two colleagues laughing, one facing the camera, the other holding her head in her hand

Employees Crave Connection: Here's How to Build It

February 01, 2023 Employee Experience

By Heather Gilmartin Adams, Dani Johnson

The importance of employee well-being, engagement and belonging remains high, even as we face yet another phase of uncertainty and change. Employees want more support from their employers — to the point that many are willing to leave organizations that don’t meet their needs.

That’s why leaders keep asking us how to build connection in the workplace. Connection can help organizations stay agile, keep employees engaged and satisfy customers in the crazy, ever-changing environment we all find ourselves in. In fact, in a recent survey of over 700 employees, we found that organizations with more connection were:

5.4 times more likely to be agile.
3.2 times more likely to have satisfied customers.
2.3 times more likely to have engaged employees.

That same research revealed that if you truly want to enable connection at work, you need to be intentional. The right connections aren’t going to grow organically. You need a way to determine what types of connection need enabling, where, and why, given your goals and the situation. Figure 1 introduces a model to help you do that.

connection matrix

The vertical axis of the model distinguishes between intellectual and emotional connection. Intellectual connection engages people's heads. It refers to what employees need to know — like people, ideas and information. Emotional connection engages people’s hearts. It’s about what employees feel. They feel accepted, like they belong, that they’re plugged in.

The horizontal axis of the model distinguishes between forming and deepening connection. Sometimes people need to form (make) new connections, and other times they need to strengthen (deepen) an existing one.

Ask 3 Questions to Build Connection

As you think about enabling connection, ask yourself: What connection, specifically, am I trying to enable?

More concretely:

Given the situation and my goals, what type of connection do I need to enable?
Do I need people to form a new connection or deepen an existing connection? (How much connection already exists?)
Does the connection need to be intellectual, emotional or both?

If, for example, you’re onboarding a new employee, consider focusing on forming intellectual connection, at least initially. If you’re managing an established team, you may want to focus on deepening emotional connection. And if you’re looking at connection across your organization, you’ll likely want to consider all four aspects of connection.

3 Real Examples of How Companies Enabled Connections

In our research, we came across tons of great stories of leaders enabling different types of connection. The following three examples illustrate what it looks like to enable connection according to the model above.

Example 1: Forming emotional connection with personal check-ins

Senior leaders at retailer Saks OFF 5TH wanted to encourage people to form emotional connection. So they established the expectation that employees spend time connecting personally.

At the beginning of meetings and other interactions, it’s customary to spend a few minutes checking in on non-work stuff. A new employee said:

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“You always start with a personal conversation. It would be gauche to start right away with business.” — Cheryl Smith, Talent and Performance Leader, Saks OFF 5TH

Employees work hard and sometimes put in long hours, of course. But leaders’ expectation of personal connection gives employees time and space to form the emotional connection the company values.

Example 2: Deepening intellectual connection with accountability maps

In a large multinational corporation, employees use an accountability map to identify intellectual connections needed to succeed in a role.

In this exercise, employees map out their key relationships—with peers, reports, leaders, even customers. They then rate how important those relationships are to their ability to get things done. They also rate the quality and strength of each relationship.

The exercise leaves employees with a heat map that helps them prioritize the connections they need to deepen.

Example 3: Deepening intellectual connection with weekly videos

At online learning provider Udemy, leaders wanted to give employees the context and information they needed to do their jobs well. They wanted to provide this context regardless of where or how employees work.

To connect employees to this context, CLO Melissa Daimler posts a video on Slack every Monday. In the video, she shares her priorities and top-of-mind thoughts for the week. She recounted:

“These are the kinds of conversations that might have happened informally, before a meeting or in the hallway. We’re putting them in the digital space.” — Melissa Daimler, CLO, Udemy

Udemy intentionally puts this contextual information where anyone can see it. This approach gives people regular opportunities to update their understanding of the bigger picture in which they’re working.

Building connection at work requires, in this environment, a little more intentionality than it used to. We hope you use this model to think through what types of connection you need to build, why and where. Then you can choose methods appropriate for your goals.

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