19th November 2024
Common Missteps Employers Make in Fostering Workplace Connections
The NeuroLeadership Institute’s research reveals that effective workplace connections involve four pillars: colleague, leader, employer, and role connections, rather than solely focusing on interpersonal relationships. The CLEAR framework helps leaders better address employee needs by emphasizing that each connection type fosters engagement, motivation, and alignment, especially amidst return-to-office decisions.
This article was written by Khalil Smith, Brigid Lynn, and David Rock and published in HBR.
These days, many workers are experiencing strained or fractured relationships between themselves and their work, their coworkers, their leaders, and their employers. This is evidenced by quiet quitting, the Great Resignation, and the broken contract between employers and employees.
In a misguided attempt to stop the fracturing, many leaders are demanding that employees physically return to the office. Whether it’s three days a week or six days a month, their message is clear: We want you back because we believe that’s how we can keep people connected.
The rationale is that when employees are connected with each other, that connection drives greater innovation, collaboration, and engagement. Although it’s true that strong social connections can lead to these outcomes, return-to-office policies are not always having the intended results. In actuality, we’re seeing that productivity can drop when people are forced back, and many employees continue to reject the return to office, sometimes resulting in organizations losing their most tenured employees.
An exploration of existing research suggests that critical evidence is missing from the connections-at-work conversation, and this shortfall is leading organizations and leaders astray.
Four Kinds of Workplace Connection
Connection in the workplace is commonly thought of as a single dimension that prioritizes interpersonal relationships with co-workers. Indeed, research shows social connection is extremely important. However, in a recent interorganizational research collaboration, the research team at the NeuroLeadership Institute (NLI), along with technology firm Akamai, identified that connection in the workplace is, in fact, made up of four interrelated and essential elements: employee connections with their colleagues, leader, employer, and role (CLEAR).
Above and beyond the return-to-office debate, this more accurate and nuanced view of workplace connections has implications for how organizations can design intentional talent strategies to create workplaces where employees are committed, engaged, and performing. Thinking about CLEAR connections is a step in the right direction to stop fracturing and start healing in some organizations, or to maintain and amplify what is already going well in others.
Colleague Connection
Imagine a time in your career when you worked with people you truly trusted and liked. More than simply enjoying each other’s company, you worked together to give and receive support. What you’re remembering is a strong example of colleague connection.
Colleague connection includes opportunities for collaboration and interdependence with other employees, the social support that’s given and received, and the influence of these factors on team performance. This is arguably the one that most of us think about when we envision workplace connection. While it’s important (strong social support at work has many positive outcomes), it’s only one element in a larger conversation about workplace connections.
Leader Connection
Think about the leaders you’ve had during your career. Hopefully, you’ve had at least one leader who provided access to opportunities and a reasonable degree of autonomy for how to complete your work. This leader was likely a strong communicator, providing clarity around expectations and giving useful and balanced feedback about your performance and potential. Research has found that 70% of the variance in team engagement can be attributed to a manager, making it clear that leader connection is a critical component of the workplace connections conversation.
Employer Connection
You may or may not have worked at a place where you felt like your values aligned with those of your employer, your work richly contributed to the goals of the organization, and you found meaning in what you did. If you’ve had an opportunity to work with an organization that met those needs, you likely felt a boost of employer connection.
When there’s low employer connection, going to work can feel like the proverbial “clocking in.” Lack of employer connection can not only influence an employee’s job performance, but it can also influence the talent an organization attracts.
Role Connection
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi researched and wrote about the idea of “flow”: the experience of being so absorbed in an activity that other things seem to almost fade away. While most of us won’t find a role where we spend the majority of our time in a flow state, we can definitely gather insights about what motivates us and find ourselves in satisfying roles.
When we experience role connection, we have a clear understanding of what our job is, we’re engaged in what we’re doing, and we have insight into how we can advance. When we have role connection, we are lifted up by the work we do.
Read this article in full here: What Employers Get Wrong About How People Connect at Work
