Michael Lee Stallard's Blog, page 12

Don’t Miss This Powerful “Training Magazine” Article & Webinar

How to Cultivate the Best Culture--and Train for It

I had the privilege of contributing an article to this month’s issue of Training magazine. The article explains how organizations can train managers to create the best workplace cultures. These cultures boost human connection and maximize employee engagement, quality of decision making, productivity and innovation.

You can read the article “How to Cultivate the Best Culture–and Train for It“ and join Katie Stallard and me for a webinar on the same topic on July 16 at 9 a.m. Pacific/12 p.m. Eastern.

Consider sharing the article and webinar information with managers you know. You might also consider sharing with colleagues who work in human resources and training & development. As background on Connection Culture, consider sending them this excellent book summary by getAbstract.

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America’s Loneliness Epidemic: A Hidden Systemic Risk to Organizations

Article Published by SmartBrief

Much has been written about America’s loneliness epidemic, including in the workplace. The word “loneliness” in the work context is a misnomer. It doesn’t capture the whole story.

What about all of the individuals who might not think of themselves as lonely and yet the demands of work and task-oriented activities such as time in front of screens have crowded out time for anything more than superficial relationships? Many people lack sufficient, positive human connection (or social connection) and may be unaware of the ramifications. Left unchecked, the deficiency of connection today presents widespread risks not just to individuals but to organizations.

From a biological standpoint, social connection is a primal human need. Its presence appears to improve the cardiovascular, endocrine and immune systems’ performance. In contrast, studies have shown that “disconnection” is unhealthy for individuals:

Loneliness is associated with poorer cognitive performance, including poorer executive function and social cognition.
Loneliness may impair executive control and self-regulation, including with respect to greater smoking and alcohol consumption.
Social disconnectedness is related to lower levels of self-rated physical health.
Loneliness is associated with substance abuse, depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation.

Given these findings, it follows that researchers found greater employee loneliness leads to poorer task, team role and relational performance. One might assume that the higher up the organization you go, the more connected you feel, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Research reported in Harvard Business Review found that half of CEOs report feeling lonely and 61% of those CEOs believed it hindered their performance.

Prevalence of Social Disconnection

A considerable amount of evidence suggests that social disconnection is prevalent today. Based on its research findings, Cigna reported data in 2018 that chronic loneliness in America has reached epidemic levels. This is consistent with an earlier analysis on the potential public health relevance of social isolation and loneliness.

Looking forward, it would appear that over the next decade the workforce may become even more disconnected. Since 2011, research on adolescents has found they spend more time interacting with electronic devices and less time interacting with each other, while also experiencing declining well-being. As artificial intelligence further increases the presence and role of machines in people’s day-to-day lives, an unintended consequence is that technology may diminish people’s ability to connect.

The Role of Chronic Stress

Why is social disconnection problematic in the workplace? In answering this question one ought to address the topic of stress. While it is a term we often hear, it is difficult to fully comprehend the far-reaching psychological and physiological consequences associated with stress.

In measured amounts, stress serves to ready the nervous system for the task at hand. Here, odd as it sounds, stress can be a good thing. However, as Dr. Ted George of the National Institutes of Health describes in his book “Untangling the Mind,” stress can have negative effects. With increasing levels of stress, the nervous system processes the stress as a threat. In extreme circumstances, stress moves the individual from being guided by rational thought processes to the instinctual responses characterized as “fight,” “flight” and “shutdown.”

When people experience chronic stress, they don’t feel well and often resort to ingesting substances or engaging in behaviors that provide temporary relief. The danger is that this may lead to developing addiction. In a review of 83 studies on addiction with at least 500 subjects, Sussman et al. (2011) found that nearly half the adult US population suffers from one or more addictions that have “serious negative consequences.” The addictions studied included substance addictions (alcohol, eating disorders, mood-altering legal and illegal drugs, and tobacco) and process addictions (dependence upon busyness and work, exercise, gambling, online gaming or social media, shopping, love and sex).

One of the best-known means to cope with stress is to increase positive social connections. Being in an environment that fosters supportive relationships and human connection serves to stabilize the responses of the nervous system, preventing it from processing the stressor as a threat.

Cultures of Connection

UCLA neuroscientist Matthew Lieberman describes social connection as a “superpower” that makes individuals smarter, happier and more productive. Leaders at all levels of an organization would be wise to assess workplace culture through the lens of connection. Are attitudes, uses of language and behaviors drawing people together and connecting them? Or are they creating a stressful and/or relationally-toxic environment that pushes people apart?

In our research, we found that cultures of connection are best for individual well-being and for helping organizations thrive too. Specifically, cultures of connection convey several performance advantages upon organizations including higher employee engagement, tighter strategic alignment, superior decision-making, greater innovation and more adaptability to cope with rapid change taking place in the world today. These advantages add up to a powerful competitive advantage.

World’s Best Hospital Has Connection in Its DNA

The power of connection is on full display at Mayo Clinic, America’s top-ranked hospital and arguably the best hospital in the world. From the time of its founding in 1889, Mayo Clinic has been intentional about cultivating connection and community. Will Mayo, one of the earliest leaders, communicated an attitude that valued connection and warned about the dangers of isolation when he stated: “Our failures as a profession are the failures of individualism, the result of competitive medicine. It must be done by collective effort.”

One of the ways this is manifest is in Mayo Clinic’s practice of compensating physicians through paying a salary rather than by an activity-based system. Not only does this promote collaboration for the good of the patient but it also alleviates the financial and time pressure of trying to see too many patients in a day, which often serves to diminish the physician-patient connection.

Mayo Clinic’s stated mission and values point to being guided by the intent of its founders, the original Mayo physicians and Sisters of St. Francis. Mayo Clinic’s mission is “To inspire hope and contribute to health and well-being by providing the best care to every patient through integrated clinical practice, education and research” (italics mine). The language used to describe its values includes the following:

“Compassion … [that treats] patients and family members with sensitivity and empathy,”
“Healing [that nurtures] the well-being of the whole person, respecting physical, emotional and spiritual needs,”
“Teamwork [that values] the contributions of all, blending the skills of individual staff members in unsurpassed collaboration,”
“Innovation [to] infuse and energize the organization, enhancing the lives of those we serve, through the creative ideas and unique talents of each employee,” and
“Excellence [that delivers] the best outcomes and highest quality service through the dedicated effort of every team member.”

Notice that words and phrases that reflect and enhance connection are woven throughout: sensitivity, empathy, treating the whole person (including emotional and spiritual needs), teamwork, blending skills of the team, unsurpassed collaboration, each employee and every team member.

Mayo Clinic’s belief in the importance of connection goes beyond attitudes and language to practical steps taken to see that connection is infused in the culture. Mayo Clinic’s onboarding process for physicians and scientists includes extensive training in professionalism and communications, and assessments to help them develop emotional intelligence which is instrumental to connecting with others.

Physician leaders are selected, developed and assessed based on their ability to connect, which includes listening, engaging, developing and leading other physicians. Informal opportunities for connection among colleagues is encouraged by providing dedicated meeting areas for physicians to gather in.

Mayo Clinic’s intentionality and commitment is evident in a program called COMPASS (COlleagues Meeting to Promote and Sustain Satisfaction). Under this initiative, self-formed groups of 6-10 physicians get together for about an hour every other week, usually over breakfast or lunch, with up to $20 provided to each participant to cover the meal cost.

During the meal, physicians spend at least 15 minutes focused on discussing assigned issues related to the physician experience, such as resiliency, medical mistakes, work-life balance and meaning at work. Mayo Clinic’s research has found that participants in COMPASS experience statistically significant improvements in multiple domains of well-being and satisfaction that will help reduce the risk of physician burnout and reduce medical errors.

Conclusion

For-profit organizations can develop cultures of connection, too. Consider the connection culture of Costco, which Forbes and Statista research has consistently recognized as among the best large company employers in America, or the connection culture Alan Mually cultivated when he led the turnaround of Ford.

Our current epidemic of social disconnection has arisen from multiple avenues including loneliness, social isolation and the busyness and increased screen time of modern life crowding out time for face-to-face human connection. Social disconnection is making people more vulnerable to the negative effects of stress. After one considers the prevalence and effects of social disconnection throughout an organization, it can be argued that social disconnection presents a systemic risk.

Connection matters. Organizations should be intentional about developing and sustaining cultures of connection that provide the structures and needed psychosocial support to foster inclusion and teamwork, minimize stress and reduce error — all of which will promote superior organizational outcomes. The net benefit amounts to better employee and organizational health, resilience and performance.

You May Also Enjoy: 

How Loneliness and Longing for Connection Are Affecting Today’s Leaders

Is the “Silent Killer” Sabotaging Your Performance?

Protecting Your Employees (And Yourself) From the Stress-Connection Gap

This article was originally published by  SmartBrief .

The post America’s Loneliness Epidemic: A Hidden Systemic Risk to Organizations appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

How Great Leaders Create Engaging Cultures That Maximize Results

Podcast Appearance on the LEADx Leadership Podcast with Kevin Kruse

Recently, Kevin Kruse, host of the LEADx Leadership show podcast, featured a webinar I created with the LEADx team in one of the show’s episodes. Kevin is a New York Times bestselling author and Inc. 500 entrepreneur who providers listeners with advice from top leadership experts in a format suited for a busy professional’s daily commute.

Listen to the episode to learn more about why loneliness and connection matter to your career and how you can use connection to create an engaging culture that maximizes results.

The post How Great Leaders Create Engaging Cultures That Maximize Results appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

Addicted to Your Smartphone, To-do List or Busyness?

Are you addicted to your smartphone? Do you feel the pull to constantly check your messages and news feeds?

Are you addicted to busyness? As soon as you accomplish something, do you immediately focus on the next task or problem to solve? Are you always thinking about what you have coming up and so it’s difficult to be present with and focused on interacting with others?

If your answer is yes to one or more of these questions, you may have or be developing an addiction that’s tied to dopamine, a type of neurotransmitter in your brain.

We tend to think of addictions as ingesting a substance that temporarily makes an individual feel better or more relaxed (being addicted to alcohol or drugs, for example), but it’s broader than that… and sometimes less obvious that a behavior has crossed over into addiction. A review of 83 studies on addiction led Sussman et al. to conclude that nearly half the U.S. population suffers from one or more addictions that have “serious negative consequences.” While the list of addictions studied included substance addictions (alcohol, eating disorders, mood-altering legal and illegal drugs, and tobacco), it also included process addictions (dependence upon busyness and work, exercise, gambling, online gaming or social media, shopping, love and sex).

How the brain functions is complex and I find it fascinating. I am by no means an expert in neuroscience so I rely on the work of scientists and medical professionals and those working in the field of psychology as I assimilate new and relevant findings into the work we do around organizational culture and the importance of connection in our lives. For instance, we teach about the “amygdala hijack” and how getting someone who is anxious or upset to talk acts to calm his or her nervous system and shift brain activity from the person’s amygdala to the prefrontal cortex where rational thought is processed. In Connection Culture, I wrote about how advances in medical imaging have made it possible to know that the part of the brain that processes emotional pain is the same area that processes physical pain.

So, what is dopamine and what role does it play in how we act? To put it simply, neurotransmitters are molecules that behave as chemical messengers in the brain. Dopamine is associated with the pleasure and reward pathways, and the positive emotion that makes us desire what we don’t have and motivates us to go after the things we desire. In their book The Molecule of More, authors Daniel Z. Lieberman, MD, and Michael E. Long, give this interesting insight: “Dopamine has no standard for good, and seeks no finish line. The dopamine circuits in the brain can be stimulated only by the possibility of whatever is shiny and new, never mind how perfect things are at the moment. The dopamine motto is ‘More.’” Another aspect of dopamine to be mindful of is that, like certain addictive substances, a person needs more dopamine to produce the same positive emotion over time.

While it is a good and useful thing to have an internal spark to pursue a goal and persevere on your quest to attain it, too much dopamine is a cause for concern. In organizations, leaders who have dopaminergic personalities are never satisfied. They continuously push people to achieve unrealistic goals in pursuit of boosting their own personal wealth, power and/or status. This obsessive pursuit can overwhelm people working for dopaminergic leaders  and create high levels of anxiety, incivility, stress, declining employee engagement and rising burnout (and may push them toward an addiction of their own as they try to cope). Failing to feed the dopamine habit triggers pains of withdrawal. An individual who is overly reliant on dopamine may be headed for a crash.

The best leaders don’t drink from the dopamine fire hydrant. In addition to drawing on normal levels of dopamine, they benefit from other sources of positive emotion in the brain that make them more stable and more effective leaders who are in touch with the people they lead. Lieberman and Long contrast the “future-oriented dopamine” with “present-oriented chemicals, a collection of neurotransmitters we call the Here and Now molecules… [which] include serotonin and oxytocin, endorphins and endocannabinoids. … As opposed to the pleasure of anticipation via dopamine, these chemicals give us pleasure from sensation and emotion.” Describing the interplay of these neurotransmitters, the authors explain that “…though dopamine and [Here and Now] (“H&N”) circuits can work together, under most circumstances they counter each other. When H&N circuits are activated, we are prompted to experience the real world around us, and dopamine is suppressed; when dopamine circuits are activated, we move into a future of possibilities and H&Ns are suppressed.”

I find material from The Hacking of the American Mind by Robert H. Lustig, MD, MSL to be helpful when thinking about dopamine and serotonin. Early in the book Lustig sets out the differences between reward (driven by dopamine) and contentment (driven by serotonin):

Reward is short-lived. Contentment lasts much longer.
Reward is visceral in terms of excitement. Contentment is ethereal and calming.
Reward can be achieved with different substances that stimulate the reward center of the brain. Contentment is usually achieved with deeds (example: graduating from college or having a child who can navigate his or her own path in life).
Reward occurs with the process of taking (example: winning at gambling). Contentment is often generated through giving (example: giving money to a charity, or giving time to your child, or devoting time and energy to a worthwhile project).
Reward is yours and yours alone. Your contentment often impacts other people directly and can impact society at large.
Reward when unchecked can lead us into misery, like addiction. Too much substance use (food, drugs, nicotine, alcohol) or compulsive behaviors (gambling, shopping, surfing the internet, sex) will overload the reward pathway and lead not just to dejection, destitution, and disease but not uncommonly death as well.

Serotonin and the other Here and Now sources of positive emotion primarily come from healthy relationships at home and work. That’s good news for people who have an abundance of connection in their lives. According to Lieberman and Long, “We need H&N empathy to understand what’s going on in other people’s minds, an essential skill for social interaction.” But here’s a big issue affecting workplaces: Recent research reported in Harvard Business Review found that half of CEOs report feeling lonely and 61 percent of them believed it hindered their performance. In an interview titled “Putting Leaders on the Couch,” management expert and psychoanalyst Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries observed that many senior leaders struggle to maintain relationships and balance in their lives. In contrast, “healthy leaders… have the capacity to establish and maintain relationships (including satisfactory sexual relationships). Their lives are in balance, and they can play. They are creative and inventive and have the capacity to be nonconformist. These are the things that are fundamental…”

If you suspect that you, your boss or a colleague may be a dopaminergic personality and you want to develop a deeper understanding of this condition, I recommend you read Lieberman and Long’s The Molecule of More.

If the demands of work — the never-ending “to do” list, the expectation that you will stay engaged 24/7 by phone and laptop — are crowding out time for meaningful relationships, be aware that running a deficit of connection is impacting you on the molecular level, and not for the better. Overreliance on dopamine is powerful so don’t think you can overcome it on your own. Developing into a leader who has the relational support necessary to perform at the top of your game might require the wise advice, encouragement and accountability that a mentor or a good executive or life coach can provide. The effort to become a self-aware and better-balanced leader is well worth the cost. Not only will you become more effective at work, you will cultivate a more satisfying and contented life outside of work. ‍

You May Also Enjoy: 

How Loneliness and Longing for Connection Are Affecting Today’s Leaders

Is the “Silent Killer” Sabotaging Your Performance?

Protecting Your Employees (And Yourself) From the Stress-Connection Gap

Photo by  NordWood Themes  on  Unsplash

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How to Improve Your Organization’s Culture Through Employee Connections

Article Published by Forbes

I believe it’s wise for leaders to develop their organizational culture by being intentional about strengthening the bonds of connection and trust among leaders and employees. As the president of a company that helps coach leaders on improving connections within their businesses, I have seen the importance of strengthening bonds and trust among team members.

There are three steps I’ve developed throughout my coaching practice that can help build strong connections within your organization.

Step 1: Develop a Connection Mindset

First, leaders should educate their team members that human connections help satisfy the universal needs employees have, such as respect, recognition, belonging, autonomy, personal growth, meaning and progress. I believe when their needs are met, employees thrive, and the organization can gain a performance advantage.

In my experience, needs are met as people become more connected to their colleagues. For example, when you first join a team at work, you expect to be respected. As time passes, you hope to receive recognition and develop a sense of belonging from feeling like part of the team. You also anticipate having the autonomy to do your job without being micromanaged, as well as experience a sense of personal growth from becoming more competent and mastering your role. Finally, you expect to see that your work will benefit others in some way and that you are making progress toward that end.

As a leader, think about what your words and actions communicate to those who report to you and your colleagues. For example, do team members understand that the quality of connection can affect the level of cooperation and collaboration? Do they feel that you value each person as a unique individual and as part of the team? Do they know you are there for them and want to see them succeed? Show them that connections within the group are encouraged and necessary.

Step 2: Cultivate Connection

Having tasks done well is important, but I believe leaders who care about having employees engaged recognize and embrace that the relational aspect of work is critical. Leaders cultivate connection when they consistently communicate a meaningful vision, value team members and give them a voice. Here’s a fictional example of what that might look like:

Let’s say a man named Tom owns a number of exercise and workout facilities across a city. He communicates a meaningful vision by reminding employees that they are making a difference by helping people live healthy lives and developing healthy communities. He has distilled it into the memorable phrase: “healthy lives, healthy communities.”

Tom values people by getting to know all his employees’ names, their interests outside of work and their hopes for their careers. He’s committed to helping them learn and grow through training programs and a mentoring network. He also gives employees a voice by keeping them informed of how the company is doing financially and by sharing operating metrics. He discusses what he thinks can grow the business and how changes might impact the community — and he asks what employees think about it. Tom listens to his employees and implements the best ideas; he then celebrates those employees who contributed ideas that improved results.

As a leader, I believe it’s important to show even the fairly new employees that you’re sincere when you ask, “What do you think?” or “How can we do this even better?” In my experience, as a result of your intentional efforts to foster connection, your company can have high employee engagement, high customer engagement and low employee turnover.

Step 3: Remove Obstacles to Connection

Just as there are actions a leader can take that can enhance connections, I believe there are also attitudes, language and behaviors that break the sense of connection and should be avoided.

Take, for instance, a situation that requires giving a colleague feedback on a project that is not going well. As a leader, are you motivated by wanting to ensure your colleague knows what is expected and how to make improvements? Are you offering help and checking that they have the resources needed to do the work, or are you feeling the pressure and putting your frustration on the other person? If you anticipate the conversation might be challenging, hold it in a private space, and don’t lead with criticism. Otherwise, you might make your colleague feel defensive, which will make having an honest and productive dialogue less likely.

Another obstacle some businesses face is successfully training others about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Many organizations even require unconscious bias training. But according to the Harvard Business Review, this type of training isn’t necessarily the most effective because it can actually “activate bias or spark a backlash.”

I believe it is wise on many fronts to expand the discussion beyond the anticipated focus on race and gender because it could help minimize the potential for making team members feel alienated. More importantly, emphasize fostering a connection culture for all. This can help create an environment that maximizes each individual’s contribution, and it could boost the team’s overall performance.

In my opinion, implementing these three steps will help protect your organization from incivility and boost performance through an increase in connections, which facilitates better communication, collaboration and cooperation.‍

This article originally appeared on  Forbes.com .

You May Also Enjoy: 

Why Women Leaders Are Outperforming Men

‍Theory C: A New Theory of Management

How U2’s Extraordinary Team Culture Helps the Band Thrive

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Manage 2 Win Podcast on How Connection Cultures Make Organizations Successful

It’s no secret that the right organizational culture can make companies more successful. That was the topic of conversation in a recent Manage 2 Win podcast hosted by Jeff Russell.

Listen as Katie Stallard and I describe what a Connection Culture is and how it helps companies to win in the full podcast episode.

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“Looking for And” Podcast Interview on Connection Culture

My wife Katie and I recently interviewed with Doug Hensch, host of the Looking for And podcast. In the interview, we seek to answer why some organizations both consistently outperform their competitors AND serve as great places to work. We also share how Katie’s cancer journey influenced our thoughts on loneliness, resilience, and Connection Culture.

Listen to the episode and consider sharing it with a friend.

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How Cancer Helped Me See the Key to Successful Organizational Change

Article Published by SmartBrief

Sometimes life lessons come from surprising places. In early 2004, just nine months after completing treatment for breast cancer, my wife, Katie, was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer. During the months that followed, I learned an important lesson about connection that influenced my perspective on how to approach organizational change.

I wrote about this lesson in an article published by SmartBrief. If you are navigating change in your organization or personal life, I hope this piece is an encouragement to you.

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Young Entrepreneurs Find a Powerful Advantage by Encouraging Human Connection

Workplaces are full of disconnected people. There are still far too many leaders who, consciously or unconsciously, allow cultures of control or indifference that are disengaging and stressful for those under them.

Despite continued low levels of employee engagement around the world, I have hope that workplace cultures can be turned around. Recently, I have been encouraged by conversations with several young entrepreneurs who are tapping into the power of human connection and creating ways to bring people together. They’ve identified market segments that could benefit from better connection and crafted a customer experience using products and services to meet that need.

I shared these young innovators’ stories in an article published by Entrepreneur. I hope these stories inspire you to find ways to encourage connection in your own workplaces and communities.

Image: A Craftwork Coffee Co. location on Camp Bowie in Fort Worth, Texas. Craftwork combines coffee shops and workspaces to foster connection. 

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The Week Explores the Global Loneliness Epidemic

Studies show the continued growth in the number of people who are lonely, which has reached epidemic levels in many countries.

Recently, my wife Katie and I had the opportunity to teach a Connection Culture Workshop for the Institute for Management Studies in Columbus, Ohio. Mary Held, head of IMS Columbus, made us aware of this outstanding brief on the global loneliness epidemic published by The Week. I encourage you to read the brief and consider the steps you could take to reduce loneliness in your workplace and community.

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