Experiences involving positive social connections feature strongly when people talk about their best experiences at work. This might involve connections with employee’s manager, or leaders, with their team-mates, colleagues or even people from outside the organisation such as customers or other stakeholders. The nature of these connections is personal to individuals and their own context and stories. For example some people might talk about being supported by a colleague, for others it might be a social connection developed through a fun experience. Sometimes people talk about feeling appreciated and valued by those they are working with, or forming a connection with customers.
As social creatures feeling connected to others is fundamental to our wellbeing. The biological foundations of human connections are tied to oxytocin (Zak 2017) and its impact on serotonin. When oxytocin is released through any type of social connectivity, it triggers the release of serotonin. Serotonin then activates the ‘reward circuitry’ in our brain, which triggers a happy feeling. It’s no surprise that our best experiences feature some kind of human connection. The bottom line is that we are social creatures, and having strong social connections can help us not only survive, but thrive as well. There is an ever-growing body of evidence which demonstrates just how important social connections are to our wellbeing. For example, strong social connections:
- Help us live longer
- Improve our quality of life
- Improve our mental wellbeing
- Decrease our risk of suicide
Broadly speaking there are two types of social connection which improve our positive perception of our experiences at work. Firstly there are those deeper connections between two people; when we feel we have someone who we trust at work, who is a genuine friend, who listens to us and understands us. According to Gallup, people who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged in their jobs. The second type of social connection is feeling a sense of belonging to a social group; possibly your team at work, or a group of colleagues for example.
Creating experiences which facilitate connections at work starts with building an inclusive workplace. So just how so you go about enabling connection in the workplace?
- Start by listening to your people. Genuinely ensuring your people are listened to and feel heard, will go a long way to building connections. When we feel listened to it can build trust and psychological safety if we ensure we listen without judgement.
- Role model the behaviours we wish to see. We can create social norms around inclusivity and connection by ensuring our behaviour role models this. Being friendly, available, non-judgemental, and expanding your connections can help to show people that connections are valued.
- Make it easy for people to connect in ways that work for them. Don’t make assumptions about how people like to connect, some people love the phone, others hate it. Find out what works for the people you work with and do more of it
- Deliberately create opportunities for people to connect and give people the space and time to do this. From ensuring employees regularly take lunch or have a coffee together, through to formal peer mentoring programmes or collaboration events, find ways to encourage connections to flourish and grow. Employee networks and communities of practice can also work well to give employees space to make connections with others they something in common with.
- Make it easy for employees to connect. A simple employee directory or similar can help know who to go to for what and encourage connections to be made.
Making connections at work can take time and effort but the end result will be worth it. When designing employee experiences make sure you consider how you can build in opportunities for employees to connect – you won’t regret it.
