The Shift | March 16th

As Blink’s fortnightly newsletter for frontline champions,?The Shift?always focuses on frontline news and insights. And for this edition, we’re looking at the theme of?‘connection’?in particular.?

This content looks better on email.?Subscribe?to get The Shift in your inbox.

Workplace transactions vs workplace connections

Do you and your teams?transact?or?connect?when you’re at work??

In a company culture that promotes transactions, conversations might be limited to the daily tasks ahead.?Co-workers interact in practical ways and meaningful connections are rarely ever made.

This is problematic for several reasons.

Primarily because relationship-building is essential for a happy, productive team. It’s also becoming?a hygiene factor?— something that employees?expect?as standard from an engaging role. If workers don’t find the community and connectedness they're expecting from a team, this can be as much of an attrition driver as any other consideration.?46% of workers are likely to leave a job as a result of loneliness,?according to EY,?while 80% of US employees say that having close friends at work creates a strong sense of belonging to the organization.?

These findings should concern but also inspire frontline leaders.?The deskless nature of frontline roles can make it hard to form and nurture work relationships organically.?Instead, leaders need to provide opportunities for connection and encourage team-wide involvement. For example:?

• Offer dedicated spaces for co-workers to?connect?more than?transact:?This could be in?Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)?but less formal avenues are worth exploring too. Ask yourself: how else can deskless co-workers stay connected and in conversation throughout the working day??
• Promote bidirectional feedback:?Information is too often passed ‘down’ from HQ to the frontline, and yet engaging and learning from frontline teams can unlock transformative productivity. A culture of connection requires frequent, open, and two-way dialog. Think instant messaging channels, pulse surveys, interactive feeds, and so on
• Ensure inclusivity:?Frontline teams are becoming increasingly multilingual. It’s one thing to extend tools and technology to the frontline, but if only English-speaking demographics can use them, then you won’t achieve the connections you’re after

Are you quiet leading?

There's not a lot of talk about the role that leaders play in quiet quitting. That’s why this recent article —?Quiet leading: The potential source of hiring and retention challenges?— caught our eye.?

In it, the CEO and founder of LifeSpeak — an employee wellbeing platform — writes:?“Caring about your employees requires more than checking a box. You have to treat your people like people and create a culture that will help them thrive.”?

This builds naturally on transactions vs connections:?not all leaders are putting in the?effort to push their teams beyond transactional interactions and encourage meaningful connections.?

“Quiet leaders make it harder for employees to feel like they belong”,?but it’s not about forcing contrived culture-building activities.?Frontline leaders need to respect the uniqueness of frontline culture challenges and the initiatives that will truly deliver what the frontline wants and needs. That might mean funding a team-wide lunch every month, being more present as a leader and celebrating discretionary effort, investing in?tools that help frontline teams to stay in touch, or all of the above.

Workplace relationships are particularly important for Gen Z and Millennial workers?and?‘stay interviews’?(currently deployed by just?27% of US HR decision-makers) can be transformational in terms of understanding how well workers’ expectations are being met when it comes to meaningful?connection.

Conference season is coming

There’s been spring snow in the UK, record rains in California, and DC’s weather has bounced from balmy temperatures to blizzards in just a matter of days, but the seasons are a-changing — and that means that 2023's conference scene will soon come to full bloom.?

In the next six weeks, we’ll be?meeting with and learning from frontline leaders at:?

• ViVE 2023?in Nashville, March 26-29 (find us at booth 2629)?
• Employee Engagement Summit?in London, April 19 (win a free ticket?worth ￡600 through Blink!)?
• ADP Pro Summit, Las Vegas, April 20-21?
• ASHHRA, Charlotte, April 23-25?

... and we'll be attending plenty of other conferences later in the year.?

We look forward to connecting with you all soon.?

Elsewhere on the internet

Have you ever seen a truck driver handle an 18-wheeler with?so much precision?that they drop a teabag attached to the rear into a mug?and?back out again??Now you can.

It’s just 57 seconds of footage but?a mind-blowing demonstration of frontline skill.?

Know someone who would enjoy The Shift? Share?this link?and they can join you in receiving the?only?update for frontline champions.?