We live in a world where we are connected most of the day to some kind of electronic device. We are constantly recharging the batteries of our exhausted iPhones and devices of all sorts, at pains to minimise the amount of time we are without some way of being in contact with others. And yet what is really the strength of our connection to others? What is the quality of that connection and to what extent do we take the same amount of care in charging up our human connections, as we do in charging up our electronic devices? To what extent are we even really connected to ourselves, to our real feelings and how we are?
I have been running a leadership programme this week during which I have witnessed once again, just how many people struggle to say how they are feeling. It as though the speed at which they work and live, and the level of demand they make upon themselves, has numbed them to themselves. In my experience excellence and ambition are two qualities that are consistently highly prized in corporate culture, above and beyond others, such as care for others, or fairness, or authenticity or even courage or innovation. And yet the shadow side of those two qualities come at such a cost: the relentless focus on results, the unswerving tendency to criticise self and others, and the loss of connection to self and others in the process.
The joy, creativity and performance flow that I see unfold when people reconnect to themselves and others moves me every time. Organisations need to find ways of fostering this without the need for leadership programmes to do it for them and their people.
Instead of recharging our phones and electronic devices, how about we find time to recharge ourselves and our connections with those with whom we live and work.