what made the difference, and what it suggests about the work you want more of.

When it tends to fit

  • You notice time disappears into one kind of work, and you want to know what it is about that work.
  • A task at work leaves you either bored or anxious, and you cannot tell which part is off.
  • You have settled into a routine, and you want the next task to stretch you without overwhelming you.

What the research shows

Evidence: Some peer-reviewed studies

Experience sampling studies have tracked flow in daily life at work. One study followed 40 architecture students over a 15-week semester and reported that 74% of the variance in flow was linked to situational characteristics rather than dispositional factors, and that flow was correlated with positive mood (Fullagar & Kelloway, 2009). A paper on challenge-skill balance and flow is cited from its title (Engeser & Rheinberg, 2008). Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi (2002) review the flow model and how it has been measured. No controlled test of flow coaching turned up in a Crossref search.

Where the evidence is thin: Most flow research measures flow in work, study or play rather than in coaching, and experience sampling relies on people reporting their own state. The model describes an experience. A study linking flow to mood does not show that flow coaching improves mood.

Sources

  1. Fullagar, C. J., & Kelloway, E. K. (2009). Flow at work: An experience sampling approach. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 82(3), 595–615.
  2. Engeser, S., & Rheinberg, F. (2008). Flow, performance and moderators of challenge-skill balance. Motivation and Emotion, 32(3), 158–172.
  3. Nakamura, J., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002). The concept of flow. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 89–105). Oxford University Press.
  4. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). The flow experience and its significance for human psychology. In M. Csikszentmihalyi & I. S. Csikszentmihalyi (Eds.), Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness (pp. 15–35). Cambridge University Press.

Where it stops

Absorption feels good, and it can also hide problems. Being absorbed in a task does not show that the task is good for you or for others.

If you are stuck in work that drains you, burnout, low mood or a harmful role matter more than a better-tuned task. A qualified professional is the right first step for those.

Chasing flow can become another performance target, which tends to crowd out the enjoyment that flow describes. Use it as a way of noticing, not as a score.

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