Refresh Your Connection with Employees

It does not matter what type of business or organization you are in, or what purpose you fulfill, you have undoubtedly experienced change in the recent years.  Perhaps you have operated everyday throughout the pandemic, and you are thinking you have not really changed as a business, but your employees most likely have.  Each person, each family, each organization has gone through change.  As leaders, it is critical to acknowledge the change and acknowledge the need to adapt on a personal and leadership level. 

There has been much focus on the challenge of recruiting employees and yet it is just as critical to retain the employees you have.  One of the key reasons that employees stay is the relationship and connection with their manager.  With remote and hybrid working environments, the relationship between a manager and employee is the primary connection source to the organization.  Are your managers equipped and prioritizing connecting with employees?  Are your managers equipped to share your mission and values and lead with purpose?

Leaders and managers always have vast responsibilities of accountabilities, and yet they cannot lose sight of connecting with employees and engaging in the fulfillment of the organization’s mission.  The culture of your organization should be supportive of this connection and engagement.  The difference between the right culture and the wrong one is the intention, deliberation and enthusiasm put into it.

·         If your culture was not clearly defined previously, it is time to invest in doing it now.

·         If you had a clearly defined culture and it has changed, it is time to check in, learn what has changed, and adjust accordingly. 

·         If you are not sure whose responsibility culture it, it is time to determine it.

To ensure your culture is aligned with your mission and values and the direction of your organization, conduct an assessment.  Utilize focus groups, ask employees, survey employees, share results, conduct focus groups again, develop and implement an action plan, and then check-in again.  This process should help set your foundation for having open communication with employees.  It will also ensure alignment around your mission and values.

Once you have the alignment with your mission and values and culture, it is key to continue to communicate it.  Not only communicate to say you are doing it, but you want to communicate with connection and engagement.  How can you do that? 

·         Get creative. 

·         Ask employees.

·         Match your messages to your culture. 

·         Share employee stories.

The beauty of today is there are so many ways to connect with people.  Gone are the days of sending out a memo or having only one annual opportunity to gather all employees.  Technology enables that to happen regularly, and you should leverage it.  One of the greatest ways to communicate is through storytelling.  What better way than to have employees share their own story?  Have photos and quotes from employees.  Record videos of employees.  Share employee journeys of career paths.  Share employees who connect with the mission and why they work for you.

Utilize whatever mediums and platforms that you have, and again ask employees where they want to see this information.  Key communication channels include company intranets, emails, Slack channels, Microsoft Teams, and social media.  When messages include employees, they are more likely to leverage their own networks too.  They will be proud of the feature and want to share it socially too. 

Do not overlook the opportunity to share the messages internally too.  Leaders should include reminders in team meetings, ensure that the work they are doing is connected to your purpose, share the why.  Employees are seeking connection.  Create the opportunity for it within the course of doing business.  If you are remote, that may be having time at the beginning of virtual meetings to check-in and to share.  Or perhaps you create other social opportunities virtually to facilitate the opportunity to connect.  It is even more critical in hybrid work that the opportunity to connect is facilitated.  Create a reason for employees to report to the office on the same day with one of the additional reasons being creating connection.  When employees are remote or hybrid, the lack of friendships at work make it easier for them to quit their job.  Creating connection has a direct correlation to retaining your employees.

Leaders must prioritize connection with employees.  Connection is not a metric to be measured, but it is a valuable component of your organization.  Time and space for connection must be intentionally created.  It will influence the business, it will influence retention, it will influence your ability to recruit employees and it will influence your overall success.