You need your connections before you need your connections
Great team members build connections over time - and ahead of time. Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
The whole point of operating as teams and networks of teams is to achieve outcomes in a way that was not possible working independently, so improving the quality the interaction of people is central to being a great team member. The phrase that I use is to “create better connections”.
Professor Brene Brown defines connection as “the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued”.
I love this as a way of thinking. Viewing connections as an energy source is powerful.
Great team members seem to do this intuitively. It’s also something that we can all do with a bit more attention and design. One of the key things to remember is that:
You need your connections before you need your connections.
What I mean by this is that with human relationships, if we only invest time and effort in relationships when we need something from others our relationships become transactional. People feel like they are a resource that is being used to achieve an outcome, rather than a human that feels “seen, heard and valued”. We need to build those connections over time - and ahead of time.
A recent (and admittedly random) experience of this occurred in our household. Our toilet got blocked. Of the nearest neighbours, we had only established a strong connection with one other household that we were comfortable enough to ask to use their facilities. Unfortunately, it was school holidays and they were away! Because we hadn’t established strong relationships with others, we didn’t feel OK about knocking on their door to ask for access to their toilet. By the time we needed the connection, it was too late to establish them.
We needed the connection before we needed the connection.
Some questions for you to consider this week:
Who do you need to establish, maintain or improve connection with?
When have connections helped you to be more effective in your roles?
What are the best ways for someone to help others to connect with you?