Tag Archives: intentional connector

Posted on

Practice Five Minute Favors

five minutes on timer

#13 Practice Five Minute Favors

In his excellent book Give and Take, Wharton professor Adam Grant advocates the practice of “five minute favors,” i.e. you should be willing to help anyone if it takes only five minutes. Grant argues that helping others connects them to us and helps develop a supportive network.

This is the thirteenth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Posted on

Affirm People in Introductions

Business Lunch to Stop Burnout

#10 Introduce People with Affirming Statements

When you make introductions, get in the habit of making a positive comment about the person. The positive comment must be genuine, however. As they say in the southern U.S., “it can’t be Saccharine… it has to be real sugar.” For example, you might introduce Tom by saying “I’d like you to meet Tom. He’s an outstanding engineer.” or “He’s one of the smartest people I know.” or “He’s an avid runner.”

This is the tenth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Posted on

Recognize and Affirm Grit

#9 Recognize and Affirm Grit – Psychologist Angela Duckworth found that affirming people’s day-in-and-day-out passion, work effort and perseverance helped them develop “grit,” a form of tenacity that makes them more effective workers. Be sure to talk about grit, to look for signs of it in others and affirm them for it.

This is the ninth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others.  Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

Posted on

Connect by Focusing on the Positives

Smiley face balloons looking up representing positivity

#8 Develop the Habit of Emphasizing Positives

Psychologist John Gottman first observed that marriages were less likely to survive when the positive/negative ratio of interactions dipped below 5-to-1 (i.e. five positives to every negative) during conflict discussions, and that successful couples have a ratio of 20-to-1 during non-conflict discussions. More recently the psychologist Barbara Frederickson found that a ratio of  3-to-1 applied in the workplace. Human beings need affirmation and recognition so get in the habit of looking out for ways to affirm and serve others. Do this by looking for task strengths and character strengths. Task strengths reflect the excellence of someone’s work. Character strengths reflect the way someone goes about his/her work.

Posted on

“Intentional Connectors” boost employee engagment

Years ago when I was chief marketing officer for a business unit at Charles Schwab, I met David Bradley for lunch in New York City. David is an extremely successful entrepreneur. He founded the Corporate Executive Board and is the owner of The Atlantic magazine. David wanted to pick my brain about how to make his magazine more attractive to advertisers. To my surprise, early in our conversation David asked me to tell him about my personal story…where I was born and grew up, what events influenced my beliefs, who were the individuals I most admired, etc. As I began to recount my journey in life, David asked question after question and was genuinely interested in me.

After a long lunch conversation, I felt like David cared about me as a person and not just as a potential source of revenue. His example taught me a powerful lesson: intentionally connecting with people is wise. I believe being what we refer to as an “Intentional Connector” is one of the factors that has contributed to David’s success.

Many of our clients at E Pluribus Partners have committed to become Intentional Connectors in 2008. As our work shows, great leaders are Intentional Connectors. By their words and deeds, they create Connection Cultures that improve employee engagement, productivity and innovation. Why don’t you commit to becoming an Intentional Connector too? The personal benefits include improved physical and mental health and superior productivity and creativity.

Empathy and understanding provide the foundation to establish human connections. Would the people who work alongside you say that you think of them as human doings or human beings? Do you know their stories? We encourage you to devote some time early this year to getting to know the people around you. When you do you’ll find that, in addition to enriching your life at work, your colleagues will become more trusting and cooperative. One-on-one time during an occasional coffee break or lunch together is a great opportunity to get to know your colleagues. This simple step is common sense… yet in our day and age it is surprisingly uncommon in practice. Task excellence is a must to thrive in business but it is unsustainable if not accompanied by the relationship excellence that comes from a Connection Culture.