Leadership-Driven Professional Development in Operational Excellence: A Case Study on Engineering Teams and the Flow State

International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 11 Issue 6, November - December - 2025 ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 295 Leadership-Driven Professional Development in Operational Excellence: A Case Study on Engineering Teams and the Flow State Anderson Mendes de Mendonça¹, Eduardo Aparecido Barbosa² 1(Control and Automation Engineering, Federal University of Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brasil. [email protected]) 2 (Department of Production Engineering, University of Vale do Paraíba, São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brasil. [email protected]) I. INTRODUCTION Founded in 1942, Vórtice Mineradora (a fictitious name) is today a Brazilian private company that ranks among the largest global mining corporations. With operations that extend beyond national borders, the company is present in approximately 30 countries, sharing the mission of transforming natural resources into prosperity and sustainable development. In addition to mining, the organization operates in logistics—managing railways, ports, terminals, and state-of-the-art infrastructure—energy, and steelmaking. It currently employs more than 120,000 direct and third-party workers. The case selected for this study examines the professional development of Vórtice employees working in a newly created Operational Excellence division by leveraging principles of positive psychology. The Vórtice Management Model, known as the Vórtice Production System (VPS), is resultsoriented and prescribes a deep, comprehensive implementation of policies and practices designed to ensure safe and environmentally responsible operations while safeguarding asset integrity. The VPS encompasses practices that must be applied daily by all employees and is structured around three dimensions: leadership, technical, and management. To promote and support the implementation of VPS elements, the company created the Operational Excellence Directorate—an entirely new department composed of professionals originating both from other internal areas and the external labour market. These professionals are predominantly engineers and technical specialists in mineral processes and/or continuous improvement and operational excellence methodologies. This study focuses on developing personal and technical competencies to support the professional evolution of a team of engineers working within a specific area of Vórtice Mineradora. The objective was to identify and develop skills related to a set of fundamental elements, elevating employees’ knowledge and enabling them to reach the “Flow State.” The topic was selected because it integrates leadership principles and management concepts to foster professional development and subsequent success through the flow state, which enhances efficiency and performance. Using this study, it is possible to demonstrate the professional growth of engineers who have recently joined the organization or are currently assigned to other departments. These professionals exhibit RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 11 Issue 6, November - December - 2025 ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 296 responsibility, demand broad technical expertise, and require emotional stability to deliver highperformance results. Furthermore, the study analyses leadership techniques and management tools that supported individual development and enhanced technical skills, enabling the achievement of the “Flow State.” II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Like love, leadership is universally desired but difficult to define explicitly. The concept of “leadership,” as used today, entered general literature only in the past few centuries and has recently attracted growing interest in the business environment. The earlier notion of a charismatic leader capable of mobilizing followers has increasingly given place to team-based problem solving. Today, organizational objectives are pursued by individuals who rapidly shift among leading and following roles [1]. More effective decisions are achieved when leaders listen to and consider diverse contributions from colleagues with different experiences and perspectives. This fosters improved group acceptance through consensus-building as a result of collaborative processes, which in turn strengthens compliance and organizational alignment [2]. Effective leadership requires discernment and self-awareness, organization, continuous communication and reinforcement, the ability to catalyse a shared future vision, and success in inspiring followers toward action. Effective leaders do not fit a predetermined theme or possess a fixed list of personal traits; rather, they demonstrate strong performance in addressing organizational task problems and in considering individuals with sensitivity to interpersonal relationships [4]. HISTORY OF LEADERSHIP From the late 1800s to around 1930, leadership theories emphasized control and centralized power. Early perspectives assumed that leaders are born, not made, and that certain mysterious qualities are inherent in selected individuals, often passed down across generations [13]. This model declined in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s, when “trait theories” emerged, attempting to identify specific characteristics that qualify an individual for leadership. Stogdill identified six clusters of traits associated with leadership—capacity, achievement, responsibility, participation, status, and situation—but ultimately concluded that these traits alone did not sufficiently explain leadership: “A person does not become a leader merely by virtue of possessing a combination of traits” [11]. The late 1940s introduced psychoanalytic theories exploring why individuals are motivated to lead or follow particular leaders, with greater emphasis on the role of groups and organizations. Research in the 1960s focused on how people are influenced toward shared goals. “Exchange theories” examined social exchanges among individuals and groups, including rewards, status, and esteem [10]. Leadership theory proposed that social context and follower characteristics influence the leadership behaviours necessary for success. Four key leadership behaviours were identified—directive (task-oriented), achievement-oriented, supportive, and participative—alongside two situational variables: followers’ personal characteristics and organizational demands such as rules and procedures. In the 1970s, the focus shifted from social psychology toward behaviour and organizational management science. Leadership and management roles became increasingly intertwined, and “attribution theories” emerged [7]. “Transformation” became a defining concept for leadership, while “transactional” became associated with management. Since the 1980s, leadership literature has expanded enormously, often recycling concepts from the “Great Man,” social, and organizational behavior traditions, but with new emphasis on “influence,” “transformational,” “servant,” and “collaborative” leadership frameworks [11]. International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 11 Issue 6, November - December - 2025 ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 297 Leaders became more accountable to followers, with a greater spiritual, values-based orientation emphasizing principled relationships. “Vision” emerged as a critical leadership attribute, and cultivating and communicating a vision became a central leadership responsibility. Today, functional leadership is viewed as a temporary service function, with individuals moving in and out of leadership roles as circumstances evolve [15]. Individuals may simultaneously act in leadership and followership roles depending on context, interest, and expertise. While there is broad consensus that both leadership and managerial skills are essential for driving change, the literature still lacks clarity regarding where one ends and the other begins [2]. LEADERSHIP PROGRAM STYLES Leadership programs are extremely popular today, bringing together a wide range of purposes and learning approaches under the single term “leadership.” Some programs attract participants by recruiting those interested in leadership education and then presenting information designed to build support for organizational goals, policies, and decisions [4]. In this style of program, the development of individual leadership knowledge, skills, and attributes is of secondary importance. Organizations particularly concerned with selfpreservation often encourage ongoing relationships (for example, alumni groups) to maintain long-term affiliation with the organization’s structure and values. Other programs seek to broaden and explore alternative issues and concepts, exposing participants to ideas and problems that are typically peripheral to their main area of expertise, in an effort to prepare them for broader citizenship roles [7]. These programs focus on individual growth and may include broad or specialized exposures designed to push, pull, and stretch participants to view selected issues within a larger context. A third type of program offers a variety of leadership tools, empowering individuals with knowledge, skills, and attitudes grounded in a deeper understanding of themselves and others, creative problem-solving, and strategic planning. The “toolbox” provided in this type of program aims to create more effective independent thinkers capable of taking action and promoting change [2]. The primary objective is to provide learners with intrapersonal and interpersonal process tools they can use in real situations. The leadership attributes instilled through these programs have the potential to become organizational disruptors, as participants may assume leadership roles that do not align with the organization’s preferred direction or rate of change [9]. Both the “Individual Growth” and the “Leadership Toolbox” models can significantly influence participants, and the Leadership Toolbox model is particularly suitable for preparing future leaders in alignment with the goals of professional schools [4]. LEADERSHIP TOOLS Individual empowerment involves providing a foundational knowledge base—explaining the need for leadership, defining leadership attributes, and showing participants how these attributes apply to them as individuals. It also entails creating opportunities for self-exploration and assessment and offering practical experiences that allow learners to assimilate and apply new tools in safe learning environments. Leaders must understand themselves more deeply: how they process information, the barriers that may hinder optimal decision-making, and how to motivate themselves and others to take action. Rational tools are among the easiest to teach, and individuals in technical or analytical professions generally possess or can quickly refine these assets [3]. Critical needs include creating a vision, understanding the organizational mission, developing goals and objectives, and agreeing on an action plan to pursue them. Creative thinking— going beyond emotions, facts, and critical reasoning International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 11 Issue 6, November - December - 2025 ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 298 to incorporate valuable ideas from others that might otherwise be dismissed—is essential. Thinking “outside the box” and providing an organizational structure that captures and reports key historical information, aligns next steps, and identifies responsibilities and deadlines is fundamental for promoting action and achieving desired results [7]. Understanding the flawed nature of living in a world of self-generated beliefs—based on selective “data” filtered through cultural and personal lenses—helps prevent inappropriate actions derived from the Ladder of Inference. Similarly, cultivating dialogue rather than debate to seek understanding and harmony fosters trust and creates a cooperative, shared environment [4]. Deliberation then follows naturally, as participants weigh costs, benefits, and consequences, leading to consensus rather than majority rule or authoritarian decision-making. Consensus implies that all stakeholders understand, support, and are willing to implement a decision, even if it is not their first choice. Conflict management and understanding the ongoing interactions among individuals—viewed as a continuous negotiation—contribute to better outcomes for all parties. Intrapersonal and interpersonal tools are more challenging for both learners and instructors [10]. These include building self-awareness and understanding the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and reactions; recognizing others’ emotions; valuing differences; viewing conflict as a constructive source of information; improving communication (listening, questioning, paraphrasing); group dynamics; making decisions; and knowing when to lead or follow [9]. Leadership participation is not without cost, and resilience is an important tool that helps leaders recover after emotional and physical exhaustion. Ultimately, the tools developed should support creating a vision, solving problems, making decisions, generating understanding, and engaging stakeholders. Leadership education also carries its own challenges, including introspection and selfdiscovery for instructors and organizers, who must carefully define learning objectives and curriculum [7]. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Professional development is directly related to workers’ daily activities and must be embedded within a broader process of continuous learning. This development corresponds to the growth and maturation of knowledge, skills, and attitudes acquired throughout workers’ lives as a result of both formal and informal workplace learning experiences. The literature highlights the relationship between formal training, workplace learning, and everyday experiential learning. Thus, different forms of formal and informal learning at work contribute to the development of human capital and are considered complementary processes [7]. The process of professional development also involves personal experiences that shape learning across one’s career trajectory. From this perspective, professional development is supported by a holistic view that integrates experience, perception, cognition, and behavior. Learning is the process through which knowledge is created by transforming experience, operating within a cyclical model composed of four successive stages: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation [2]. These four stages of the learning cycle assume that experience is constructed through processes of intention, extension, apprehension, and comprehension. In this model, concrete experiences trigger intentional reflective action, which evolves into conceptualization and later enables active experimentation. Therefore, the professional development process involves experience, observation, reflection, and transformation [4]. Professional development thus comprises a set of events and activities related to a given profession, International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 11 Issue 6, November - December - 2025 ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 299 creating or enhancing clusters of competencies, knowledge, and attitudes essential for performance. In this sense, the concept of professional development focuses on a combination of cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes, involving informal learning strategies applied throughout one’s career [11]. Although in the Anglo-Saxon literature the concept of professional development is frequently associated primarily with structured learning activities, a broader perspective recognizes it as the natural consequence of diverse forms of workplace learning. Within this expanded view, professional development emerges from formal or informal learning actions and is directly linked to career progression [15]. The role of leadership in employees’ professional development encompasses a variety of practices, such as participating in scientific societies; training processes including supervisory roles, coaching, or mentoring (guidance and monitoring for students, subordinates, or early-career professionals); training strategies and informal learning initiatives for skill development; in-service training; participation in communities of practice; ongoing professionalization programs; peer collaboration mediated by technology; mentoring programs; and other role-specific development initiatives [13]. Although it is reasonable to state that professional development derives from formal and informal learning in the workplace, the antagonistic distinction between these two concepts has been increasingly questioned, as it represents an artificial polarization [11]. Workplace learning emerges from diverse actions and situations, many of which involve reflective processes. A study involving a wide variety of occupations and organizational contexts demonstrated that learning strategies contribute significantly to perceived professional development. Findings indicated that intrinsic and extrinsic reflection, seeking help from others, and learning through trial and error are predictors of perceived professional development. In addition, trial-and-error learning is moderated by work experience. The study also concluded that hours of training, help-seeking behaviors, and educational level predict perceived professional development [4]. The literature therefore confirms that workplace learning is influenced by training and development initiatives, social interaction, and experiential learning. For this reason, workplace learning models are highly relevant to the study of professional development, as they incorporate professional practice and address dimensions related to learning content, motivation, and contextual conditions [15]. The foundational logic of this model is that workplace learning fosters competency development and results from the acquisition of technical skills and the interaction between practice and work identity. Thus, theoretical perspectives indicate that professional development involves different forms of learning, with experiential learning serving as a key theoretical foundation. In this regard, professional development is grounded in experiential learning theory and contemporary models of workplace learning that simultaneously consider individual and contextual variables [7]. This set of learning processes associated with professional development occurs throughout workers’ lives and across different career stages. Consequently, the strategies that best support earlycareer development differ from those that contribute to mid-career consolidation or late-career advancement [2]. The linkage between leadership styles and subordinate professional development is supported by various theoretical perspectives. On one hand, workplace learning studies indicate that social support—from supervisors and colleagues—is critical for transferring learning into practice. On the other hand, knowledge management literature associates managerial performance with the development of organizational intellectual capital. Knowledge management is therefore defined as the process of embracing knowledge as a strategic asset to enhance sustainable competitive advantage and International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 11 Issue 6, November - December - 2025 ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 300 promoting an approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, improving, and sharing intellectual capital—often with emphasis at the team level [15]. Leadership behaviors, team dynamics, and organizational structures act as catalysts for knowledge management. Leadership effectiveness is thus a key enabler of knowledge generation, development, and sharing within teams. Leadership that fosters a learning-oriented, innovative, and open communication culture stimulates and accelerates subordinate professional development processes [4]. Accordingly, a learningand knowledge-oriented leadership style promotes innovation and knowledge sharing by encouraging open communication and team development. In addition, social interaction and leaders’ influence on subordinates are considered key elements in leadership theories [3]. In this context, a transformational leadership style—aimed at positively influencing subordinates—is directly associated with professional and personal development processes [1]. Two specific dimensions of transformational leadership—supportive leadership and developmental leadership—play central roles in facilitating employee development. Supportive leadership provides emotional, informational, instrumental, and evaluative resources, emphasizing empathy, care, and active listening. It reflects leaders’ concern for their followers and consideration of their needs and preferences when making decisions. Developmental leadership, in turn, is associated with individualized consideration, one of the central components of transformational leadership, and is characterized by mentoring behaviors such as career counseling, performance monitoring, and encouraging followers to pursue technical training [9]. Both developmental and supportive leadership styles positively affect subordinate professional development, but their effects are not identical. Developmental leadership demonstrates stronger relationships with job satisfaction, career clarity, affective organizational commitment, and role autonomy compared to supportive leadership. Therefore, investing in developmental leadership may yield superior outcomes for professional development among team members [7]. Beyond identifying which leadership style best supports subordinate professional development, it is also essential to understand how leaders contribute to the developmental process. Since professional development depends on both formal and informal workplace learning, leaders must stimulate both domains. Regarding formal learning, organizations have increasingly invested in corporate universities, which provide theoretical and methodological foundations for educational practices, define the desired organizational professional profile, and guide the pedagogical orientation of learning initiatives [13]. In this regard, leaders can create learning opportunities through a wide range of training and development actions, including preparation for future roles. Additionally, beyond formal workplace education, leaders can stimulate informal learning by encouraging unsystematic, spontaneous, and natural actions. Organizational learning literature emphasizes that peer and supervisor support for using new skills and driving innovation in work routines is a critical factor for enabling natural learning processes within organizations [1]. Leaders thus promote a culture of learning as a gradual, cumulative, and continuous process involving structured learning experiences. This is especially important considering that an estimated 90% of workplace learning occurs outside formal educational curricula. Leaders play a key role in shaping employees for future roles in their careers [10]. Qualification strategies should be diversified, including in-service training, continuing education programs, and mentoring initiatives. It is also valuable to create communities of practice and establish partnerships with scientific societies to provide ongoing challenges and growth opportunities for employees. Finally, the third area International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 11 Issue 6, November - December - 2025 ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 301 of action involves stimulating informal learning, which leaders must actively encourage [11]. Promoting informal learning ranges from forming multidisciplinary teams—which enrich the quality of collective knowledge exchange—to valuing concrete experiences and reflective observation, both characteristic of experiential learning. In this context, fostering social interaction and solution experimentation is critical because these processes enhance learning [3]. The leader must create a work environment that can be characterized as a space for continuous production and collective knowledge sharing, as such an environment enables an informal learning process that runs parallel to the organization’s formal training systems. Accordingly, there are essentially three domains in which leaders can act to support the development of their subordinates [7]. The first domain involves strategic management and refers to the development of a work environment conducive to learning and commitment. This environment must be aligned with human resource policies that prioritize learning pathways, error management—based on the understanding that errors generate learning— and knowledge management practices [3]. It is essential for leaders to understand the importance of investing in communication and technology systems that facilitate peer collaboration. However, one of the most critical elements is the establishment of shared goals with work teams and the enactment of empowerment practices that foster employee commitment and strengthen individuals’ perception of their relevance within the organization. The second domain concerns the encouragement of formal learning initiatives, with the leader’s role centered on providing intellectual stimulation to the team [1]. Training and development activities may occur through various modalities, including distance learning, face-to-face instruction, and blended learning formats. THE FLOW STATE The experience of “flow” has been the focus of a large body of empirical work spanning more than four decades. However, advances in understanding—beyond what Csikszentmihalyi discovered during his initial breakthrough in 1975—have been modest. In this conceptual analysis, it is argued that progress in the field has been hindered by a lack of consistency in how flow is operationalized, and that this inconsistency reflects, in part, an underlying confusion about what flow actually is. Operationalizations of flow in articles published over the past five years have been reviewed [14]. In the 42 studies analyzed, flow was operationalized in 24 distinct ways. Three specific points of inconsistency are highlighted: (1) inconsistencies in operationalizing flow as a continuous versus a discrete construct, (2) inconsistencies in operationalizing flow as inherently pleasant (i.e., “autotelic”) or not, and (3) inconsistencies in operationalizing flow as dependent on, or distinct from, the task characteristics proposed to elicit it (i.e., the conditions/antecedents) [14]. After outlining the origins of these discrepancies, the author argues that, in the interest of conceptual clarity, flow should be conceptualized and operationalized exclusively as a discrete, highly pleasant, “optimal” state of consciousness—and that this state should be clearly distinguished from the conditions proposed to elicit it. He suggests that more mundane instances of goal-directed engagement are better conceived and operationalized as variations in task involvement rather than variations in flow [6]. Additional ways to achieve greater conceptual and operational consistency within the field are suggested. Investigating the experience of “flow”: key conceptual and operational issues. Csikszentmihalyi introduced the concept of “flow” 50 years ago in his groundbreaking book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. The concept was not entirely new—the experience itself had much in common with Maslow’s 1964 conception of “peak experience,” as well as with Laski’s 1961 accounts of ecstatic experiences [6]. However, Csikszentmihalyi’s approach was significantly more systematic and empirical than International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 11 Issue 6, November - December - 2025 ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 302 previous perspectives. Within a few years, flow became the focus of hundreds of empirical studies in diverse fields, including educational psychology, recreation and leisure sciences, game design, and many others. But what have we learned about flow itself—about the ideal experience state—since Csikszentmihalyi introduced the concept in 1975? [14]. The conceptualization introduced in 1975 remains essentially unchanged. Moreover, fundamental questions persist. Very little is known about its latent structure, the causal relationships among its proposed components, the relative contribution of each component to the overall flow experience, etc. In fact, and perhaps most concerning, after 50 years of research, there still seems to be significant disagreement among researchers regarding what flow actually is and how to measure it. This point becomes clearer when analyzing the many ways flow has been operationalized in the literature [5]. According to Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory, the flow experience relates to the set of skills the individual perceives themselves to possess in relation to the perceived challenges of the activity. Challenges may be considered “opportunities for action, ” and thus flow is produced by any situation that requires skill [14]. The phenomenology of flow further suggests that the pleasure of a task arises from discoveries found in interacting with the task. For example, at first the task may seem boring or anxiety-provoking, but if the opportunities for action become clearer or the skill level improves, the task becomes more engaging and eventually enjoyable [6]. The discovery of more complex behaviors results in motivation that transforms a previously uninteresting task into something intrinsically motivating. Therefore, skill complexity must increase to match the increasing complexity of the task challenge so that the person remains in flow. Csikszentmihalyi developed the flow state model to illustrate this shift of state. For example, when challenges and skills are both low, a person is likely to experience apathy—considered the lowestquality, least intense experience in the model [5]. When skills exceed the level required for the challenges, the person is more prone to boredom/relaxation—an experience of higher quality than apathy. As the challenge level increases, the experience moves toward control. Conversely, when challenges exceed the person’s skills, worry/anxiety is more likely. As skills increase, the experience shifts toward arousal. Therefore, according to this model, flow states are believed to occur when skills and challenges are both high and in balance, resulting in the highestquality experience [6]. Flow requires activities to meet an additional set of specific criteria. First, the activity typically requires learning skills and clear goals with quick, unambiguous feedback. This provides a sense of control over reality by clarifying what needs to be done and how one is performing [14]. This activity design works best when concentration and involvement are facilitated by separating the person from their everyday existence and focusing them on the reality of the activity— such as specific uniforms and rules that are not necessarily relevant to daily life. People in flow report being so absorbed in the activity that they have no spare attention to be distracted by anything else [5]. People also report a collection of other psychological phenomena associated with flow states, including: (a) a sense of control over the activity; (b) a distortion of time, in which a person loses awareness of how time is passing; (c) loss of self-consciousness, in which a person loses awareness of themselves and of everyday concerns; (d) a sense of transcendence, where the person feels a sense of unity with the activity [14]. III. RESEARCH METHOD The main objective of scientific research is to observe and find an answer to a problem methodically and analytically. Therefore, a scientific research process involves steps such as identifying the problem, reviewing the literature, defining the population and sampling, developing the research instrument, and collecting and analyzing the data. The final step of a scientific research process consists of reporting and interpreting the results [12]. International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 11 Issue 6, November - December - 2025 ISSN: 2395-1303 http://www.ijetjournal.org Page 303 While quantitative research methods relate to numerical data, qualitative research methods are generally related to verbal data. Qualitative research methods are favored particularly in social sciences and in educational sciences as well [12]. Accordingly, a literature-based review research method will be used. This method allows for a systematic deepening of the theme under study, based on materials previously developed by other theorists and researchers, providing support for validating the proposed hypotheses and contributing to a final synthesis: results consistent with facts [8]. Data collection will be conducted through a bibliographic review of books, scientific journals, monographs, and literary works related to the research problem, enabling broad coverage of the investigated phenomena and expanding knowledge about the issues raised by the topic [12]. Qualitative research is used to understand how people experience the world. Although there are many approaches to qualitative research, they tend to be flexible and focus on retaining rich meaning when interpreting data. Common approaches include grounded theory, ethnography, action research, phenomenological research, and narrative research. They share similarities but emphasize different objectives and perspectives [12]. Case study is a research methodology commonly used in social sciences. There is no single definition of case study research. However, a case study can be defined as an intensive study of a person, a group of people, or a unit, aiming to generalize across several units. A case study has also been described as an intensive and systematic investigation of a single individual, group, community, or other unit in which the researcher examines in-depth data related to several variables [8]. Researchers describe case studies as examining complex phenomena in their natural environment to increase understanding. By outlining the steps taken when using a case study approach, this research method allows the researcher to take a broad and complex topic or phenomenon and reduce it to manageable research questions. By collecting qualitative or quantitative datasets on the phenomenon, the researcher gains deeper insights than would be obtained using only one type of data [12]. Often, several similar cases must be considered, such as educational or social service programs offered at multiple locations. Although similar, these cases are complex and have unique characteristics. In such circumstances, evaluating multiple cases provides a better answer to a research question than examining a single case— hence multi-case studies [8]. The steps in a case study methodology are similar to those of other research types. The first step is to define the single case or identify a group of similar cases that can be incorporated into a multi-case study. A preliminary investigation is usually conducted to determine what is known about the case(s). This may include a literature review, gray literature, media, reports, and more, which establishes a basic understanding of the cases and inform the development of research questions. Case study data are often, though not exclusively, qualitative. In multi-case studies, both within-case and cross-case analyses are conducted. Themes emerge from these analyses, leading to statements about the cases [12]. IV. CASE DESCRIPTION After data collection, observations, and interviews, we can organize the case in chronological order, as presented below: 1) Presentation of the “Flow State” concept to the department’s employees.