Teams, trust, and social flow : a grounded theory exploration

Abstract

What is the role of trust when a team is in social flow? This research is my second exploratory step to discovering the answer. The model that emerged from this research predicts that social flow is grounded in inter-personal trust which cannot exist without self-trust. Inter-personal trust enables two of the six conditions for social flow: high performing teams and the willingness to lose one's sense of oneself. The building of self- and inter-personal trust also has a temporal element. Two additional conditions to generate social flow, high levels of concentration and mission-driven work, were identified by research participants. The final two conditions for generating social flow were identified from the literature: working in the zone of proximal development and decreasing distractions. Three virtuous cycles to build trust were identified; this study suggests that it is possible that the entire model is a self-reinforcing upward spiral which enhances the probability of the occurrence of social flow events. Some scholars identify trust as one of the conditions that enables social flow; this research shows that inter-personal trust is in fact the basic social process required to achieve social flow, and that this inter-personal trust cannot exist without self-trust.