Whether at work or in private life, we all experienced being "in the zone" which is used to describe a state of consciousness where actual skills match the perceived performance requirements perfectly. Renowned psychologist Mihàly Csìkszentmihàlyi has called this state of semi-bliss “being in the flow” – and it is undoubtedly the state in which workers achieve peak performance, and simultaneously, experience the highest levels of satisfaction. Yet despite all our best efforts – and ongoing research – there is no reliable formula that guarantees we will get into “the flow” at any given moment.
McKinsey & Company, however, recently discovered that Intelligent Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Quotient (EQ) are critical for achieving peak performance but they are far sufficient without MQ.
So what does MQ stand for?
And why is MQ so critical to completing the picture?
But first let's review about a bit about IQ & EQ.

IQ includes elements such as role clarity, a clear understanding of objectives, and access to the knowledge and resources needed to get the job done.
These are what one might term rational elements of a flow experience or, to use a convenient shorthand, its intellectual quotient (IQ).
When the IQ of a work environment is low, the energy employees bring to the workplace is misdirected and often conflicting.
That's IQ. How about EQ?

EQ is the quality of the interactions among those involved. a baseline of trust and respect, constructive conflict, a sense of humor, a general feeling that “we’re in this together,” and the corresponding ability to collaborate effectively.
These create an emotionally safe environment to pursue challenging goals or an environment with a high emotional quotient (EQ).
When the EQ of a workplace is lacking, employee energy reduces - in the form of office politics, ego management, and passive-aggressive avoidance of tough issues.
And now let's move on to MQ.

MQ is Meaning Quotient, a sense of meaning in what we do. “Meaning,” here implies a feeling that what’s happening really matters, that what’s being done has not been done before or that it will make a difference to others.
When a workplace’s MQ is low, employees put less effort into their work and see it as just a job that pays the rent.

So how can managers raise the MQ within their organisations; and is ‘creating’ meaning for staff an achievable mission?

According to a research about the affect of those quotients in working environment, working in a high-IQ, high-EQ, and high-MQ environment are five times more productive at their peak than they are on average.
Research said that when executives were asked to pinpoint the obstruction to peak performance, more than 90 percent are MQ-related issues.
Much of the IQ tool kit is readily observable and central to what’s taught. The EQ tool kit, while “softer,” is now relatively well understood. The MQ tool kit is different.
So how can we find the missing ingredient so that your people can improve your motivation and workforce productivity?

The three examples described here are the most often overlooked but also the most powerful.

The first strategy is Telling 5 stories at once.
1. The first type includes 2 inspiring stories:
- The turn around story: This story will point out that "we are under the expected target so we have to change immediately to survive".
- The good-to-great story: This story will point out "we are far from good level, we are giving away our money, position in the market, skills and loyal staff, and no doubt that they can become the leaders in our industry in the near future."
These 2 inspiring stories may give some people inspiration but not all. But research showed that the following different sources give individuals a sense of meaning, including the ability to cause affect on them:
- Society: giving help to the society, protecting the environment, making the society a better one...
- Customer: Before & after using your product or services, How your business helped them, Testimonials from customers..
- Working Team: a feeling of belong to, a caring environment, working effectively with one another...
- Themselves: better salary, a feeling of sharing, developing people...
The implication for leaders seeking to create high-MQ environments is that a turnaround or a good-to-great story will strike a motivational chord with only 20 percent of the workforce.
The way to unleash MQ-related organizational energy is to tell all five stories at once.
Let's check out an example:

The first strategy gives specific and practical guidance about how to tell the story. Yet the best meaning makers spend more time asking than telling.
Why?
A truth about human nature: when we choose for ourselves, we are far more committed to the outcome—by a factor of at least five to one.
In business, of course, leaders can’t just let everyone decide their own direction. But they can still apply the lessons of the lottery-ticket experiment.

Leaders who need to give themselves or their employees more of a sense of direction can still leverage the lottery-ticket insight by augmenting their telling of the story with asking about the story.
But how to augment a story?
(1) how do you make a difference? (testing for alignment with the company’s direction);
(2) what improvement idea are you working on? (emphasizing continuous improvement);
(3) when did you last get coaching from your manager? (emphasizing the importance of people development);
(4) who is the enemy? (emphasizing the importance to directing the staff’s energy toward the external threat).
The motivational effect of this approach has been widely noted to work for employees.

Of the three Qs that characterize a workplace likely to generate flow and inspire peak performance, we frequently hear from leaders that MQ is the hardest to get right.
Given the size of the prize for injecting meaning into peoples work lives, taking the time to implement strategies of the kind described here is surely among the most important investments a leader can make.