Retain Your Employees by Investing in Them
A colleague with stellar corporate credentials was on cloud nine when he started a new position with a respected healthcare firm. Their brand promise celebrated caring for people first. Initially, things seemed great; he was an enthusiastic culture champion and believed the organization was an actual best-places-to-work unicorn. But within a few months, his executive peers' low-trust, transactional style became too glaring to disregard. The command-and-control style of the CEO left the C-Suite team walking on eggshells. All of this was irrespective of working in-person or remotely. At first, he tried to push for positive change; Afterall, he thought caring for people is what we stand for. But he eventually lost hope that change was possible and left the organization.
What led to his resignation: at the core, the cognitive dissonance between what the organization said it stood for and his direct experience. Instead of collaboration, trust, and a shared purpose, he felt people gave lip service to caring, and all the while, it was business as usual: turf wars, mistrust, and double-speak. The brand promise vs. real-life disconnect fed disillusionment and eroded his ability to stay engaged. You might think he had unrealistic expectations amidst a global pandemic. Or maybe it was simply not a good fit. But his experience seems to be a microcosm of what is happening more broadly amid The Great Resignation. Employees want high-quality connections with colleagues. And research is bearing it out.
The Link Between Connection and Employee Retention
A record number of American workers quit their jobs last year — According the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics an average of more than 3.9 million workers quit their jobs each month through November of 2021. Organizations are feeling deep anxiety about the talent exodus, and many will continue to be anxious for a fundamental reason: they don't fully grasp why their employees are leaving in the first place.
Many well-intentioned organizations are reflexively enacting fixes that miss the mark in an attempt to shore up talent. For example, they're bumping up pay or adding financial sweeteners, like "appreciation" bonuses. However, new research by McKinsey and others sheds light on a deeper motivation behind The Great Resignation. It turns out employees' reasons for leaving differ from what employers’ suspect. While bonuses and pay increases are an essential part of the equation, employees identified relational factors as pivotal to their decision to leave. The top three reasons included: not feeling valued by the organization, their manager, and a lack of belonging.
Employees recognize the difference between transactional and authentic relationships. And they seem willing to vote with their feet. You can't fake genuine caring.
Creating an intentional culture of high-quality connection is more crucial than ever. MIT Sloane Management Review and Glassdoor analyzed the role of culture on Glassdoor reviews. The large data set of 1.2 million employee reviews was revealing. Their research distilled nine critical cultural values and among them were: collaboration, teamwork, feeling included, appreciated, and recognized.
Additionally, MIT Researchers discovered that 9 out of 10 CEOs and CFOs believe that improving their corporate culture would increase their company's value. And a growing body of research by financial economists shows that corporate culture is correlated with improved profitability and shareholder returns.
These and other recent studies reveal the vital role of the human side of the corporate culture. The findings are good news because the fixes are relatively simple, though not always easy.
3 Keys to Fostering Authentic Connections at Work
Leaders who are serious about building a culture of authentic and high-quality connections must leverage three critical mechanisms that underpin them. Researchers identified that mental, emotional, and behavioral practices are foundational to strengthening ties.
Consider the following:
Mental: whether we are conscious of it or not, we create the conditions for connection.
Practice:
Become more aware of your colleagues. Take time to be curious about who they are and what they care about.
Become aware of your non-verbal communications – even in virtual meetings. Do your facial expressions, gestures, and posture demonstrate warmth and interest? According to research, employees form impressions about another person based on 'thin slices' (less than 1 minute) of their behavior, such as gestures and facial expressions. Initial impressions shape how connections develop and who employees choose to connect with.
Emotional: we need connection. When we feel seen and heard, we feel validated.
Practice:
Put yourself in the shoes of your colleagues, as best you can, try to feel genuine empathy for others.
Make time to express positive emotions like gratitude and appreciation. These broaden employees' thinking and help build durable social resources. When you pay attention to others’ points of view and recognize the value in it, you help them build confidence.
Behavior: observable gestures demonstrate we value others.
Practice:
Offer assistance. Interpersonal actions that help someone complete a task or solve a dilemma (e.g., provide information, guidance, and other resources) foster a deeper connection.
Remember to have fun. Laughter and humor alleviate stress and buffer against burnout. Playful activities promote learning about others.
Simple Ways to Get Started
There are many good reasons to commit to building high-quality relationships within your teams. Yet, it isn't necessarily effortless, or we would have figured it out by now. Healthy relationships require time and energy. Here are three things you might consider doing right away:
Re-connect. Take an active interest in your co-workers. Be curious about their aspirations. Offer them your acknowledgment and appreciation and explain why their contributions matter to you.
Be real. Engage others and ask for their input on how to strengthen connections. It might feel awkward at first, but even the awkwardness can be a stepping stone to building trust.
Promote formal and informal mentorship. Mentorship and sponsorship are essential to employee retention and satisfaction.
Consider group coaching or team coaching as a way to facilitate growth. Coaching can get at the underlying mechanisms for connection and accelerate them. As more organizations are returning to in-person work, this is a great opportunity to explore team coaching, reconnect at a personal level, and discuss what really matters and how to reengage your teams.
If your organization isn't prioritizing a culture of connection, now is the time to start. A slight shift in behavior from key leaders and influential employees can yield positive outcomes. For example, my colleague at the healthcare organization would have valued acknowledgment the team needed to improve its ways of relating and sincere actions to move the team forward. The point is that you don’t have to get it perfect right away. Even awkward attempts to strengthen connections will have benefits, including greater trust, efficiency, and retention.
