Michael Lee Stallard

In the current edition of Chief Learning Officer Magazine Online, Associate Editor Lindsay Edwards Wickman interviews me about how employee engagement and Connection Cultures remove knowledge traps in organizations.  The interview is entitled “Connection Cultures Keep Workers Engaged.”

It’s wise to begin your day on a positive note by saying “good morning” to your colleagues at work.  Failing to recognize them is to communicate indifference.  It’s also wise to begin every meeting with a positive comment.  Research has shown that beginning a meeting with a positive comment makes group participants better listeners and makes the group more constructive.  These benefits of starting your day and meetings off on a positive note are consistent with the findings of Professor Barbara Frederickson’s research on positive emotions.

I learned the foregoing from my friend Alex Kjerulf.  Check out his Chief Happiness Officer blog and his book entitled Happy Hour is 9 to 5: Learn How to Love Your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work. 

Nelson Mandela recently celebrated his 90th birthday. I’m grateful for this man and the wisdom of his example. When he entered Robben Island Prison he was known for confronting his enemies. When he was released 27 years later, Mandela stunned South Africans with his magnanimous behavior toward former adversaries.  Read more »

Disconnection occurs when an acquiring company and the employees of its newly acquired company define excellence in different ways.  In this month’s Atlantic, Mark Bowden writes about this issue in an excellent article entitled “Mr. Murdoch Goes to War.” The article, as you might guess from its title, is about how Rupert Murdoch is altering The Wall Street Journal.

One of the three elements of a Connection Culture is Vision, which includes an organization’s mission, values and reputation.  Altering an organization’s identity is tricky business. This is especially true when the employees of an organization have a strong emotional connection to the organization’s identity.  In such situations employee engagement can decline and quality of execution along with it.  

This is a story I’ll be watching closely for possible inclusion in my next book. If you have any insights about changes at The Wall Street Journal, please post about them or email me at mstallard@epluribuspartners.com.   

Consultant and blogger Michael DeWitt just posted an insightful video on his Spooky Action blog about how the human brain works and its implications for organizational change efforts.  He concludes that leaders should create Connection Cultures to help members of organizations accept and implement change.  Check out DeWitt’s blog.  It’s one of the blogs I frequently read for its wisdom on topics such as leadership, organizations and employee engagement.      

Vistage, the world’s largest organization for chief executive officers, has established a course to help its members create Connection Cultures and increase employee engagement, productivity, innovation and profitability.   E Pluribus Partners will conduct the course for Vistage.  

On September 17, I’ll be giving a presentation  to members of the Wharton Alumni Club in New York City.   The presentation will be about how Connection Cultures meet universal human needs to thrive at work and in life outside of work.  Details can be found at this link. 

An interesting article appeared in yesterday’s New York Times about the explosion of tech-enabled communication in our lives. My friend Dr. Edward Hallowell, the well-respected psychiatrist and former instructor at Harvard Medical School,  says that people need human, face-to-face connection on average about every four hours. Tim Ferriss in his 4-Hour Work Week book has some good advice on this topic too.There’s no question in my mind that Hallowell’s guideline in spot on.

I advise leaders to encourage the people they are responsible for leading to connect with their colleagues over coffee breaks and lunch. It’s a must to maximize employee engagement.

I’m very interested in learning how individuals manage the torrent of electronic communications and face-to-face connection in their lives. Any thoughts?

Here is another post merger trap organizations would be wise to avoid following a merger or acquisition.

The Exclusivity Trap.  Too many leaders fail to keep all the employees they are responsible for leading in the loop.  Instead, they tend to keep a smaller, more exclusive group involved in the conversations about important business issues. The problem is that most individuals want to be informed about issues that are important to them, have a voice to share their opinions and ideas, and be certain that their input is considered before decisions are made. When people are in the loop, it helps meet their needs for respect, recognition and belonging.  When they are not in the loop, they are naturally anxious and tend to fear the worst.

Leaders are wise to regularly meet with all the employees they are responsible for leading to share information about issues that are important to them, ask for their ideas and opinions, and then consider them before making decisions.  Obviously leaders will not be able to do this with every issue.  The leader who keeps all employees in the conversation about issues important to them, however, will be rewarded when employees put more effort in their work because they feel a sense of ownership in achieving the results. 

In this series of posts I’m identifying the traps that I warn leaders to avoid when they are involved in mergers or acquisitions.  Each of the traps I identify affect employee engagement.  By avoiding the traps leaders will also help develop the Connection Culture that all organizations need to achieve sustainable superior performance.

The Superiority Trap.  In all mergers, one party usually feels superior in status and reputation to the other. The subordinate party’s employees are likely to be hypersensitive to this status gap. Managers from the dominant organization who act the slightest bit condescending will offend employees from the subordinate organization.  These employees will be less likely to cooperate with members of the dominant organization.   On the other hand, managers from the dominant organization who look for ways to affirm their new colleagues and show that they have confidence and high expectations for their future performance will be rewarded when their new colleagues live up to their aspirations.