On Connection

For any working professional there are times engagement and motivation are down, and calling it quits sounds like a good idea. Before we start editing our resumes and looking for greener grass, we think it’s smart to try a few things that just might get us re-enchanted with our work.

If you’re in the leadership or HR world it isn’t new news that plenty of studies show a sense of purpose and meaning improves engagement, productivity, innovation, and more. As a result, clarifying purpose, at the level of self and at the organizational level, has become hot in our working culture. And while we may cognitively recognize it’s important, there are day-to-day leadership behaviors we can all be doing to make work more meaningful (for ourselves and those we lead).

Mentioned in the episode:

MIT Sloan: Why We Don’t Talk About Meaning at Work

We are living through a time of massive disruption, and one of the symptoms is what many are calling an “epidemic of burnout.” The term burnout has been used increasingly over the last few years, along with other concerns around stress, overwhelm, and mental health. So much so that 4 in 5 organizations globally have reported that mental health and well-being is a top priority. There are lots of explanations and theories as to why it’s become such a ubiquitous problem, but so far effective solutions seem out of reach.

While cultures of overwork and stress are worth addressing, we also have to look to the role we play as individuals. We are the guardians of our time, energy, presence, and what we choose to contribute. How we design our time impacts not only our performance and well-being but also the patterns of behavior in our organizations. 

Kell Delaney and Katie Mingo join Emma Rose for this episode to talk about what we’ve learned and observed about these trends, and some practical steps we’ve seen work to design more space into work, allowing for increased engagement, productivity, collaboration, creativity, and overall vitality. 

The work of linguists, sociologists, and psychologists reveals just how complex the science of language can be, but to be essential: it matters. It’s a powerful thing that we tend to take for granted. How we speak, what words we choose, and how we listen and interpret are all important parts of human interaction, and no less important at work.

At the heart of truly valuable communication is an awareness of and mutual respect for how we as humans make sense of the world. We have to be able to engage with one another’s stories, listen for what matters and get curious about better understanding another’s world. We have to ask great questions, and give honest answers. That all happens through language, and through presence.

Katie Mingo, Associate Consultant at Conversant, joins Mickey and Emma Rose for this episode about the power (and responsibility) of language. 

Love may be a many-splendored thing, but it isn’t something we often talk about at work. Love falls into that category of soft, personal things we’ve traditionally shoved in a box and left at the door in order to be “professionals.” We think that when we leave love at the door, we’re leaving a whole lot of other valuable things with it. So, should we talk about love at work?

Our guest on today's episode is Sara Heppner, a graphic recorder and facilitator with a passion for creative communication. Through visual and creative processes, she works with individuals and groups to cultivate awareness, nurture connection and create a world where all can flourish. Her new book, I Choose Love, was published earlier this year. By focusing on love, Sara believes that together, we can make the world a better place.

We hear from leaders and executives all the time that they want to increase accountability on their teams and across their organizations. Building cultures of accountability sounds like the right strategy for lowered supervision costs and increased efficiency and performance... but what does it mean to build a culture of accountability?

Accountability is deeply tied with trust, and we’ve found through our work and research that most breakdowns in trust come from unmet expectations. There are ways to create an environment where accountability and trust develop with very little resistance, but it takes recognizing that we can’t assume other people understand our unspoken expectations. It’s through conversation that we can most reliably create cultures of accountability.

It’s not uncommon, both at work and in the rest of life, for people to feel like they aren’t being heard. We’ve all experienced that frustration, where you feel like you’ve said something as many times and as many ways as you can think of, and this other person just isn’t getting it. Whether it’s your manager, your direct report, or your spouse, there are plenty of reasons for that kind of disconnect, and while it may feel impossible to get through to them, we think there are some basic principles of conversation and connection worth trying before you give up entirely.

In today’s episode, Mickey and Robin join Emma Rose to share what they've learned we can all do to improve the quality of our connections and conversations with others, including making it more likely that others will hear and learn from what we have to say.

Gen Z, which is usually defined as those born between 1997 and 2012, is expected to make up 27% of the workforce by 2025. And they’re coming into organizations led by people from older generations who already have well-formed biases and expectations about them (including Millennials).

In this episode, we focus on the younger perspective. While Millennials have been represented on this podcast, we wanted to invite in voices that are closer to the Gen Z age range. What motivates them? What expectations do they have for the future? What expectations do they have for leadership, employers, and organizations? Though earlier in their career, the youngest members of our organizations bring a different view of work and the world, one we can get value from if we listen with an intent to learn.

One of the hardest parts of human connection is managing disagreements. It’s easy to assume that a lack of disagreement or argument is proof of a strong and healthy connection, but that isn’t necessarily true. Disagreements are inevitable, at work and in the rest of life, and while it makes perfect sense that we tend to avoid and fear conflict, it can be really valuable.

In today’s episode, Mickey and Robin join Emma Rose to share what they consider to be the design of valuable disagreement, along with some practical steps for implementing it.

Alignment is a term that gets thrown around a lot in leadership and org management, but how is alignment different than agreement? We think there’s an important difference, and hosting conversations designed for alignment not only increases value but will reduce disappointments, costs, and pain down the road.

In this episode, Mickey and Robin join Emma Rose to talk about this distinction and share what they’ve learned about alignment from years of working with leaders and organizations, including what gets in the way and what kind of leadership behavior makes a difference.

Shownotes: https://bit.ly/3Jy3rIp

A leader’s ability to make a meaningful difference rises and falls with the quality of their presence. Presence dictates how much of our mental, emotional, and physical talents are available to us at a given moment. By presence, we do not mean charisma; we mean awareness. This awareness improves insight and action, but a lack of awareness assures that you are not fully connected to yourself, to reality, or to others—dangerous territory for a leader.

In this episode, Emma Rose is joined by Richard McDonald and Roger Henderson, two of Conversant’s resident “presence gurus.” They talk about why presence matters, practical ways to support greater presence in your professional and personal lives, and why it’s a critical ingredient to healthy relationships, both at the office and at home.

Show notes & resources: https://bit.ly/3Lf4Yoy