If the COVID pandemic taught us anything, it’s the deep need in our souls to be connected with others. Even introverts, who might have relished being locked up and left alone to do his/her work, felt the gaping crevasse of connectedness. There is a need we all have to be part of community. Only an exceptional few can live as isolated nomads or hermits.
We know from employee engagement surveys that one of the most significant predictors of engagement and retention is an important relationship with someone else at work. Translation: connection.
If you want to create deeper engagement, motivation, and a healthy work environment, find ways to connect people. Sure, team cocktail parties might be a thing to do. But there are other ways to create that connection, for example, working on another team or small workgroup, partnering up peers to mentor each other, and taking the time to puzzle through a challenge with someone else.