Opinion expressed by Businessman contributors are their own.
Want your team to build stronger connections? Disconnect them.
Outside of work, your team members connect with kids, bandmates, partners, moviegoers, volunteers, spouses, fanatics, parents, classmates, and more.
The line between work and life has disappeared, causing work to devour more leisure time for workers everywhere. Today’s always-on work culture is increasingly encroaching on connections outside of employees’ jobs, leaving workers even more lonely because they can’t care for important relationships.
Making room for team members to maintain strong relationships in their personal lives is increasingly important as rates of loneliness continue to rise across the global workforce.
Related: Why Are Most Employees Lonely and Underperforming?
While engagement is important, sometimes just as important is letting go. Keeping your other team members’ connections strong — by giving them guilt-free and uninterrupted time to nurture those connections — is important for keeping loneliness on the sidelines.
An executive recently shared with me how he makes sure team members maintain strong personal connections and fosters a connected culture where the team prioritizes social connections.
Paul (not his real name), an executive at a billion-dollar fast-food restaurant company, recently identified a new leader within the organization named Ava (not his real name). Over the years, Ava has made work her full focus, taking extra time and devoting herself to work. After all, that’s what makes him stand out. Paul met her and said, “Ava, we are so excited about you, your future and the work you are doing.” Paul highlighted Ava’s skills and contributions and then said, ‘We want to promote you. However, we refuse to promote you unless you change something.’
Ava was thrown back and a little confused remembering how hard she worked. He had a hard time imagining what else could be expected of him. “I was absolutely stunned,” he said. But what Paul shared with him next, he “will never forget” and that will form the foundation for his future leadership.
Paul said, “We appreciate your hard work. But every time we do a promotion, it sends a message to the organization. We feel that if we promoted you now based on your behavior at work, we would be sending the wrong message. We’ll send you the message that to get ahead here, you have to work seven days a week. And we think that’s a very unhealthy message. But we are willing to promote you on one condition: you must agree to work less. You must agree to prioritize relationships outside of work. We just feel you are not a good role model for what we want from our leaders. So you have to change that behavior.”
Related: Work-life balance is becoming the new normal
Mature leaders and a healthy culture allow workers to make choices about what connections to prioritize over work. Connection with partner. Connection with children. Connection with friends. Connection with family. Connection with yourself.
Paul wants his people to thrive in all aspects of their lives — on and off the job. He also strives to find out what his employees value outside of work so he can encourage them in those areas. He made sure he didn’t reward team members for pushing himself too hard. What is promoted will be repeated.
Ava changed her behavior and was eventually promoted. And now the boundary between work and personal remains intact for himself and it serves as a model for his entire team and organization, further strengthening the company culture of prioritizing personal connections.
Paul gave Ava permission to disconnect from work in order to connect outside of work. Sometimes, leaders have to fight for their team connections on their behalf.
Between April 5 and 9, 2021, LinkedIn surprised all employees by giving them permission to disconnect to reconnect with what matters to them. Michael Susi, director of global health at LinkedIn, has this to say about RestUp! Well-Being Week Off: “This is a one-time global paid holiday week for employees. This is an opportunity for us to take care of ourselves and put our well-being first.”
In addition to allowing employees to terminate relationships early or take time off, here are ways some companies have found ways to protect their employees’ connections outside of work. Mattel, Inc., a toy manufacturing company, offers employees up to 16 hours of paid work to participate in their children’s school events. Airbnb, a community-based hospitality company, gives employees $2,000 a year to spend on Airbnb properties where they can connect with family or friends. Burton, a snowboarding retailer, gives employees a day off to hit the slopes with friends if two feet of snow fall in 24 hours. REI, a retail and outdoor leisure services company, offers employee challenge grants where employees earn $300 in products for outdoor activities with others.
It’s easy to categorize loneliness as an individual problem, but it’s actually a systemic problem that affects the entire team. Getting a team to work together against loneliness by prioritizing their personal connections will help drive loneliness away and ensure that loneliness goes away.
Related: How to Reduce Loneliness and Increase a Sense of Ownership at Work
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