Who are you?
Frank Schreibers is my name, born in Kerkrade, raised in Panningen, and living in Venlo. Father of 3 daughters and one son, who all left home except the youngest, and had a relationship with Irma for years. Long ago, I started as a teacher in primary education, and for the last 10 years, I have been working in close cooperation with Jef van den Hout to further develop the ideas around team flow.
What drives you?
My main motivation is that I get out of bed every morning to enjoy the new day. I can and do make that choice every day. At night, I also want to lie in bed with a smile, knowing that I have lived that day.
What was the first time you heard about flow?
The first time will have been when I read an article or magazine titled Flow…long ago and unaware of the impact of Flow. And in my memory, I did listen to it in team meetings without knowing what was meant.
Can you share with us a personal flow experience from your time as a Volleyball player?
Cup semi-final volleyball. I was still a young rookie just coming into the game. In a team of experienced men, I was 15 years old and dry behind the ears. Yet I was allowed to start in this match. Before the game, everyone said that I had to block the opponent’s player at position four late. Time after time I failed to do that but everyone kept supporting me and I felt very burdened. My opponent also talked to me the whole match, and I heard everything he said. He repeated something until the last set, the previous serve, but I didn’t know what he said. I was focused entirely on the ball this time and ignored all advice. The ball was passed, and a setup followed to position 4. There, my opponent jumped up, and all I did was follow the ball and put my action on that. At maximum, I set off, at maximum, I spread my fingers, at maximum, my reach, and at maximum, the ball rebounded like a cannonball on the opponent’s floor. As if in slow motion, I realized that I had successfully blocked this ball. My joy was so great that I sank to my knees for a moment and deliriously enjoyed this moment. Then my teammates jumped on me because this was also the winning ball, and the final was reached. I did not sleep for 2 nights because of the feeling I experienced then.
Can you also share with us a team flow experience. So where you were part of the Volleyball team and the whole thing came into flow?
We received an invitation to a tournament in Nijmegen with all premier league teams. Our first team, which I was sometimes part of, had fallen apart and so the chairman asked if we wanted to participate anyway. That same evening in the canteen we had 8 names of players from our own club whom we thought would 1. Would have time; 2. Would feel like participating; 3. Would also be 100% committed. We were nothing more than a bunch of students on a school trip who didn’t think of bringing the club outfit, arranging food, etc. Left late, forgot socks, no warm up before the first match but just having fun together. After the 1st game we did sit down together to agree to play free, after all we could only win…we thought. So that day we played one game after another, there were no trained automatisms and everyone rose far above their own level. We showed the most spectacular attack, the weirdest balls were still being defended and our fun grew bigger and bigger. It was WE against the rest and no one could stop us. We finished 3rd because we became overconfident in the semifinals, wanting to do it even better, more spectacular, smarter. We didn’t notice, we played, varied wonderfully, celebrated every point and every disappointment was no reason to deviate from how we wanted to play. That a lot of people had come to watch we didn’t realize until after the game, that some girlfriends were there teammates didn’t see until after the game.
Do you have an example of a team that was in flow in your own work as a teacher?
When I was a classroom teacher myself, I had the great pleasure of working at St. Joseph School in Beringe, northern Limburg. The team in Beringe was diverse in terms of educational background and also as people but very committed to each other. This led to us daring to enter into many new educational developments. In conversation with each other and by not shying away from experimentation. If I have ever experienced collectivity it was at that time, if I have ever experienced a sense of flow it was then. The feeling that everyone had the same thing in mind, the feeling that everyone was working from the same intention…fellow teachers, parents and everyone involved. The children from that time also experienced that, are older now themselves but can still remember that feeling of this time together. That is what it is all about, experiencing together that feeling of being in school, sharing together those moments of flow because there was a feeling that everything, well Yes at least a lot was possible. This experience is still leidedn in my work today as a team coach in the world of education and care.
Do you have an example of a teaching team you supervised as a team coach?
Together with a colleague, we were allowed to coach a school team with the task of getting the team to be more 1. We decided not to sit inside but rather to challenge the group mentally before putting them to work physically. What was important was that they began to experience responsibility for each other as a team. One of the exercises took place at altitude, which led to everyone starting their task with some “trembling”. Without help from the other it was not possible to complete the task successfully. This went better and better, participants saw that others succeeded, experienced caring for each other. Until 1 lady had her turn who was afraid of heights and, according to the MT, always felt outside the team. She was also watching from a side. Nevertheless, she had also committed herself to the team to bring this to a good result together. It was her immediate colleagues who saw this and took care of her and especially appealed to what she could do, by offering her hope that she would be able to do this too, giving her confidence. She was allowed to say who could help her in the exercise, who were the strong shoulders she dared to rely on. Reluctantly she started her exercise, supported by all the team without exception. It was a victory of the one over herself, it was a victory of the team over itself, and that led to cheers as she stood with both feet on the ground again in the midst of all her colleagues.
In the previous example, we, and thus I, were allowed to actively coach the participants involved by drawing their attention time and again to the collectivity they agreed upon with each other. In the coaching, we start with the Team Flow Model as a guideline to make the analysis with the group. The emphasis was on motivation from within in order to create a safe climate so that everyone would feel confident enough to contribute. It was not about me, us as their Team Flow Coach, but about letting them experience the power from within and learn to trust that. Listening, questioning, and giving back what I could actually observe without judging. The Team Flow Model provided guidance for naming the right aspects in the development and this team’s flow experience, both in the practice session and in their own work.
More specifically, the effect was visible in the team, noticeable when I started making the educational step with them as well. Boundaries had been broken down, trust had grown, more open communication leading to a safer environment in which to be yourself. The result was that the educational ambitions they were so reluctant to achieve were smoothly put on paper but became visible in the children’s practice even faster. The team had gotten so into flow that after an intensive day of study in their own time, they continued into the evening to organize things differently for the children immediately the next day. It was the school director who called me that very evening to tell me this was so special it was felt…there is nothing I can add to that, I am especially happy for the school team and the children who entered school there that next day.
How did you get in touch with Flow Concepts?
Long story short: Prof. Dr. Ir. Mathieu Weggeman (supervisor of Jef van den Hout’s dissertation on team flow) introduced us to each other in late 2009, early 2010. So Jef and I have a 10-year anniversary to celebrate sometime this period. During that time, I personally experienced a lot and Jef asked me to share this story at an event of Flow Concepts with the affiliated Teamflow Coaches. After all, according to Jef, the story dovetailed nicely with the theory of psychological capital, which is about resilience, optimism, hope and trust. According to Jef, I should keep telling this personal story because it inspires others to work together in a ‘good’ way. Meanwhile, this story also forms a standard part of the Training as Teamflow Coach and I also share it with teams under the guidance of Flow Concepts. At the beginning of January I will share it with the Solar Team Eindhoven. Very special to be able to inspire people like this!
How do you use (team) flow thinking in your work life?
Generally speaking, I find it fascinating to coach every team. However, the Team Flow Model became a living thing for me when we ran the Team Flow Monitor several times on the same team, and the results revealed the assumptions to the team members. In that case, the Team Flow Monitor led to a sense of “Wow” among those who had filled out the monitor and the people guiding them. This was reinforced by the feedback from Jef van den Hout who brought in not only quantitative but also qualitative analysis that the team faced. When I experienced this myself the first time from so close and saw the effect on the team members, I knew that Jef’s Team Flow Model adds something I had been looking for for a long time.
So for me it is important that a team also experiences a kind of urgency, that there is a will from within to want to take the next step together as a team. Sometimes I can be their mirror in this, after which they themselves come to insights to want to go further in their own team flow development. I consider it a gift that I can contribute to this.
How do you use (team) flow thinking in your own personal life?
A dear colleague and friend once said about me that I overcome obstacles, move forward energetically and then allow others to experience the same in their own lives. Optimism, Hope, Resilience and (Self) Confidence do give me direction in my daily life and occasionally I need the negativity in my life to be able to interpret and appreciate the positive. I sincerely wish everyone that personal Flow feeling that I myself have had and still may experience. I would certainly add that I also needed others like Jef van den Hout to bring me to this experience, this awareness.
What kind of teams do you personally love to guide toward more flow?
I find teaching teams a fine and rewarding group of professionals to work with. This makes my heart beat faster!
Would you like to get in touch with Frank Schreibers and engage him as a Teamflow Coach or speaker. If so, please be sure to let us know via our contact page. We wholeheartedly recommend Frank to educational teams and are happy to entice you to use Frank as a guest speaker with his life story that offers resilience, optimism, hope and confidence in a very special and moving way.
