So much of our lives are intertwined with money, but relationships truly make us rich. Loneliness and lack of connection have worsened as we've come out of the pandemic. James finds this alarming yet fascinating. He talks about how to foster connections and experience the richness of relationships and connections in our workplace and communities. Relationships are so meaningful that we need to spend more time, effort, and money building them.
We need to prioritize getting to a place of connection. We must ask if we are fostering and experiencing meaning in our connections. A Harvard research survey showed that 61% of young people between 18 and 25 reported feeling lonely frequently or all the time. 51% of young children's mothers feel lonely almost all the time. A broader survey showed the numbers around 50%, which is still high. James talks about how to address this loneliness epidemic.
Episode Highlights:
[05:27] James wants us to recognize that this trend isn't getting better as we come out of the pandemic. The pandemic may not even be the cause of these feelings of loneliness.
[06:49] Most of us have exposure to relationships in our work. If employees were lonely even before they were sent to do work from home, we have a problem.
[07:18] We know a lot of people, but we lack meaningful connection. Are we experiencing meaning in our connections?
[08:12] The three components that create deep connections include structural support, functional support, and quality support. Structural support is being surrounded by people in our immediate environment.
[09:12] Functional support is feeling like we have co-workers who care about our struggles and understand our successes.
[09:43] Quality support is just the positive or negative tone of our interactions.
[11:25] For most of us, the three-legged stool is lopsided. How do we foster deeper connections where we have structural support?
[13:29] The more connected we are, the more efficient we'll be. The less lonely we feel, the more productive we will become.
[14:10] Creating space for connection at a business might feel like wasting money, but it's the most important money you can spend.
[14:47] We need to build authenticity, vulnerability, and compassion into the environment.
[16:28] We need more casual conversations that take us deeper than just the how are you.
[17:18] Build questions into your repertoire to foster connection. Level 1 questions include: What's been the highlight of your day? Are you working on anything interesting?
[19:44] We need to train ourselves and our leaders and teams on how to dig deeper and have harder conversations with each other. Prioritize active listening skills and emotional intelligence.
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