I have been thinking about the work I have been doing on culture, and specifically connectedness and human connection, since I learned that one of my closest friends, Javier, was coming from Spain to visit me for New Year’s and be in the US the subsequent two weeks.
I received that information on the same day that I began to read the US Surgeon General’s Advisory titled, Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation. In it, he goes into great detail about how this issue is not only an individual issue, but also a social, cultural, and societal issues with grave consequences psychologically, biologically, emotionally, behaviorally, and societally.
To this information, we can add that 12% of Americans report they have zero close friends – that is a fourfold increase since 1990 when that number was 3%. Adults spend 70% less time with friends than they did in 2014. Additionally, a close look at Gen Z finds them to be more anxious and depressed than previous generations at their same age. (More on this topic – and what we can do about it – in a future blog.). All this data underlies the Surgeon Generals Advisory and supports his conclusion of that we are in a loneliness epidemic.
What can businesses do about it?
Businesses are uniquely positioned to improve this experience of loneliness through building a culture of connectedness.
Connection builds Vitality: Often people overestimate the time and energy required to build a connection and underestimate the value it offers them. One of the tactics we use in our program with our clients is called Accountability Partnerships. We have people going through the program meet for 5-15 minutes a day to discuss a particular issue we are working on that particular week. We have had MANY clients push back at the beginning of the program. “It’s too much time.” “We’re too busy.” At the end of the 8 week program, that is the one component they inevitably want to maintain – not only because of its impact on accountability, but its impact on connection.
Connecting individuals to each other and your culture connects them to different communities: Learning from people who are different than you, with different background and experiences because of the communities they come from, allow us to have serious conversations, learn how to argue effectively, and realized that even if we disagree we don’t have to hate each other or isolate ourselves from one another. This is how business can not only strengthen relationships between individuals but strengthen social bonds in our communities and society.
Business can do to government would like to do and religion tries to do: Bring people together in a meaningful way for the long-term.
I think we can agree that, whatever side of the political spectrum in which you reside, we are at a time of increasing political polarization, where our politics have gotten more course and divisive over the past two decades or so. Religion also tends to segregate people based on either system of beliefs, color, sexuality or all three. As our society becomes increasingly diverse, if we, as individuals, teams or groups are going to successfully navigate these differences, we will all need to learn how to better communicate and manage our differences. In a connected business culture, we learn to emotionally regulate ourselves and each other in our process of working through our disagreements.
Your business and its culture become an antidote for what ails our society. How?
- Use this year to focus on building a culture of connection. Beginning with your leadership team, ensure you people take time to get to know one another, vertically and horizontally, across your organization.
- Redefine “accountability” as “transparency.” Most people associate accountability with punishment, so they avoid it. When you redefine it as transparency, members of your culture seek it out as opportunities to connect and build trust.
- Model these behaviors for other stakeholders. As you stakeholder see the transformation in your organization, when the experience your culture in every interaction with your people, they will stay with you longer, forgiving missteps, behaving towards you as you behave toward them, and they will pay a reasonable premium for the connection and trust that you will develop.
These are just some of the skills we teach in our Culture Catalyst program. I believe that, given the current state of the loneliness epidemic, and given the number of organizations signed up for Culture Catalyst this month, and for the coming year, many leaders are experiencing similar challenges and see our program as a solution.
Let us know how we can help.
I’d love to hear your questions and comments. If you would like to discuss this topic further, just drop me a note.
