A paradox of post-pandemic life is that even though people and organizations are better connected than ever before, many people are also struggling with a sense of relational disconnection. Despite the proliferation of tech tools like Zoom, Slack and teams, more than a third of workers say they’re dealing with feelings of loneliness, isolation and disconnectedness, according to a 2022 survey. 

How can we spend so much time communicating while building so little community? One potential factor is that while people are spending a lot of time interacting with colleagues, they’re missing out on opportunities to go deeper and build more meaningful relationships. 

And when isolated employees look elsewhere to seek more fulfilling professional opportunities, it’s bad for business. That puts added pressure on employers looking for ways to engage and retain their people. 

Their challenge is to “create that kind of psychological safety in our workplaces, so people can be centered around something that's all about community connection, warmth, and kindness,” according to Megan Galloway, head of learning experience at Campfire, a company that provides training and development that enables managers to better engage and support their teams. Galloway spoke at From Day One's recent Chicago conference.

Galloway pointed to research on psychological safety by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson that indicates that leaders can enhance the perceived level of psychological safety on their teams by modeling behaviors such as admitting mistakes, approaching problems with curiosity, and adopting a collaborative work style. 

When those behaviors are present, not only are there positive implications for employee wellbeing, but overall team performance is booster, as well. Research at Google indicates that how a team works together—influenced heavily by psychological safety—has a greater impact on the work product than the roster of people on the team. 

Then there’s the retention risks associated with disconnection. In her presentation at From Day One, Campfire’s Galloway highlighted McKinsey research showing that a perceived lack of care from leaders was the top reason for people to leave a job without another one lined up. That implies an exceptional amount of influence among leaders, but it checks out with the findings of another recent survey from UKG that managers impact on their employees’ mental health is equal to that of a spouse, and substantially greater than the impact of a doctor or therapist. 

Organizations whose leaders and managers excel at building connections and an atmosphere of safety and trust clearly have a competitive advantage, not to mention a happier and healthier workplace. So what are the keys to equipping and encouraging managers to operate in that mode? 

For starters, Galloway suggests ensuring that those leaders are taking time to reflect on their own wellbeing, possibly aided by insights from 360 assessments. 
She also suggests encouraging leaders to build new connections with others. While feeling isolated during the pandemic, for example, Galloway began hosting virtual coffee meetings with LinkedIn connections—an exercise that blossomed to include more than 750 participants located around the world. During those gatherings, she sends participants into breakout rooms and encourages them to eschew surface-level conversation in favor of more vulnerable stuff. When the breakout sessions conclude and everyone returns to the primary session, Galloway describes the atmosphere as “electric.” 

“These people have made these incredible, deep connections, they've found intimate things that they have in common with these other folks that they've met, and it's just been an absolutely amazing experience to show how much you can connect with people in a virtual environment,” Galloway says. 

There’s another lesson in Galloway’s virtual gatherings: they were her idea, not something foisted upon her by her company. She says HR leaders interested in fostering organizational community are smart to look for organic groups and activities that they can support and amplify, rather than developing and pushing out their own programming. 

“The engagement initiatives that have always done the best are not the ones that HR started,” Galloway says. “They're the ones that somebody inside of the company was super excited about, and so they took the initiative to go and put themselves out there. And they show up as their own authentic selves, and they attract other people that are also able to show up as their authentic selves.”

It’s never been easy for organizations to foster trust, community and relational depth among their leaders and teams. These days, despite the presence of so many high-tech communication and collaboration tools, the task appears to be as challenging as ever. Yet there are several strong incentives for organizations that commit to nurturing that sort of culture: better work, lower employee turnover and happier people.  

Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Campfire, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight.

Steve Hendershot is an award-winning multimedia journalist and bestselling author. He hosts the Project Management Institute’s top-rated Projectified podcast and operates Cedar Cathedral Narrative Studio in Chicago.