Making Connections
Making Connections
I’ve become a recent fan of playing the New York Times’ daily puzzles online, and one of my favorites is Connections. Sixteen words are provided, and the goal is to form four groups of four words that are in some way connected. You have to figure out what the connection is, and you get four mistakes, after which the game ends and the correct answers pop up. For example, on the day that I’m writing this, four connected words are bar, dinner, liberty, and tinker. They’re all “words before ‘bell’”.
When I first started playing, I would find two or three words that appeared to be obviously connected. But finding the last one or two for a group proved elusive. My initial thoughts about the connections were generally wrong. Then, I would look up definitions to refresh my memory on how they were used. I’d think about informal uses of words, and different ways of how they might be linked. The good news is, once I got the first three groups, the last one was obvious (there were only four words left!), even if I didn’t understand why they were connected. (more…)
Communication is simultaneously one of the most simple and complex activities we engage in as humans. Two or more people can talk about a topic and completely understand each other in one moment, and in the next moment recognize a disconnect has occurred. Colleagues who have trusting relationships will typically recognize this more quickly and get back on track. But often in organizations, leaders with contrasting priorities will continue to move forward without recognizing the growing divide between their work and that of their associates. They focus more on talking than listening. And failure to listen to colleagues ultimately impacts organizational productivity and profitability. 
As a leader, do you know whether your team is connecting, whispering, or shouting? A recent Gallup survey1 identified three categories to describe employees’ engagement at work.
Does your team know your core values and personality style?
As leaders welcome the new year and identify priorities for themselves and their organizations, one topic stands out that may be badly in need of more attention. It’s their organizational values.
Think back a few years to when you were in elementary, middle, or high school. The dynamics of navigating the playground and hanging out around school was often just as much of a challenge as mastering your classes. Sure, for some it seemed easy, but for others it was fraught with social stress of making friends, keeping friends, avoiding bullies, trying to be the bully, finding acceptance, and developing trusting relationships.
During the first five months of 2020 we’ve experienced multiple crises. People started the year preparing their vision for 2020, drawing a comparison with having 20/20 visual acuity. But I’m sure no one had this vision for five months filled with: Political uncertainty, a pandemic, economic meltdown, Supply chain interruption, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, killer hornets, senseless killings, protests, and riots
All across the U.S., after several months of orders to stay at home, shelter in place, and work remotely, resulting in many places of business being shuttered, the pressure is on to open up the economy again. The “save lives” focus is shifting to “save the economy.” Several states are venturing forward by opening public spaces and business-to-consumer locations.