Why Intentional Connections During a Time of Social Distancing Matter So Much

The Challenge

Companies are uniquely positioned to help people create social connections. This belief prompted former United States Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.Sc., to write a Harvard Business Review article on the topic in 2018. He said that “Our understanding of biology, psychology, and the workplace calls for companies to make fostering social connections a strategic priority.” Loneliness or a lack of social connections isn’t just bad for our health; it’s also bad for business. Researchers from Gallup found that having strong social connections at work makes employees more likely to be engaged with their jobs and produce higher-quality work, and less likely to fall sick or be injured. Without strong social connections, these gains become losses. Connection can also help indirectly by enhancing self-esteem and self-efficacy while also shifting our experience toward positive emotions —all of which can buffer an individual during stressful situations and have positive effects on health and well-being.

Lydia Denworth’s research on positive relationships defines loneliness as “the mismatch between what people want and what they get, socially.” We know that loneliness is a growing health epidemic. We live in the most technologically connected age in the history of civilization, yet rates of loneliness have doubled since the 1980s. Today, over 40% of adults in America report feeling lonely, and research suggests that the real number may well be higher. Additionally, the number of people who report having a close confidante in their lives has been declining over the past few decades. In the workplace, many employees — and half of CEOs — report feeling lonely in their roles.

Lonely workers are unhealthy workers. Over thousands of years, the value of social connection has become baked into our nervous systems such that the absence of such a protective force creates a stress state in the body. According to the former surgeon general, LONELINESS SHORTENS LIFESPANS IN A WAY SIMILAR TO SMOKING 15 CIGARETTES A DAY. Loneliness causes stress, and long-term or chronic stress leads to more frequent elevations of a key stress hormone, cortisol. It is also linked to higher levels of inflammation in the body. This damages blood vessels and other tissues, increasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, joint disease, depression, and obesity. Chronic stress can also hijack your brain’s prefrontal cortex, which governs decision making, planning, emotional regulation, analysis, and abstract thinking.

If you can’t plan, analyze information or make decisions effectively because you are in a state of chronic stress, how effective do you think you’ll be at work? Probably not very effective, and that’s why isolation in the workplace is costly. At work, loneliness and lack of social support can lead to mental sluggishness that impairs productivity, stifles creativity, and hinders decision-making. This directly impacts a company’s revenue, spending, and organizational performance. The mental and physical effects of social isolation lead to higher costs for sick leave and health insurance claims too. On the flip side, positive social relationships strengthen self-esteem and self-efficacy, engagement, employee retention and productivity—positively impacting the bottom line.

The modern workplace is inadvertently contributing to the challenge. Telework and contracting arrangements offer employees flexibility and for many, improved quality of life. But they also increase isolation and decrease a sense of belonging. Even in communal office environments, such as open floor plans, most workers are focused on productivity and task completion leaving little time for building social connections. And that’s under normal circumstances...we are not living under normal circumstances. COVID-19 is keeping us apart.

This challenge is one of developing cohesive teams – cohesive teams are psychologically safe, generate more innovative ideas, make more informed decisions, and perform better.

The Engagement

We are preventing COVID-19 spread in communities by shutting things down and physically distancing ourselves from family, friends, neighbors and colleagues, which is drastically limiting opportunities for genuine social connection. Our clients are all shifting to work-from-home scenarios until further notice. In some cases, teams were already distributed and work is continuing as planned. In many other cases, teams are still getting used to it. A lot of the teams we work with had members who work from home 1-2 days a week, or work in different offices a few days per week, but also came together to build social connections in person. Now, they cannot do that, so we are actively designing virtual experiences for team to connect, continue building trust and psychological safety, and support each other through this uncertain time. So, far these experiences have ranged from a curated list of tips and exercises to a custom-designed and facilitated virtual meeting for an organization’s top 50 leaders, but most have been a series of 30-120-minute virtual meetings focused on keeping intact teams connected and cohesive while they remain apart.

The Results

Time will tell what the long-term results will be, but our clients have already reported a reduced level of anxiety and uneasiness. They have increased confidence that their teammates and managers will have their backs no matter what. They also think they will be better set up for success when they return to work, having spent dedicated time focused on building connections and supporting each other.

The sr4 Insight

What do people miss when they are not together? They miss each other. According to recent research from Gensler, people who work in an office spend 8% of their time socializing. 8% might not seem like that much. Going back to Murthy’s research, that number has actually been declining in recent years, but 8% adds up over time. When people are not together, they miss the sporadic moments of connection, casual human interaction, the accompanying sense of belonging, and the surge of energy many of us feel when we work in an office with our colleagues.

If you can’t bring people together physically, then it’s important to counterbalance the deficit with more frequent and in-depth interactions that intentionally fill in the gaps by helping them get to know one another and build trust and psychological safety so they can start working more cohesively. If they typically spend 8% of their time socializing with their teammates when they are in the office, that adds up to 38 minutes a day. We need to create habits that allow us to spend at least the same amount of time socializing and building positive social connections when we are not together so we can avoid feeling lonely and isolated.

What those habits are will vary by organization, team, and individual. They will also change over time. What our team members needed last week is probably different than what they need tomorrow and will also likely depend on their living situation. Make sure to ask your colleagues what healthy social relationships look like for them daily, and make an effort to facilitate healthy social relationships virtually. Listen and ask questions, like: What do you need today or this week? And, how do I make it possible for you? Or, is there someone you need to connect with who you either don’t know well or feel uneasy about? How can I make connecting with that person easier for you?

Sources

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/index.html

https://www.strategy-business.com/article/Virtually-Alone-Real-Ways-to-Connect-Remote-Teams?gko=df868

https://www.gensler.com/uploads/document/337/file/2013_US_Workplace_Survey_07_15_2013.pdf

https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017/09/work-and-the-loneliness-epidemic

http://workplacementalhealth.org/News-Events/Blog/January-2018/Loneliness-in-the-Workplace-Can-Be-a-High-Cost