I love the concept of being in a ‘flow-state’. It’s a state of true happiness. Something I always strive for. It’s where you feel fully immersed in what you’re doing. Time flies. You’re focused. You’re in the zone. It’s a rare state. It’s present during challenging, engaging activities. When your body and mind are in-synch.

The best workshops are when people attain a state of flow. They’re working hard. They’re not on their phones. They’re coming with new thoughts and ideas. Time flies. It feels exciting.

As a facilitator, how do you help create a state of flow in a workshop? Here’s some thoughts.

1 Make the exercises challenging

Whenever you’re designing exercises, don’t make them too easy. People like being pushed. If they can complete the task with minimal thought or effort, then they’ll get bored. Instead, design exercises and questions that are intriguing or thought provoking. Not something the teams will sleep-walk through. This doesn’t mean making the exercises too complex or convoluted. It means asking one or two deep, penetrating questions. Where the answers or ways forward are not obvious. Here’s some examples. Here’s some more.

2 Keep everyone focused

Create an environment where people can’t get distracted. At its most basic, don’t allow people to get on their phones. Ensure it’s a comfortable space where everyone has the tools at hand to get on with the work.

Keep the exercises short and sharp and exert time pressure. If people complete exercises early, don’t keep them hanging around. Watch body language. If people start to drift, move on.

3 Get physical

Ensure people don’t stay in the same place for too long. Encourage people to stand up and move around. Mix up teams. Use the entire space you have available to you. Present ideas from different parts of the room. If necessary do a few simple energisers and exercises to get the blood flowing. Remember, getting to a state of flow is both physical as well as mental. Click here for some ideas on how to manage energy in workshops.

4 Push people

Offer feedback that encourages people to go further. If they come up with an ‘OK’ idea, suggest ways they could make it an even better idea. Encourage additional perspectives, new ways of looking at things. Ask people to do further work on an idea. If there’s an improvement, acknowledge it and offer praise and further encouragement.

5 Make it Competitive

Having a bit of friendly competition amongst teams is a good way to help people do their best work. It also helps teams bond as they face a common goal - coming up with a better idea than the other teams. Offer spot prizes for great ideas too. Making it too serious can be counter-productive, so handle with care. But as long as it’s light and enjoyable, people will play along.

In Summary

When planning and facilitating workshops, aim to get people in a state of flow. Keep them busy, challenged, engaged and focused. It may not happen for the whole session, but always make this your ambition. If people get distracted or the session starts to drift, make sure you intervene. That’s your job.

When people leave the session saying things like, ‘time really flew by’ or ‘we’ve come up with some great ideas’ or ‘that was really enjoyable’, well done. You’ve created a ‘flow-state’ workshop.