5 Things / Connection First


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This week I met with a keynote client that found, when they issued return-to-office mandates last year, that productivity was higher when people worked remotely. As a result, they backtracked on the mandates and now the vast majority of employees work at home. Now employees who were hired during the pandemic are reporting a lack of belonging – and many employees are burnt out, or close to it – because they work longer hours and don’t have the separation that comes with a commute. It’s a Catch-22 – is the trade-off productivity for belonging?

I certainly don’t think that it has to be that way. I’ve noticed, in my Zoom meetings over the past 6 months or so, there’s been less random “water cooler” type chatter at the beginning of meetings, compared to the first year of the pandemic, when video conferencing was more of a novelty than a norm. I’ve noticed more people blurring their backgrounds, myself included. I’ve noticed less personality.

A few years ago, I met a woman who shared that her team was committed to "connection before content", deliberately building in time for short individual check-ins at the beginning of every team meeting. This could be as simple as asking everyone to share one thing that’s going right and one thing that’s a struggle this week. If the struggles warrant further discussion, those conversations should happen 1:1, leader to team member, or peer to peer. Inclusion requires intention – those conversations may not happen without making time for them to happen. I’m looking forward to addressing this and other ways to create a culture of inclusion and normalize allyship, during my keynote for this client. Please reply if you’d like me to bring this conversation to your company!

This Week's Good Vibes:

  1. To Celebrate Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, Mattel Is Introducing a Doll Based on Hollywood Pioneer Anna May Wong

  2. Ben & Jerry’s Co-founder Starts Cannabis Nonprofit to Support Social Causes

  3. MrBeast Calls Out Transphobic Backlash to Chris Tyson’s Hormone Therapy

  4. Smartsheet Is Now Giving Logo Space to Various Nonprofit Organizations in F1 Racing

    • The tech company Smartsheet is a sponsor of Formula 1 Racing (F1) which gives them prominent logo space on McLaren F1 cars. Instead of their logo, Smartsheet is now giving that space to various nonprofit organizations in a project they call Sponsor X. At a recent Austin race, the spot went to The Hidden Genius Project, a nonprofit that trains and mentors Black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills. Smartsheet’s also raising money for organizations and providing them with the software, training, and technology to run themselves more efficiently. I love this story because it shows a holistic approach to supporting community-based organizations – visibility, money, and technical support – and all of that can ultimately contribute to greater equity and a reduction in the racial wealth gap. (h/t to Karen Catlin for this story)

  5. Democrat Angie Craig Has Joined Other Employers Rejecting the “Paper Ceiling” Blamed for Limiting Millions of Workers

Call to Action:

I see everything as an experiment and have the sticker to go along with it, so I found this article interesting and a worthy read: “Why You Should Start A/B Testing Your DEI Initiatives."


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