This blogpost contains parts of Prof. Csikszentmihalyi’s commencement speech addressed at the Colorado College in 2002. Even though this commencement address is 14 years old now, still contains ultimate truths that could serve as guiding principles of life: “Now that you are poised for this great transition, about to leave the safe for the unknown, it…
The Theory of “Flow” And Its Relevance for Organizations – 5th (final) part from the working paper
Part 4 – Demographic Changes 3. Implications for employee training and learning Traditional, formal learning systems, in which “students” sit for hours and listen to (often not well crafted and delivered) lectures and take exams are becoming less and less effective because in an ever-growing number of societies young people have mastered learning – primarily…
The Theory of “Flow” And Its Relevance for Organizations – 4th part from the working paper
Part 3 – The changing context of managing 2. Demographic changes Of the demographic changes that are impacting management/leadership practices we will briefly discuss two phenomena: implications of the allegedly large “social gaps” between generations and the ageing of the population. Generation gaps: Social generations are cohorts of people born in the same date range and…
The Theory of “Flow” And Its Relevance for Organizations – 3rd part from the working paper
Part 2 – Leaders versus managers The changing technological and cultural context of managing / leading This section offers a few thoughts on the impact of technology and demographic changes for managing and leading employees and other stakeholders. A subsection discusses the implications of technological and demographic changes for employee training and learning. 1.…
The Theory of “Flow” And Its Relevance for Organizations – 2nd part from the working paper
Part 1 – “Are you satisfied with your workplace?” Leaders versus managers Before delving into our main topics, let us detour briefly by addressing a controversy in the organizational literature: the presumed similarities and differences between “managers” and “leaders”. The subtitle of our book (which we are partly summarizing and partly extending here) is “Integrating…
How to earn your employees engagement?
Multiple research shows that only about one-third of the employees are engaged at a given workplace. A larger amount of people is not engaged while the rest (around one-fourth) is actively disengaged. But what exactly employee engagement means? A business management concept that describes the level of enthusiasm and dedication a worker feels toward his/her…
Are you close to hate your work? Maybe it’s time to take a break before you burn out.
I gotta get up I gotta get goin’ I gonna see a friend of mine… – Can this be the theme song of your morning ceremony, or do you rather think: “Wish I could stay at home and just sleep through the day!” Have you lost interest in your job? Are you unmotivated? You don’t…
Spring chickens and old dogs – generations working together
About 150-200 years ago when people died at a younger age (around 40-60) and the yearly technical advancement wasn’t that significant, it didn’t cause any problems for generations to work together. It was obvious that everyone starts at the bottom at a young age and works him/herself up on the ladder by learning and perfecting the tricks of…
Think and act like a leader – aka: managerial skills don’t have gender
Women are taught “male” leadership as well in the business world, but as soon as they start acting according to what they studied, they are called the “B” word. Its softer translation is bossy. Studies are coming to light almost every single day proving that a woman can have just as great leadership skills as…
Micromanage or not?! That is the question.
How micromanaging interrupts the flow in you as a leader and in your subordinates? What steps help to promote flow at work? Are there any circumstances when micromanaging is not only allowed but desirable? First of all please, allow me to be a bit personal here: I look at timesheet if it were my enemy.…