Welcome to the Connective Workplace Your solution for building a culture of safe communication between leadership and the team bringing lasting improvements in employee retention, acquisition, engagement, innovation, and performance.
For more than two decades “employee engagement” has been a metric and a buzz phrase in the management/leadership world. According to some estimates more than 30 MILLION Americans have become aware of, and more focused on, their strengths over the past 20 plus years. Yet the most recent data shows that the ratio of “engaged to actively disengaged” American workers is at its lowest point since 2013.
So why isn’t the needle moving the right direction? Well, inherently helping people understand their strengths better is only a FUNCTION of engagement. It’s something we can “engage to do”. But just like all other motivational and inspirational things we might do as leaders to engage our team – eventually the subject upon which we’re engaging fades and we are back to baseline. Or even below it.
The problem: Functions of engagement are impostors – they smack of true engagement – where leadership truly wants to engage with the team, but when it’s all said and done we’re not engaging just to engage. We’re engaging to implement or to train or to develop or to teach. All good functions which drive positive outcomes, they just don’t communicate CONNECTION for the sake of connection. They communicate engagement for an industrial outcome – rather than a relational outcome. The only engagement that is perpetual is engagement for the sake of relationship – CONNECTIVE CONVERSATION. It’s conversations – for the sake of conversations. No sleight of management hand. Just authentic safe two-way communication. Ironically, when we engage to CONNECT, we learn and what we learn leads to positive organizational outcomes. Funny how that works!
Truly engaging employees is just that simple – have conversations. But sadly then we hit the next wall: Communication safety. Most leaders think they have communication safety in their teams, yet their teams disagree. So the game is simple but two-fold. It’s engaging them by building FOR them a visible culture of safe communication. The engagement is the result of open communication, it’s organic, it’s SAFE, it’s inclusive and it’s transformational. Shockingly, when we engage our team, they are engaged and when we create a CULTURE of safe communication, the elusive concept of perpetual “engagement” is the result.
Our Philosophy
We believe that EVERY member of an organization has unique insights, perceptions, and value. If an organization is to reach it’s highest potential, it must not ignore, or even simply accept, this individual voice, it must PURSUE THE VOICE!
How We Help
What if a few simple yet profound steps could improve hiring and retention in your Team despite the labor market challenges all around you – ALL WHILE IMPROVING PERFORMANCE AND MORALE?
Building your Connective Blueprint is how you get what you REALLY want – A team of – connected and healthy people working toward common goals on the daily. It is the culture that you and your team co-create – that empowers your team to produce maximum results where EVERYONE feels VALUED.
As leaders, of course we might WANT our team to perform “just because it’s their job” or because we provide them with great benefits or even because we “REALLY NEED THEM TO”, but guess what? Maximizing performance in today’s multi-generational workforce requires more; More connection. More authenticity. More communication.
Safety in communication is the framework for success and the Connective Workplace is your toolkit for building it!
