It’s encouraging to see more leaders identify connection as a primary factor contributing to their organization’s sustained success. Fortune magazine recently recognized Theo Epstein, President, Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball and the Cubs organization, as #1 on its world’s greatest leaders list. Last year the Cubs won the World Series and broke the franchise’s 108-year World Series title drought, the longest in professional sports.
I had the privilege of contributing a guest column to a recent issue of Business Standard, a leading business publication in India. The article tells the story of how Admiral Vern Clark used the principles of Connection Culture to lead a turnaround of the U.S. Navy. Read the article.
| Date: | March 16, 2017 |
|---|---|
| Appearance: | Guest Column in Business Standard |
| Outlet: | Business Standard |
| Location: | Mumbai, India |
| Format: | Newspaper |
An old fad is making a comeback: the “brutally honest workplace.” From my vantage point, interacting with your colleagues using “radical candor” or “radical transparency” is a subtle—and sometimes not so subtle—form of verbal assault that seems to be spreading, given the success of firms like Bridgewater Associates, and contributing to the rise of incivility and insensitivity today. Proponents of this approach sometimes say that offering constructive criticism should come from a caring mindset but, from what I’ve seen, it merely gives the arrogant and the bullies permission to verbally attack others in the name of honesty. Fortunately, recent research shows the foolishness of this approach (in fact, even mild expressions of rudeness have been shown to impair team performance).
In his excellent TED Talk titled “Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that?,” physician Brian Goldman describes the first medical mistake he made, how he made mistakes “over and over again,” and how the culture he worked in made him feel “alone, ashamed and unsupported.” The culture Dr. Goldman describes contributes to widespread burnout in medicine today and it makes future medical mistakes more likely.
The New England Patriots just won their fifth National Football League Championship since 2002, but their success isn’t a surprise to those who study connection. Here’s what we wrote about the team in the 2007 book Fired Up or Burned Out:
“Connection Culture Discussion on TotalPicture Radio”
by Peter Clayton and Michael Stallard
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Last year when I was teaching a Connection Culture workshop in Amsterdam, Carmina Glazenborg from Bentley Systems in Amstelveen, The Netherlands, shared with the group her experience working as an intern at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Listen to Ms. Glazenborg’s story by clicking on the video above. (more…)
Could something as simple as regularly having a meal with colleagues to discuss work experience-related issues help reduce burnout? It seems too simple doesn’t it? Although several factors contribute to burnout, there is good reason to believe connection practices such as taking time to talk with others over lunch or dinner provides a measure of protection. It is certainly having that desired effect at Mayo Clinic.
Congratulations to Texas Christian University (TCU) for being recognized by The Wall Street Journal as #2 in the U.S. for student engagement, an assessment that measures, according to the Journal, “how connected the students are with their school, each other and the outside world, and how challenging their courses are…”
To learn about TCU’s unique “Connection Culture” check out this TCU Magazine article and the TCU Center for Connection Culture.
I’d like you to be aware of the upcoming workshop co-offered by New Jersey Organization Development and TCU Center for Connection Culture that is being opened up to outside individuals for a limited time. Here is a rare opportunity for you to experience the workshop we do for institutions and consider whether to bring it to your own organization. I hope to see you there!
| Date: | November 3, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. |
| Event: | Connection Culture Workshop on November 3 |
| Topic: | How to Build a Connection Culture in the Workshop |
| Sponsor: | New Jersey Organization Development |
| Venue: | Ramada Plaza in Newark, NJ |
| Location: | 160 Frontage Road Newark, NJ 07114 |
| Public: | Public |
| Registration: | Click here to register. |
| More Info: | Click here for more information. |
Employee engagement has been a glaring and expensive problem for years, costing companies billions of dollars in lost productivity and employee turnover. I discuss this and other workplace issues with Peter Clayton, host of the Leadership Channel podcast on TotalPicture Radio.