Connection Events versus Culture of Connection
Connection Heroes began life during the 2021 lockdowns as ‘The Connection Story.’ It was a collaborative research project exploring how organisations could understand and improve human connection across their teams – as they endured the challenges of ‘work at home’ orders and return-to-office campaigns.
We had over twenty conversations with HR heads, Chief People Officers, and other folk who were tasked with managing the impossible task of keeping everyone happy.
These people spoke to us about their initial challenges of getting remote teams up and running. Then they told us about the challenges of getting everyone back in the office. And now they speak to us about the challenges of managing their hybrid teams.
Lots of challenges.
One specific challenge that comes up in many of our workshop conversations is how to plan and deliver ‘connection events’ i.e. events that bring everyone together to build relationships and create more of a shared culture and sense of belonging.
These ‘connection events’ are increasingly challenging to organise, as employees become more aware of their preferred working and processing styles. For example, introverts understand that their energy and power come from within, so they (rightly) protect their time preciously. The extroverts seek interaction and external stimulus to stay energised, so they often like more face-to-face contact. Then there are the omniverts who like a little of both, depending on their context, mood or work type.
And that’s just one way in which our preferences vary.
This means that organising a truly inclusive connection event – one that is worthwhile and valuable to everyone – is really hard. It can also be expensive as companies increasingly have dispersed teams delivering remote and hybrid roles across the UK or overseas.
So, what’s the answer?
One answer is to start building an everyday culture of connection, one in which your people have a greater understanding of human connection; a culture in which people intentionally prioritise connection, seek to deepen relationships, and are recognised and rewarded for doing so.
This kind of culture can remove or reduce your reliance on expensive, difficult one-off connection events as the way to build relationships. Instead, your people’s everyday choices, actions and interactions focus much more on building better relationships. They prioritise connection as an important behaviour.
But how do you achieve such a culture of connection? Our answer to this is simple: skills!
In today’s remote and hybrid workplace, our leaders, managers and teams need a new set of psychological and practical skills to help them build and maintain trust, communicate effectively and build authentic relationships with colleagues they may rarely see.
We call individuals with these skills “Connection Heroes” and we believe that every hybrid workplace needs them. Our job is to train and support them – through our courses and community.
Connection Heroes have a deep understanding of human connection. They understand the psychology and neuroscience behind connection; they understand why and how it is good for people and for profit, and they are fully aware of and accountable for the impact of their actions and interactions with others.
Connection Heroes are able to use tools and techniques to facilitate team ideation and collaboration, they have a heightened awareness of their own biases and the impact of these – and are able to act with radical responsibility. They have excellent communication skills and they think and act inclusively – practising gratitude and building trust through their thoughtful interactions.
The intentions, priorities and day-to-day behaviours of Connection Heroes combine to improve team connection, engagement, productivity and individual wellbeing. This creates the elusive ‘culture of connection’ across the entire workplace, making connection events simply the icing on the cake. And if some people don’t like icing, that’s ok – as they’ll already have a tummy full of cake!
