The Great Reconnection

The Great Reconnection As Co-Creation

• Reconnecting employees back to work being done is the goal of The Great Reconnection. A lack of emotional connection drives the disconnect felt in modern workplaces. 
• To decrease that disconnect, the Great Reconnection should be a co-creation where all policies suit all employees. 
  • This can look like working with employees to determine how they are rewarded or compensated – instead of assuming what an employee wants. 
• Two elements to developing this type of collaborative approach is through the implementation of employee attitude surveys: 
  • Step 1: Ask for their input
  • Step 2: Believe what they say
• During the pandemic, employers stopped distributing employee attitude surveys because employers were under “emergency conditions.”
  • This was a crucial mistake because no matter the circumstances that drive situations surrounding work, an employee can still have thoughts, feelings, and attitudes about their situation. 

Company-Wide Strategies For Improving Connection

• There are companies out there that are succeeding when it comes to The Great Reconnection. What are they doing differently? What these companies do differently can provide a frame or guideline for how other companies should act.
  • An example is in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) conversations. Companies with the best DEI know they serve to nurture a sense of belonging.
  • Belonging, equity, and inclusion are all related to the idea that people feel welcome and can participate in the company. 
• Corporate Purpose can be used as an antidote for the Great Disconnection and as a force for growth. 
  • Larry Fink, the chairman of BlackRock, is a big advocate of corporate purpose. This is because when an employee can understand and connect with the company’s purpose, the employee will be a staunch advocate of the corporation.
  • EY’s Corporate Purpose “Building A Better Working World”
  • Neiman Marcus’ Corporate Purpose “Making Life Extraordinary”
  • The first step to utilizing corporate purpose is to ask why the company exists.
  • The second step is to help employees determine and articulate their personal purpose and how that fits into the corporate purpose. Then an employee can use that in their work.
  • Companies can train managers to utilize a subordinate employee’s personal purpose for the result of helping the employee make more intentional decisions about their long-term career path. 
  • Additionally, employees can utilize a company’s corporate purpose to understand more clearly if they are a good fit for the organization. 
  • If the corporate purpose would help manifest and support their personal purpose, then that employee is more likely to stay.
• Recruiters must clearly show potential talent what the company stands for and its values. If a recruiter or the hiring manager does not discuss the company’s values, the likely takeaway from the candidate is that the values aren’t important to the company.
  • Values conversation should be in every interview. 
• Companies should also examine their macro-listening. Organizations can do this through tools like
  • Employee attitude surveys.
  • Automated sentiment analysis, which can analyze communication patterns. 
    • Mr. Mulcahy suggests Microsoft Viva is a great platform to start with.
  • Executive coach feedback sessions.

Strategies for The Great Reconnection At The Manager Level

• Managers don’t need company-wide buy-in and approval to utilize the tactics of The Great Reconnection. 
  • Part of this is through the usage of a softer management style. Listening is key a key part of this style. 
    • First, managers should ask their employees, “How are you?” and listen sincerely to how they’re doing professionally and personally.
    • Secondly, managers should share how they’re doing without verging on being unprofessional. 
    • Thirdly, managers should ask, “How are we?” This opens a thoughtful, human-centric dialogue about increasing productivity.
• A conversation tactic to improve employee connection is using the thorns, roses, and buds method. 
  • Thorns: what is not going well for you? 
    • Over the pandemic, companies became hyper-fixated on thorns and what was wrong without discussing what was going right. 
    • It’s not all about fixing what isn’t working. It’s about celebrating successes and helping positivity become contagious.
  • Roses: what is going well for you? 
  • Buds: what are you working on that’s promising? 
• An additional strategy to help companies connect more is to utilize clear appreciation for employees and consistently acknowledge employee efforts.  
  • Even the growth of the phrase “thank you” and other small acts of appreciation and acknowledgment in the workplace can go a long way with employees. 
  • Listeners can do a quick test of their gratitude: 
    • Think of the last time you explicitly thanked a colleague or employee.
    • Try to calculate how often you express gratitude to others to establish a baseline. 
    • Set a gratitude goal and track acts of appreciation and explicit thank yous. 
  • Handwritten thank-you notes can be useful gratitude tools in digital-first communication.
• Another strategy is to use the following questions, modeled after the British Army, to help individuals understand how they complement a team, especially in remote work situations. Use of these questions can give a sense of alignment and a shared mission to improve accountability and understanding among the team:
  • Does everyone understand the macro mission? 
  • Do I (the employee) understand everyone’s role? 
  • Does everyone on my team understand each other’s role? 

“I love just getting people to treat each other better.” - Kevin Mulcahy

• Managers and companies need to uplevel their reconnection tactics to retain high-quality talent and grow long-term. 
• Kevin delivers workshops on The Great Reconnection and future-proofing HR strategies from his extensive professional expertise and book The Future Workplace Experience: 10 Rules For Mastering Disruption in Recruiting and Engaging Employees. 

Kevin Mulcahy Background

• MBA in Operations and Busines Strategy from Boston College Carroll School of Management
• BA in Management Science, Statistics & Industrial Systems from Trinity College Dublin
• Began his career as Senior Director - Corporate and International Strategy with Sprint
• Mr. Mulcahy served as the Director of International Operations for GlobalFon, Inc.
• He was the Director of Competitive Intelligence, Technology Practice for Fuld & Company
• He has worked as an Executive Coach for Harvard Business School Executive Education, as a Lecturer with Babson College and serves as the Director of Professional Education for Assumptions Matter
• He co-authored The Future Workplace Experience: 10 Rules For Mastering Disruption in Recruiting and Engaging Employees with Jeanne Meister
• Mr. Mulcahy currently serves as the VP, Future of Working and Learning for Future Workplace

Links

• Kevin Mulcahy website

Contact

• Kevin Mulcahy on LinkedIn 
• Kevin Mulcahy email: kevin@kevinmulcahy.com