Working in the Zone
Our commitment to happiness at work leads to great products
Our commitment to happiness at work leads to great products
The computer-animated fantasy Soul, beautifully displays the concept of working in the Zone, that special place which can only be understood when experienced.
I’ve been thinking about ways to create a startup culture where getting in the zone becomes easier. When I invest in early stage startups, I work with entrepreneurs who want to build their own startup cultures. We discuss topics such as purpose and happiness at work which usually lead to meaningful conversations with CEOs and their teams. We talk about the concepts of being in the zone, conscious leadership and being open, curious and committed to learning.
However, applying these concepts is not always easy. A practical method I have been using for the past 6 years is to understand how our everyday work contributes to happiness, individually and as a team. This happiness can be tracked as part of our commitment to “feeling all feelings.” Once a week, we register two of five core feelings (anger, fear, sadness, joy, creativity) and describe one or two sentences about why we feel those feelings. Over time, we see how the ebb and flow has turned into actions and results. We then try to reinforce the desired environment.
We have been exercising this method from the very beginning at Collisure. I believe that companies are an extension of founders’ personalities and a successful startup is where the best of their traits are embodied in day to day actions. Slowly these habits become the company culture. The chart above shows a 6-month feelings graph for two members of our team which became part of our review of 2020.
I look forward to practicing this commitment in 2021 and linking it to product quality. Stay tuned!
This is the fourth in a series of posts about Conscious Leadership applied to Global Entrepreneurs. If you enjoyed reading this article, we’d love to tell you more about how we’re building the future of road safety at Collisure while creating a unique company culture where getting in the zone is easy!