Imagine a group of 26 strangers coming together for a student competition around solving a sustainability problem. It’s a long-term competition, which means the team has to strategically distribute tasks, stay involved, be able to focus long enough to actually learn something, and create something meaningful that will help them later during graduation. That’s quite a task, but the Solar Team Eindhoven (STE) of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) succeeded in doing just that during the World Solar Challenge in Australia – and they built a solar car in the process.

What does it take to enable a team to perform at such a high level, with high commitment, a good division of labor and long-term dedication? In a world where so many business challenges and daily tasks depend on knowledge work and teamwork, the answer is invaluable. We argue that that answer is flow.