Executives, let's redefine connection at work.

In the month of March I took part in a discussion on Quiet the Quiet at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. It is a fast-changing world for people I am struck that our leaders are often asked the appropriate issues. What is the best way to weigh the benefits and disadvantages of remote work, the risks and opportunities provided by AI, the need to create an environment that is more welcoming and sustainable.

One question, however, is worthy of more attention: if our workforce changes, technology is changing as well as post-pandemic behaviour and the standards of living change. If the standards and behavior of post-pandemics are changing...don't our leaders also need to evolve also?

The world is now undergoing a young generation of natives who are digitally advancing into the work force. They've grown up watching and sharing videos instead of messaging or calling or texting They are now able to consider TikTok or YouTube as top sources for information. In their personal lives, they are extremely connected and hyper-engaged.

But in their workplaces however, the story is different. We're witnessing massive declines in employee engagement and satisfaction among remote Gen Z and younger millennials. A mere four percent of the young people who work at home or work in hybrid environments are aware of what's required for them at work, and more than half of Gen Z employees are ambivalent or not engaged with their work. When we consider the level of engagement among employees as an important indicator of productivity in the workforce This has substantial implications on all organizations and every company's bottom line.

Why is this disconnect? At work, as well as in everyday life we are prone to desire to be part of the larger picture that the individual we're. We have an innate need to be part of something bigger, and to experience that sense of belonging, which is unambiguous, transparent, and authentic. But the more our society becomes increasingly digitally dispersed and AI-enabled, the harder it is to feel a real connection every day. Particularly, if we haven't modified our methods of working to cater to the demands of our future generations. There is still a tendency for us to ask employees to be able to comprehend a myriad of papers or compose lengthy emails or attend ineffective meetings. The news about layoffs and layoffs is learned and the company's priority from communication that is so scripted and automated that they may have been generated using ChatGPT. The only information we as executives have is cookies-and-cutter surveys about engagement or live events which have very low turn-in rate, as well as the occasionally snarky chats and Q&A.

Traditional managerial models are not effective. We must change the way our leaders appear and engage with employees. In the same way that we're focusing on training our workforce in order to adapt to changing demographic, population and technological trends as reskilling us as leaders in order so that we can build trust and connection at large scale.

I've experimented with this in the past few years . What I've been learning about and applying and think will help us to be more present and lead more effectively:

     1. Realize who you are, and be yourself.

When the pandemic, I ran an international town hall meeting from my parents' home located near Flint, Michigan -- worn out, and in my velvet pajamas with my young son and grandmother bouncing in and out of the background.

This could have been the most efficient communication to date.

Why? because it wasn't scripted, vulnerable, and messy. It's easy to get caught up in "us versus us versus them" dynamic when working in a workplace, especially during times of stress and challenges. It's very simple to imagine "leadership" as a nebulous machines that have no face. The fact that you are video-first, and visual when communicating can be a potent repellent. The result is that you have to get rid of the veil and protect yourself from writing or editing. The most effective way to make yourself visible is to show yourself who you truly are.

At the end of the day, there are definitely examples of leaders falling victim to their weaknesses and backfiring...but I think that in the vast majority cases, the problem was that they were performing to the point of failure. It's important to be able to permit that uncooked self to fail when you are facing your team. There are flaws in everyone which make us human. Everybody wants to see their leaders act with courage. It encourages us to be more like them.

     2. Begin by defining the "why . "

Like other managers, I've had to make difficult decisions over the time over the past year. In the past, I've taken managerial decisions, laid-offs and other changes to close down and restructure projects to increase efficiency. My job is to make that difficult calls, controversial decisions, and quickly implement change throughout our company.

In many cases, I see people seeking to be transparent in their choices, not only"the "what" but additionally the "why". This means that they want to know the larger market or competitive context, the trade-offs considered and sensible, in addition to the procedure of who was involved and the time.

The standard comms method would say that when you face a situation which requires a critical message that demands your attention be somewhat strained, start with the "what" before moving to the point and needed actions. However, I've been better at making people accept the difficult decision in the context of my employees as the most important individuals who have the right to understand the circumstances.

In the end, beginning with "why" is a fundamental rule of all communications . Of course there are always restrictions to fully being honest (legal or PR-related, and management, risk for the client) however I've discovered that most of the time that the obstacles are simply the result of how they are. Perceived. People will not always agree with your decision-making, and you could argue that if they make them the way you do, you're likely not doing your job. However, they will appreciate and accept your choices in the beginning, if you explain the motivation behind the decision.

     3. Spend the time to arrange with your clients in person or through in-person meetings, and make it individual.

Sure, I see the irony of the chief executive of a video-related company letting that. But one of my biggest experiences over the past few months is that we waited for too long, and we weren't aware enough to bring the teams together each day.

In January, just two days after implementing layoffs, our company held the company's kickoff in NYC. Our employees flew in from over 12 countries. We had employees based in Ukraine who traveled by train along with autos and planes for travel to. We eschew the usual event celebration confetti and chose to go with a low-key atmosphere and budget-friendly. This was among the most exciting and vital investing decisions I've ever made.

It is even better in the event that as leaders you travel and go to your team's location wherever they are. We are a distributed executive team spread across eight locations starting from Seattle all the way from Seattle to Switzerland. A majority of the team was appointed in the last 12 months and the group are still in the early phases, and only getting to know each other as an organization. In an effort to speed up this process of getting to know each other better by hosting offsites, we began to hold offsites at the homes of each leader's city. Our CFO's mother gathered us at her fireplace in Vermont. The Head of Sales was wearing his Apron. He made us frittatas to eat breakfast. We held working sessions in the table of the Chef of Product.

The outbreak gave us the capability to look the insides of other's private and home lives . If we are able to tap into this, and incorporate the concept to our lives every day it is possible to form better connected and more efficient teams.

     4. Go between "lean back" to "lean forward" and experience the difference.

A critical communication skill is the ability to design "lean forward" experience rather than "lean back" broadcasts. Our focus spans have been shrinking (now lower than eight seconds which is shorter than the amount of time required to capture a goldfish!). However, we communicate through single-to-many communications, be it via email, which you can browse through or through a large town hall that you sit and observe.

We can see this burden on engagement surfacing in our own data, where the average time to stop watching videos decreases over the past few years. If we do not alter the way we approach it, tuning out can significantly impact our ability ensure that our teams are in sync and productive.

The key here is changing our perspective and openness to the new. There is a young generation of workers which is ahead in their capacity to create and record rich and genuine data. They're ahead of us because they're not subjected to the limitations our generation faced throughout the years in conventional working settings.

The truth is that employees do not quit their job. They simply let their managers leave. Well, CEOs are the most effective managers according to a survey of over 113,000 managers, the the most crucial factor in effective management is the confidence of their staff. As leaders, we must teach your employees how to express their personalities in more authentic, fascinating and authentic methods. I'm betting on the executives who are open to the new paradigm will be far more successful in supervising the next generation of employees. They'll be better educated and involved teams distributed across the globe and align them to better results, and establish long-lasting partnerships which produce outstanding work. They'll be able to stop communication and form connections better.

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