Who are you?
I am Valentijn Mees, 38 years old and work as a flow coach. My specialty is traditionally on the flow of work. Think of process management techniques such as lean, kanban, agile, scrum process mining, etc. For the past year I have been specializing myself more and more in team flow and individual flow. It’s actually crazy that organizations rarely professionalize this. The flow of processes and psychological flow of teams and individuals go hand in hand. I am convinced that the latter two will get more and more attention.
What drives you?
What drives me is to develop myself and others by seeking adventure, pushing boundaries and discovering what is possible as much as possible outside the comfort zone.
What was the first time you heard about flow?
That was a while ago. I think around 2010. At that time I was still coach of the sport climbing selection Middle Netherlands. These are young talents on their way to a place on the Dutch team sport climbing. I regularly used visualizations and competition simulations to prepare the talents for competitions. Both tactics help enormously in creating a flow experience.
Can you share a personal flow experience with us?
Of course. For me, climbing and, in addition, ski touring are two activities in which I experience a lot of flow. Both sports are not without risk, and that healthy tension adds to the ease of experiencing flow. Climbing and ski touring require complete focus and alertness on your technique, on alpine hazards and on navigating through complex terrain. Of course a lot of preparation goes into it but when the time comes you don’t have much time to think and you have to follow your intuition. A few years ago I climbed the Presanella North Face first with a friend and then skied down. That was an intense flow experience for me. The climb and descent were at the top of my ability. The first few turns down were very exciting and steep but then it flowed more and more after each turn. Everything comes together in that moment. Your intense focus, the feeling of being one with your skis, the acceleration and the euphoria following it. That’s really amazing.
Can you also share with us a team flow experience? So where you were part of a team and the whole thing came into flow?
Yes indeed. I remember when we ran out of time for a product release in the UK. The whole team decided on their own initiative to work through the night to get it done on time. We had the whole office to ourselves. We ordered pizza and got to work. There was a lot of talking and consulting on the floor and everyone was busy. You can’t usually do that during the day because you have to be mindful of other people. We could do our own thing and roar loudly around the room when necessary. All communication served our purpose. And if there was an issue we could get together immediately for consultation without having to book a meeting room first. Even on weekends we continued to work. This strengthened the mutual bond even more and we could really rely on each other. In the end we were ready in time for the release, which was an enormous achievement. We could rely on this for a long time to come.
Do you have an example of a team you coached to flow as a Team Flow Coach?
A year and a half ago, I started actively working as a flow coach. The team I was working with at the time was not in flow at all. The team was under high pressure and there were serious escalations involving the team. There were team members who were under a lot of stress because of this, there were also team members who were literally bored and team members who did experience a lot of flow in their work. What next? At the time, I had no knowledge of team flow. I did have individual flow. So I took that approach. I took a very individual approach and tried to find out why someone did or did not experience flow in their work. I then started conducting interviews and presented the results to the team. They were very triggered by this and ideas arose spontaneously to improve the situation. Two team members deliberately transferred to another team where they could do better. That was a really good move. Real flow blockers also came to light, such as that decisions were often made by management without involving the team. The management was very open to the constructive feedback and gradually you saw improvement in this. Gradually the cooperation climate became more and more favorable to experience real flow. Unfortunately, I am no longer involved with this team, but it would be interesting to run the Team Flow Monitor here.
How did you get in touch with from Flow Concepts?
I was reading an article on the website positivepsychology.com about flow. Then in the article I was reading something about team flow and came across the name of Jef van den Hout. I immediately had the idea that this was a Dutch name so of course I went on google to search who this was and what he did. That’s how I ended up on the Flow Concepts website. I saw there that a training on team flow would start two weeks later. I immediately signed up for that without hesitation.
How do you use team flow thinking in your work life?
After Flow Concepts’ training, I immediately started putting the Teamflow Model into practice. You just have to work with it and then you automatically learn the power it holds. I learn a lot more each time. There are many aspects to it but that shouldn’t stop you from using it. I am integrating it more and more with individual flow and process flow.
How do you use team flow thinking in your own personal life?
Now in this corona time, of course, we are all inside. I use the teamflow mindset less in my personal life as a result. But I can definitely apply the model well in the practice of climbing or ski touring. You tend to be on the road with more people then and form a team. This is something great for after lockdown. Now I make more use of individual flow techniques. For example, by developing my own mental flow diet. This includes elements such as Wim Hof breathing techniques, winter swimming, kriya yoga and meditation.
What kind of teams do you personally love to guide toward more flow?
I have no preference. So far, I’ve mostly supervised teams in the technical sector. I would like to mentor teams in other sectors again. Something for the near future perhaps.
Would you like to get in touch with Valentine Mees and use him as a Team Flow Coach in a Teamflow Trajectory. Please let us know via our contact page. We highly recommend Valentijn to teams who want to experience the different types of flow experiences together!
