Hasn’t it been an interesting few years?
We’ve had the “Great Resignation,” where people were leaving their jobs in droves.
We’ve had the “Great Retention,” where we were just trying to keep the people we had and get new hires to show up for the job interview, and now we’ve got what I like to call…
“The Great Disconnect”
As a society, it feels like we are separating when in fact, I feel we need to be coming together to solve the issues we face, and that is no more apparent than in business.
What is the Great Disconnect?
The term “Great Disconnect” isn’t meant to be the next buzzword that floats around in corporations or trends on X. It’s a critical issue that every forward-thinking professional and organization needs to understand. At its core, the Great Disconnect refers to the widening gap between not only leaders and their teams but also individuals with themselves.
Some questions to consider.
It’s essential to understand yourself and establish an authentic connection with who you are before leading others and building meaningful relationships with your teams.
Do you have a good sense of who you are authentically at your core?
If you’re not connected with your team, how can you expect them to connect with each other?
And if your team isn’t connected with the mission of the organization, how can they work effectively towards achieving it?
This divide has been exacerbated by the pandemic, politics, technology, and just the everyday complexities of our modern life. We are busy being busy, and we’re tired.
The Cost of Disconnection.
The failure to address the Great Disconnect can lead to an alarming array of issues—increased turnover, lower employee engagement, and a negative impact on organizational responsiveness. The financial toll can be massive when you consider how much it costs to replace an employee, and onboard and train them. And, let’s not forget the multiplier effect when a good employee quits; it starts other good employees thinking about moving on too. Then what are you left with?
Finally, consider the damage done to your organization’s reputation from a brand perspective, and the fact that internal morale has worsened, and that is much more challenging to rectify.
So what can we do as individual contributors and team leaders?
We can connect. With ourselves. With our teams. With our organizations. When connection is pursued and reinforced, leaders can transcend the Great Disconnect and cultivate a thriving organizational culture. The ripple effect of this connection is felt throughout the entire organization. For example, transparent communication channels are opened, collective goals are more readily achieved, and workplace satisfaction scores rise. This combined effect is not just good for individual well-being; it’s also a catalyst for achieving key performance indicators (KPIs) and driving bottom-line results.
Connecting with your authentic self is a powerful foundation for cultivating an authentic leadership style that resonates with both you and those you lead. It is a process that involves a great deal of continual self-reflection because who you are authentically isn’t frozen in time. You evolve as you experience work and life, with one aspect shaping the other and vice versa.
Connecting with your teams is essential for your leadership to be effective and begins and ends with communication. How you communicate, how you listen, what you share, and how you empower others factor heavily in creating an atmosphere of connection where trust and respect thrive.
Finally, connecting with the organization fosters a strong connection between yourself, your team, and your organization and creates alignment. People need to understand how they are connected in the bigger picture and how what they do matters overall.
The Great Disconnect is not a theoretical problem; it’s a pressing issue that has real-world implications for leaders, teams, and organizations and requires Clarity at all levels to empower, engage, and align. Clarity-driven leadership serves as a powerful solution to bridge the gap of the Great Disconnect – a challenge where individuals and teams often find themselves disconnected from their authentic selves, their colleagues, and their organization. It serves as a compass and helps leaders foster an environment where individuals feel empowered, engaged, and united in their pursuit of the shared vision.
Don’t you deserve that sort of Clarity?
