Michael Lee Stallard's Blog, page 5

7 Team-Strengthening Practices from Steph Curry’s Playbook

After Steph Curry’s phenomenal performance leading his team to win the 2022 NBA Championship and being named the 2022 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, it’s abundantly clear that basketball is his superpower. But it’s not his only one.

Curry has a second superpower that most people are unaware of: he’s a super-connector. This second superpower supports Curry’s success in basketball and it contributes to the success of the Golden State Warriors basketball team.

Being both results driven and relationship minded, leaders such as Steph Curry foster a culture of connection in which individuals and groups can thrive. They do this as they communicate an inspiring vision that unites people, value people as individuals rather than treating them as mere means to an end, and give people a voice by seeking their opinions and ideas then considering their input. An easy way to remember the Connection Culture Model is Vision + Value + Voice = Connection.

How Curry Connects

In the profile of Curry in the 2nd edition of our book, Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work, we describe how he connects with his family and teammates, and how he cultivates a culture of connection on the Golden State Warriors team. Here are some examples:

Steph Curry has benefited throughout his life from the connection of a loving and supportive family. His father, Dell, played in the NBA for 16 years. His mother, Sonya, was a college athlete at Virginia Tech, where she and Dell met. A tearful Curry thanked them in his acceptance speech after being named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2015. Specifically, he expressed his gratitude for his mom’s spiritual leadership and discipline, and his father’s example on and off the court. Curry is close to his sister, Sydel, and his brother, Seth, who is also a player in the NBA. In 2011, Curry married his wife, Ayesha, whom he had met in high school, and they have three children.

As a player and leader on the Warriors, Curry uses his skills to connect in ways that lift the performance of his teammates. He’s humble and doesn’t need to be in the spotlight. He had no problem becoming the number 2 scorer when the superstar Kevin Durant joined the Warriors and was named NBA Finals MVP in 2017 and 2018. Durant says about Curry: “The stuff you hear about Steph—as far as sacrificing, being selfless, caring about his teammates, caring about other people—is real, it’s not a fake, it’s not a facade. . . . He really is like that.”

The players around Curry know that he looks out for them and makes sure they feel included, whether it’s welcoming them when they are new to the team, passing the ball to them so they can take shots even when he could have taken the shot himself, or encouraging them. Quinn Cook said, “[Steph’s] happy for you when you do well. He’s always building you up if you’re going through anything.” Alonzo McKinnie observed, “If [Steph] sees us down, he’s coming to uplift us. He cheers up guys and gets guys in that good spirit. . . . It shows his character and the type of guy he is on and off the court.”

Commenting on Curry’s ability to come alongside teammates who may be at odds with each other, Klay Thompson says that he is “a very great voice of reason during times of turbulence.” Damion Lee has said, “For any leader, it’s about understanding what someone is going through and trying to help them and empathize as much as you can. [Steph] tries to build that and keep everyone together.”

Curry’s teammates and coaches praise him for engaging in individual and group conversations about how to make the team better. This includes helping individual players perform better or considering things the team can do together to improve their performance over the season.

Coach Steve Kerr observes, “Steph leads with his example, his work ethic, his humility. The players all love him. They love playing with him. They appreciate him so much.” San Jose Mercury News sports writer Mark Medina wrote that Curry brings joy to the team, noting “[Steph] will take half-court shots at the end of practice. He will leap out of his seat when a teammate completes a highlight reel. He will say or do things that will make people laugh.”

Seven Practices to Strengthen Your Team

While most of us will never be able to sink a shot from half court, let alone with the ease and accuracy of Steph Curry, we can emulate him in other ways.

We can encourage our teammates.We can have our teammates’ backs.We can help teammates achieve their potential.We can welcome new teammates and help them connect with the team.We can celebrate our teammates’ successes and empathize with their struggles.We can facilitate collaboration and cooperation on the team.We can shine the light of recognition on our teammates to help them feel connected and flourish.

By applying these connecting behaviors we see in Steph Curry as we interact with our teammates, we should see a positive difference in how people work together and the level of play rise for the whole team.

This article was coauthored by Katharine P. Stallard. 

Image courtesy of Wikipedia user Cyrus Saatsaz under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Image has been cropped.  

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How to Inspire the Next Generation

Studies show that America’s youth are facing some difficult challenges. How can we help them? How can we inspire them to rise above the challenges and find solutions? 

Those are questions that I reflected on following a recent visit to Texas Christian University. As I’ve shared in the past, TCU is a leader among higher education institutions in its intentional approach to fostering a Connection Culture. The results are compelling.

You can read my full reflections in an article I published on LinkedIn.

What do you think? How are you working to inspire the next generation? Leave a comment on LinkedIn to share your thoughts.

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Reduce Mass Shootings Through Human Connection

The FBI reports that people who become active shooters often feel socially rejected: “Time and again, targeted violence offenders have claimed to be persecuted and alienated from their peers, family and world at large, viewing themselves as outsiders and not part of a larger social network.”

That characteristic of a person who turns to violence should be part of the conversation as concerned citizens, experts in a variety of fields, law enforcement, and elected officials at all levels of government grapple with what can be done about the increasing incidents of mass shootings. In what will need to be a multi-prong approach, it happens to be a piece that each of us can do something about.

After a speech I gave on the power of human connection in the workplace, a man approached me with a story that he learned in active shooter training that the FBI provided for his company. It underscored the findings I had shared and my call for all of us to become intentional connectors.

The FBI had identified a man as a person of interest and had agents pay him a visit. They discovered that he had gone as far as deciding on the specific individuals at his job who he wanted to kill, devising a plan, and purchasing weapons and ammunition. Then something happened that made him change his mind: one of his intended targets invited him to a party. Chances are the colleague had no idea that this gesture of connection would be the turning point that prevented a tragedy.

When someone or multiple individuals reach out and connect with those who are lonely or isolated, it can short-circuit a chain of events that otherwise might lead to an act of violence against oneself (suicide), another (homicide), or others (mass murder).

I know this is a complex topic and sometimes connecting with the lonely or left out individual is not easy. Your efforts may not be enough to deter the person from acting out and you may need to bring in professional help. But I believe that more often than not, connection can make the difference. Let me explain why.

Tapping the Power of Human Connection

In my books and teaching, I’ve made the case that positive human connection helps individuals and organizations thrive. It is the X factor in a culture that brings out the best in people; a connection culture fuels cooperation and collaboration and propels the ongoing success of a group.

Conversely, the absence or breakdown of connection between people sabotages performance, impedes the flow of knowledge and innovation, and sets a negative course. It can leave people feeling marginalized and angry about how they are being treated by those around them.

What I’ve learned about connection relates to our lives outside of work too. Because the loneliness epidemic and high levels of stress today are contributing to soaring mental health problems, suicide, and violence, including mass murders, it is important to understand that bolstering human connection helps address these problems as well.

Previously I’ve written about how the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended connectedness to reduce the risk of suicide. Given our focus on connection, my colleagues and I have been brought in to do work for several business, government, healthcare, and education organizations to help them reduce the risk of suicide among their ranks. In this article I will turn my attention to the role that connection can play in reducing the risk of harm being directed toward others.

Insights from Science

An underlying issue to understand is that when people feel excluded, they experience pain. What they do to mitigate that pain is what matters.

We are hard-wired to connect. As I shared in “Boost Connectedness to Reverse the Rise of Suicides in America,” research summarized in Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection by the late John Cacioppo and William Patrick supports that connection is an indispensable resource to help us thrive as well as cope with stressors and threats we face in life. Studies have shown that disconnection can undermine several resilience factors, including getting adequate sleep and physical exercise, and eating healthy, all of which are important to cope with chronic stress. Research has also shown that a lack of sufficient connection is associated with increased vulnerability to other stressors, a more intense reaction to negatives, less emotional boost from positives, greater feelings of helplessness and threat, and impaired cognitive function.

Have you noticed that we use words associated with physical pain when describing situations related to feeling socially disconnected (our feelings are hurt; we are heart-broken; we’re being crushed by grief; we are emotionally scarred)? According to brain research done at UCLA using fMRI scans, when people feel socially excluded, it activates the parts of the brain that register physical pain and alert bodily systems that “something is wrong.” (As an aside, other studies have shown that social pain triggers an inflammatory response in the brain just as physical pain does. Taking acetaminophen reduced the inflammation in study participants and they reported fewer hurt feelings than participants who took a placebo.) The UCLA researchers noted, “This study suggests that social pain is analogous in its neurocognitive function to physical pain, alerting us when we have sustained injury to our social connections, allowing restorative measures to be taken.”

The best way to counter and eliminate the social pain from loneliness and disconnection is to connect with others. Unfortunately, another insight from science is that loneliness undermines one’s ability to reconnect. This makes it especially important for others to initiate connection.

If attempts at restoring connection fall flat or seem beyond reach, then what? The lonely person often turns to addictive behaviors and/or substances as a means of coping and to numb the pain.

Sometimes the person will displace the pain by taking it out on someone else. Displacement aggression might be directed at the person believed to have caused the social pain (i.e., a supervisor or colleagues) or at random people (for example, school children and their teachers). When Robert Sapolsky at Stanford studied aggression in baboons, he found that stress hormones declined in baboons after they took out their frustrations by physically attacking other baboons that had lower power and status in the tribe’s social hierarchy.

What You Can Do

The first step to addressing this problem of loneliness potentially leading to violence is becoming informed. Being aware of the negative consequences of feeling consistently lonely and disconnected, and the many positive benefits of connection, is important. Spread the word by sharing this article with others.

The second step is to observe those around you. Remember, loneliness is a subjective feeling. Someone can feel lonely while surrounded by people. So what might you look for? Do you have a colleague who is staying more on the edges of the group recently or is pulling completely away from the group? Is there a person who seems to be over-reacting to comments or situations? It might be because they are under a lot of stress but consider whether loneliness is a factor. What steps can you take to connect with that person? If something about the person’s attitudes, words, or behaviors is raising red flags and you have a safety concern, who do you need to bring that to?

We can all learn from the 5th grade teacher in this article who, following the mass shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, devised a system to identify children in her classroom who may feel lonely, left out, or who are being bullied or are struggling to connect with other children. Then she comes alongside them to ensure they get the help they need. Her deep concern, as captured by the writer, is that “… all violence begins with disconnection. All outward violence begins as inner loneliness. … [The teacher] watched that tragedy knowing that children who aren’t being noticed may eventually resort to being noticed by any means necessary.”

As I learned 15 years ago while helping rocket scientists in the engineering section of the NASA Johnson Space Center become better connectors, sometimes all it takes is to help someone find the right language to connect with others and encourage them to make the effort.

It is important to note that if your colleague is showing signs of distress that could result in harm to themselves or to others, do not delay in connecting them with the appropriate professionals to help. Connection is a powerful preventative, but it may not be a sufficient remedy for those already deep into a mental health crisis. Bringing in professionals trained to work with those in crisis situations is a wise decision for the safety of everyone involved.

Third, take action to cultivate cultures of connection in your home, community, and workplace that foster respect, recognition, and a sense of belonging. A culture of connection makes people smarter, happier, more productive, more resilient to cope with stress, and less likely to commit suicide, homicide, mass murder, or sexual assault.

Conclusion

Following the rash of mass shootings we’ve experienced of late, we urgently need to address this problem from every angle, including steps we can take as a society to combat loneliness so there are fewer people who feel socially rejected. How can we extend kindness to everyone in our community so they feel they belong? You never know what a smile, a kind word, a listening ear and empathetic comment, a helping hand, or a “come join us” might mean to someone who is lonely and under duress.

Photo courtesy of Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

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Podcast Appearance with Metro DC Chapter of ATD

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with the hosts of the Beltway Broadcast, a podcast produced by the Metro DC Chapter of ATD. Our conversation covered a range of topics, including what to look for when evaluating the workplace culture of a potential employer, how to increase the odds of a colleague cooperating with you, how to build connections across departments, and more. 

Connection is more important in our workplaces now than ever. I hope this conversation inspires you to seek out healthy connections for yourself and to encourage a Connection Culture in your own workplace.

Listen to the full episode.

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Now Is a Critical Time to Create an Upward Spiral of Positivity

Emotions are contagious. For that reason, you need to pay attention to your own emotions and those of the people around you.

At work, how would you characterize the emotional state of your team? If you were to think of it as a river, is the quality of the water life-giving and invigorating, or some level of toxic? Is the water current robust or more of a trickle?

A strong current of positive emotions can create an increasing sense of enthusiasm, energy, and momentum, propelling you forward and fueling positive results. Hopefully, you’ve observed or experienced that at some point in your work life. Chances are good you’ve seen the impact of being in an environment contaminated by negative emotions and how it taints the level of trust, cooperation, and productivity. A strong current of negative emotions may threaten to steer you off course or even sink you.

Now, it would be unrealistic to think that a work environment could be free of any and all negative emotions. When faced with challenges and setbacks, it is normal to feel and express disappointment or confusion or frustration. An environment steeped in negativity, however, is bad for your emotional (and physical) health and it will undermine your performance. It may be exhausting to have to tread water or swim against that kind of current day after day.

The third consecutive year of the global pandemic is making positivity more challenging to achieve. But the emotional waters were choppy even before then. Negative emotions in the workplace — particularly worry, stress, sadness, and anger — have been rising for years, peaking in 2020, according to the most recent research by the Gallup Organization. We believe negativity in the workplace is one of the primary drivers of the “Great Resignation.”

Today’s prevalence of negative emotions begs the question: How can leaders cultivate a culture that produces a steady flow of positive emotions?

Positive emotions “broaden and build”

Besides being more enjoyable and less stressful, why is it important to be in an environment of predominantly positive emotions? Is assessing and addressing the emotional state of a team really worth a leader’s time and attention?

To answer these questions, we’ve turned to the research of Professor Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina, one of the most highly-cited contributors to psychological science. Fredrickson has said, “There are two core truths about positive emotions. One is that they open us. They literally change the boundaries of our minds and our hearts, and change our outlook on our environment. … The second core truth about positive emotions is that they transform us for the better. They bring out the best in us.”

Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions holds that everyday experiences of positive emotions both open the mind and nourish the growth of resources that have a positive impact on future emotional well-being. A diagram of the theory presents it this way: Experiencing positive emotions leads to a broadening of the mind and “novel thoughts, activities, relationships” which lead to “building enduring resources (e.g., social support, resilience, skills, and knowledge)” which leads to “enhanced health, survival, fulfillment” which produces more experiences of positive emotions.

Fredrickson has been conducting research related to positive emotions for several decades and she reports these varied benefits:

“People are more likely to be resilient. People are able to bounce back better from adversity when they’re experiencing positive emotions.”“People are more trusting.”“People are more creative.”“People come to better win-win solutions in negotiations.““[One study] looked at how positive emotions allow us to look past racial and cultural differences and see the unique individual … to see past difference and to see toward oneness.”

What really captured our attention in Dr. Fredrickson’s research are the findings related to a person’s vision and awareness. She has described it this way: “…positive emotions open our awareness. They increase the expanse of our peripheral vision. We see more.” Studies conducted using behavioral tests, eye-tracking, and brain-imaging show positive emotions broaden the scope of a person’s visual attention. In other words, we literally notice more around us.

That makes sense. If you are working on a team in which negative emotions are prevalent, you might choose to keep your head down, not just figuratively speaking but literally. Focusing on the task in front of you and trying to stay out of the line of fire, chances are you will miss things and have a more limited view.

Fredrickson goes on to highlight the benefits of having a broadened view: “Because we see more, we see more possibilities. People come up with more ideas about what they might do next when they’re experiencing a positive emotion relative to when they’re experiencing neutral states or negative emotions. …  In addition, we’re also seeing the big picture. At a very fundamental level, we’re able to see larger systems, see larger forms of interconnection, when we’re experiencing positive emotions.”

Positive emotions need to outnumber negative emotions

The positive emotions that get the most attention from researchers include amusement (humor), awe, gratitude, hope, inspiration, interest (curiosity), joy, love, pride, and serenity (contentment). How much of them do you need in order to have an environment in which you can thrive? That is not a settled matter among scholars, though there is agreement that you need a higher level of positive emotions to counter the impact of a negative emotion. It’s not an even swap. Fredrickson counsels that multiple positive emotions are needed for each negative emotion we experience.

Why is that? Unfortunately, our human tendency is to gravitate toward and give more attention to the negative. This is known as negativity bias. Which is more likely to stick with you and have you still thinking about it a few days later: the critical comment from a colleague or the compliment? Certainly there are times when a preoccupation with “what went wrong, what is going wrong, what could go wrong” is useful. Left unchecked, though, negativity bias can get us emotionally sidetracked by a negative moment in an otherwise good day. It can make us quickly forget, or discount, any affirming messages that accompanied that corrective comment when receiving constructive feedback. Research suggests that “negative emotions last longer than positive ones, that we tend to spend more time thinking about negative events, and that we often reason about them more.”

Our innate ability as humans to reactively mimic the emotions and accompanying behaviors of another person is referred to as emotional contagion. We spotted it in action when we were on a video call with one of our grown daughters, laughing together about something, and soon her two-year-old daughter started laughing right along with us, oblivious to what gave us the giggles in the first place. It’s good to be reminded that positive emotions are contagious too, not just the negative ones!

Is there a particular negative emotion that is circulating in the emotional current of your team? Have you noticed it infecting more than one person? What actions can you take to address it? What can you do to raise the level of positive emotions in the current and make those even more contagious than the negative one?

“Positivity resonance” from human connection has the greatest impact

Fredrickson’s research has also found that positive emotions arising from connection between people have the greatest positive impact. She refers to it as “positivity resonance” and it occurs when the following three events transpire:

a sharing of one or more positive emotion between you and another person,a synchrony between you and the other person’s biochemistry and behaviors, anda reflected motive to invest in each other’s well-being that brings mutual care.

Last year, I (Michael) had the pleasure of speaking directly with Dr. Fredrickson to learn even more about her and her ongoing work. What jumped out to me from our conversation was that her research is finding that when people experience positivity resonance, including a feeling of oneness with the other person and a concern for their welfare, those moments of connection are what build up a more lasting and durable concern for the welfare of others. Her research provides empirical evidence that experiences connecting with others lead to prosocial virtues and behaviors. In other words, you can say to someone, “You should care about your colleagues” but what is more effective is for that person to have connecting experiences that produce those feelings and inclinations to care about their colleagues. Fredrickson said her research also “points to what is lost when humans don’t connect.”

To learn more about Barbara Fredrickson and her work, read her latest book, Love 2.0: Creating Happiness and Health in Moments of Connection.

Positive emotions increase in cultures of connection

Fredrickson’s work aligns with our work on the importance of a team’s and organization’s culture. Cultures of control and cultures of indifference impede the flow of positive emotions and are a breeding ground for disconnection between people thus sabotaging individual and organizational performance; cultures of connection foster positive emotions and opportunities for positivity resonance thus supporting individual and organizational performance.

Cultures of connection are created and sustained when leaders:

communicate a vision that unites people,value people as individuals and don’t think of or treat them as mere means to an end, andgive people a voice to share their ideas and opinions on matters that are important to them then consider their feedback before making decisions.

Vision + Value + Voice = Connection. Cultures of connection create a work environment where individuals will experience positive emotions and where friendships are made and positivity resonance develops among colleagues.

Cultivating cultures of connection that produce an upward spiral of positivity and performance is especially important today when we are trying to recover from a challenging and difficult season. The leaders who connect with people they are responsible for leading and nurture cultures of connection will emerge from the pandemic well-positioned to lead their organizations to greater heights.

This article was co-authored by Katharine P. Stallard.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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Join Me at ATD22 to Learn How to Foster Positive Emotions in the Workplace

Negative emotions in the workplace have been rising for years. Are they holding back your team’s performance?

That’s the topic I’ll be discussing at the ATD22 International Conference & EXPO. Join me to learn how to cultivate a work culture with attitudes, language, and behaviors that boost positive emotions and spur higher levels of performance.

Session Title: Improve Positive Emotions and Performance in Your Team’s Work Culture

Date: May 17, 2022

Time: 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Learn more about ATD22 and get a discount code for your registration at this link.

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Former Best Buy CEO Discovers the “Magic” of Connection

Hubert Joly, a Frenchman and former partner at McKinsey & Co., blames the lack of connection in today’s organizations on the myopic views of economist Milton Friedman who advocated that the only thing that matters is maximizing shareholder value and on the popularity of a top-down, analytical and metrics-driven management philosophy that was exemplified by Robert McNamara in the 1970s. Joly believes in connecting with purpose and people, referring to it as “human magic” that results in “irrationally good performance.” He views it as being key to healing capitalism’s ills.

As former Chairman and CEO of Best Buy from 2012-2019, he led a spectacular turnaround of the consumer electronics retailer and witnessed the power of connection firsthand. He describes his experience in The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism. Joly wrote:

Through all my experiences, culminating in the incredible years at Best Buy, I have come to believe – to know – that purpose and human connections constitute the very heart of business. And I believe they should be at the heart of the necessary and urgent refoundation of business now underway. Capitalism as we have known it over the past few decades is in crisis. More and more people hold the system responsible for social fractures and environmental degradation. Employees, customers, and even shareholders expect much more from corporations than a blind pursuit of profit. Disengagement at work is a global epidemic. More recently, a new civil rights movement and the global Covid-19 pandemic have accelerated the need to rethink our system if we are going to tackle the enormous challenges facing us.

Tapping Into the Power of Connection

Human connection is a force that helps individuals and organizations thrive. Hubert Joly gets this. As I have advocated for almost twenty years now, the most effective leaders unite people and tap into the power of connection when they communicate an inspiring vision, value people and give them a voice. It’s this combination of Vision plus Value plus Voice that creates a culture of connection among people who work in an organization.

As people, we’re curious. Knowing how others go about sharing their vision, demonstrating they value people and increasing knowledge flows as they give people a voice might shed some light on our own situation and give us new ideas to try. That’s why over the years I’ve written numerous profiles of leaders who are results-driven and relationship-minded, including Alan Mulally, Frances Hesselbein, CNO Admiral Vern Clark, Duke’s Coach K, the rock band U2, and Costco, highlighting attitudes and actions that cultivate cultures of connection. Reading his account, I found Joly’s story to be compelling. Vision, Value, Voice and the resulting connection were on full display.

Vision

Leading Best Buy, Joly connected with people by communicating an inspiring vision and working to keep it front of people. One action taken was to articulate Best Buy’s mission, its “noble purpose,” as “enriching lives through technology.” More than just words on a page, business strategy was linked to the purpose and several key human needs were identified that could be enriched through technology. Joly wrote that this changed how they did business, spurring innovation and growth as Best Buy moved “from a business focused on transactions and selling products to one that developed solutions and lasting customer relationships.” It gave people who worked at Best Buy meaning by creating a mindset that everyone was serving a cause greater than themselves.

Vision was also boosted when stories that “connected purpose to practice” were shared on Best Buy’s blog and at company gatherings. To build positive emotions and a sense of momentum that Best Buy was making progress during the turnaround, “nuggets of good news” were communicated at every opportunity (e.g. “Look, we are growing in Chicago! And look at how well our small appliances are doing!”).

Value

Joly valued people and he viewed them as individuals rather than thinking of them as mere means to an end. He set out to “[create] an environment in which individuals flourish.” He got out and connected with people working on the front lines at Best Buy’s stores. He had the humility to learn from them (which reminded me of another Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette, who wrote that soldiers he commanded on the front line during the American Revolution were his greatest teachers). Joly restored generous employee discounts. And despite pressure from Wall Street, he made layoffs a last resort.

Crises often test a leader’s and an organization’s values. When Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, Best Buy responded quickly and with compassion. All employees working on the island were accounted for and needs were identified. All told, a cargo plane made 14 trips to Puerto Rico to deliver supplies such as diapers, water and food to employees there. Financially, every employee was given $200 in the first days after the storm to purchase emergency supplies and the organization continued to pay their wages for four weeks, providing a $1,000 advance early on, even though the three stores and distribution center were closed. It also flew 70 employees and their families who chose to evacuate Puerto Rico to the U.S. where they were reassigned to jobs at Best Buy stores in Florida.

Voice

Joly gave employees a voice to share their opinions and ideas and he was open about sharing information. For example, he shared the draft “Renew Blue” turnaround plan with 150 Best Buy managers to get feedback before presenting it to investors, an action that also showed he trusted they would not share non-public information on their publicly listed stock. No one leaked the plan.

Results

When Hubert Joly became Best Buy’s CEO in 2012, the organization’s survival was in question due to the competitive threat from online retailers including Amazon.com. Over the following seven years, Best Buy’s share price soared from $11 to $110. For Joly’s successful turnaround of Best Buy, he was recognized as one of the “100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World” by Harvard Business Review, one of the top 30 CEOs in the world by Barron’s and one of the top ten CEOs in the U.S. in Glassdoor’s annual Employees’ Choice Awards.

Armed with knowledge that came from witnessing the power of connection while leading Best Buy and having written a bestselling book about it, Joly is now on a mission to fix capitalism while serving as a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. He’s fast becoming an important voice for the case to make connection a new theory of leadership and organizational culture.

Reflecting on his own leadership journey, Joly wrote: “Like many leaders of my generation, I long believed that emotions were not meant to be shared in a business encounter. I had a lot to unlearn. … Our employees are expecting us to be human, and they expect us to grasp who they are and to make them feel respected, heard, understood, and included. … Social connection… is at the heart of business.”

To learn more about Hubert Joly, read his book, The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism, watch his interview with John Baldoni and read this article about him by Sally Helgeson.

To learn more about Connection Culture, read the 2nd edition of Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work, take the Linkedin Learning course “Creating a Connection Culture,” or hire us to give a keynote speech or lead a Connection Culture Workshop.

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What Putin Illustrates About the Dangers of Being a Lonely Leader

Today, IE Insights published my article, “Putin and the Dangers of Being a Lonely Leader.” In the article, I explain why social isolation from the pandemic and his autocratic leadership style may have contributed to three miscalculations Russian President Vladimir Putin has made and how he may be prone to making impulsive, irrational decisions in the future. 

Putin is a disconnected and disconnecting leader. On this issue, American President Joseph Biden appears to be the polar opposite. Biden is supported by strong relationships and appears to embrace a leadership style that cultivates a culture of connection: pulling together the democracies of the world to oppose Putin’s attack on Ukraine, demonstrating empathy and compassion for those who are struggling, and seeking out different perspectives by working with people, including those from the opposing political party, who don’t share his exact beliefs.

I’m not giving a blanket endorsement of everything related to President Biden, but the American president and his leadership team are going to be more effective over time, in part because, as I explain in the article, autocratic leaders like Putin operate in work cultures of control that sabotage optimal decision-making.

You can read the full article on the IE Insights website.

Image courtesy of Pixabay user DimitroSevastapol

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Why We Long for Leaders Who Actually Care

Do the people around you know that you are for them? Do they know whether you care about them, want them to be able to do their individual best, and will advocate for them? Having this assurance promotes a feeling of connection. It goes a long way in establishing trust and an environment of psychological safety. But if they don’t know with certainty that you are for them, they may feel you are indifferent to them (which is disconnecting) or assume, rightly or wrongly, that you are against them (which is very disconnecting). 

For a whole host of reasons, now is an important time for leaders who care about people to be sure that the message is being received loud and clear. 

Why does it matter that people know you are for them? 

The disconnection people are experiencing today is broader than loneliness, a point Noreena Hertz makes in her book, The Lonely Century: How to Restore Human Connection in a World That’s Pulling Apart. Here’s what she says (emphasis ours):

Reshaped by globalization, urbanization, growing inequality and power asymmetries, by demographic change, increased mobility, technological disruption, austerity, and now by [the Covid-19 pandemic] too, I believe the contemporary manifestation of loneliness goes beyond our yearning for connection by those physically around us, our craving for love and being loved, and the sadness we feel from being bereft of friends. It also incorporates how disconnected we feel from politicians and politics, how cut off we feel from our work and our workplace, how excluded many of us feel from society’s gains, and how powerless, invisible, and voiceless so many of us believe ourselves to be. It’s a loneliness that includes but is also greater than our desire to feel close to others because it is also a manifestation of our need to feel heard, to be seen, to be cared for, to have agency, to be treated fairly, kindly, and with respect. 

We agree with her. This is a loneliness that some of your colleagues may be bringing with them when they come to work or experiencing on the job if they don’t feel seen, heard, and valued by those around them. In either case, this disconnection will negatively affect their engagement and productivity. We firmly believe that not only do people at work need to know where they stand with you and their other colleagues, but also the conditions have to be right for connection to be maintained. This is where culture comes in. 

We’ve argued that unhealthy work cultures are a primary cause of the Great Resignation. While many articles and media coverage on the historic level of job quits suggest employees are leaving to pursue better-paying jobs, monetary compensation is only part of the story. Having experienced such disruption and change during the pandemic, people are reevaluating what is important to them and giving more weight to what we refer to as emotional compensation.

New research published in a recent MIT Sloan Management Review supports our view that toxic work cultures are driving the Great Resignation. Presenting empirical evidence, the authors identify the top five predictors of attrition. Their conclusion? “A toxic corporate culture is by far the strongest predictor of industry-adjusted attrition and is 10 times more important than compensation in predicting turnover. Our analysis found that the leading elements contributing to toxic cultures include failure to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion; workers feeling disrespected; and unethical behavior. … Not surprisingly, companies with a reputation for a healthy culture…experienced lower-than-average turnover during the first six months of the Great Resignation.”

In short, because the relational aspects of culture have a direct impact on an employee’s decision to stay or quit, it is critical for leaders to proactively build those relationships and demonstrate that they care. 

How will they know you are for them? 

Have you ever told the individuals around you that you are for them, especially those you are responsible for leading? More importantly, do your actions convey that you are for them? As we wrote in Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work (2nd edition), this will make a difference, especially if you are a supervisor providing constructive criticism or you are working through a setback or a challenging season as a team. 

Toward the end of a recent leadership workshop we were teaching, the well-respected senior leader who had hired us quietly slipped into the back of the room to observe. As we wrapped up, he came forward to say a few words to the group. He thanked them for taking part, acknowledging the busyness of their schedules and the stress they were under. He shared his deep-seated conviction that “leadership really matters” and that he knew from experience great leadership makes a difference to an organization. He said he realized the organization hadn’t invested enough in training to support them in their leadership roles, that Connection Culture was something he really believed in, and the workshop and coaching component to follow was an effort to remedy the lack of investment in them in the past. Then he opened it up for discussion and feedback. 

Witnessing this, we were struck by how this leader’s message resonated and had an impact on the men and women in the room. These were not empty words. He is a leader who cares about the people he was speaking to and they knew it. He is a leader who has been transparent about experiencing burnout earlier in his career. His concern for his colleagues’ well-being is genuine and unmistakable, and his transparency in acknowledging the organization’s past shortcomings and actions to address them give weight to his words.

So what should a leader do? In our work with leaders, we explain that boosting emotional compensation is based on meeting seven universal human needs to thrive at work: respect, recognition, belonging, autonomy, personal growth, meaning, and progress. The resulting sense of connection from having these needs met engenders positive emotions and makes us feel connected to our work and our colleagues. 

Leaders who cultivate a culture of connection through communicating an inspiring vision, valuing people and not thinking of or treating them as means to an end, and giving them a voice will meet the seven needs, unite employees, and foster a relational environment that helps people do their best work.

Here are three actions to consider. 

Take time to “walk the halls” and personally check in on the people you are responsible for leading to see how they’re doing. Stress, loneliness, anxiety, and exhaustion are high today. People are busy; the “to do” list is long. Intentionally devoting time to regularly chat with people — asking how they are and actively listening to them — is a practice that shows respect and fosters a sense of belonging. It will also underscore the importance that you place on having a culture that values connection. Invest in training your leaders on how to cultivate a healthy work culture. Not only will this show you care about them and want to do more than just talk about having a good culture for them to work in, it will show that you are for them in their role as leaders and want to equip them with the mindset and skillset to cultivate a healthy culture in their particular group. To attract, engage, and retain the people your organization needs, leaders at all levels need to give attention to culture.  Establish a mentoring program so that everyone is learning and growing. This is one means to address the human need for personal growth plus it provides another opportunity to develop connections within the organization as mentor and mentee spend time together. Be sure to train people on how to mentor in a way that is encouraging and connecting.

By taking time to demonstrate that you care about the person as an individual and want them to be an engaged and fully-contributing teammate, you will make the people you are responsible for leading feel more connected to you and to your organization. You will also be making a smart investment in retaining employees at a time when many are looking for greener pastures.

This article was co-authored by Katharine P. Stallard.

The post Why We Long for Leaders Who Actually Care appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.

Join Me for This Anchorage Society for Human Resource Management Virtual Event

At a time when many employers are struggling to retain workers, it is critical to understand the role that emotional compensation plays in an employee’s decision to stay or leave. I am looking forward to sharing insights to help human resource professionals increase employee retention during an upcoming virtual event hosted by the Anchorage Society for Human Resource Management.

Looking for a training course to help you navigate this area? I hope you will consider joining me for this event.

Audience: Open to both members and non-members of ASHRMCredits: Pre-approved for one SHRM PDC and HRCI creditDate/Time: February 15 from 12:00-1:15 p.m. AST

Learn more and register.

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The post Join Me for This Anchorage Society for Human Resource Management Virtual Event appeared first on Michael Lee Stallard.