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LSN Blog - John's Blog

Written by John Donovan

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:12

The great paradox of our era is that while incomes have risen over the past few decades, so have rates of social dysfunction and emotional depression. We are quite reasonable to seek to improve our lot in life, but we have no means of counterbalancing the forces of social isolation that more than offset the value of material benefits.

Research from several quarters makes it clear that the issue may be defined as one of isolation versus connection. Abundant throughout the fields of psychology and psychiatry is research showing that people in every type of organization crave such things as respect, belonging, and meaning. If, instead of those, they are finding isolation, distrust, and disrespect, the result is the kind of pathology which, at its extremes, is manifested as our stubbornly high rates of divorce and depression.

These realities extend from the level of the family all the way to the level of the nation as a whole. At the intermediate level are organizations such as companies and nonprofit groups. According to a Gallup organization survey of 42 independent studies, three out of four U.S. employees are disengaged from their jobs, meaning they care so little about the organization's goals and the people around them that they're only in it for the paycheck. The consequence is it just unhappiness but also low productivity.

We need connection! It brings out the best in us, making us more productive, trusting, and creative. But we have to be intentional about it are natural drift is not toward relationship excellence but away from it. Intentional connection gives us a shared identity and empathy that moves us as self-centered individuals toward group-centered membership.

An organization can be trained to reflect these characteristics. Its members, once they decide to become intentional about this, must begin living out the character strengths needed to make connectivity manifest. Studies show remarkable consensus about the nature of the strengths across all religious and philosophical boundaries. Practical experience demonstrates that members can build high-trust relationships with people who want to develop good character and then help one another to develop habits that reflect the needed character strengths.

All that, however, must begin from the leadership. We know it's possible for leaders to create a connection culture because we can study the achievements of those who have already done it, especially in contrast to those whose leadership has had minimal or negative results. The patterns are strikingly similar whether the leaders come from the public, private, or nonprofit sector.

We can think about this in terms of three V’s -- vision, value, and voice.

First, vision. By this I mean that the leaders who have created a connection culture have inspired their organizational members with a sense of identity. Those who want to emulate their success should ask themselves three questions. Do we have a mission that motivates? Do we have values that unite? Do we have a reputation to be proud of yet?

Second, value -- human value. It seems like the history of our species has been a slow, painful evolution toward the recognition of value and potential in people and the suppression of attempts to demean or merely exploit that. Once grasping this principle, leaders can then discipline themselves to understand the needs of people, appreciate whatever contributions are positive and unique, and help them achieve their potential.

Third, voice. Examples abound of organizations composed of talented people who demanded that task excellence but failed to seek the ideas of others (especially those closest to the particular tasks or to the public); failed to encourage the honest sharing of ideas and opinions; and failed to safeguard relational connections.

These tendencies become like dams that halted the organization's healthy knowledge flow. But the experience of some organizations shows that it is possible to open up these dams with the result of firing people up, helping them make better decisions, and increasing innovation.

No one merely drifts toward these results, however. Getting results comes from getting intentional. This means, among other things, encouraging people to be inquisitive, rewarding courage, and promoting a culture of experimentation.

Much is at stake as we look for ways to climb out of a recession, increase our global competitiveness, and restore health to our social environment. Each deliberate decision to create a connection culture will be a step in the right direction toward all these objectives.

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