Connectedness

Improve talent retention and employee productivity by encouraging connectedness in your firm

In Connectedness, British business journalist and management theorist Des Dearlove delivers an insightful and practical discussion of how firms can build meaningful and authentic connections with their employees, encouraging productivity, improving talent retention, and creating an enduring competitive advantage. You’ll find out why the latest peer-reviewed research lends support to the notion that it is the nature of interpersonal environments – and not compensation – that many employees consider to be the most impactful when they’re deciding whether to exit a job.

In the book, you’ll:

• Explore the most important factors that determine the connectedness of a healthy working environment
• Common mistakes and myths about employee wellbeing that sidetrack managerial efforts to improve working culture at a firm
• Examples and case studies that demonstrate the real-world impact of the ideas discussed in the book

Perfect for managers, executives, directors, and other business leaders seeking to improve employee retention, productivity, engagement, and health, Connectedness is also a must-read resource for employees, human resources professionals, consultants, and everyone else with an interest in employee wellbeing and workplace productivity and safety.

Foreword by Rita McGrath ix

Introduction by Des Dearlove & Lisa Humphries 1

I We, Human 9

1 Every Working Relationship Can Be Better: Here’s How 11
Michael Bungay Stanier

2 The Four- day Week: Here’s Why 17
Andrew Barnes

3 Why We Lost Touch with Each Other and How We Reconnect 25
Pia Lauritzen

4 One Simple Change to Improve Your Connections 33
Amanda Nimon-Peters

5 Connection Through Communication 45
Matt Abrahams Copyrighted Material

6 The Power of Pausing 53
Jeanette Bronée

II Ai and US 63

7 AI and the Future of Human Connection 65
Kate O’Neill

8 Tech Is Cool, but People Are Warm 77
Giuseppe Stigliano

9 Ask Not What AI Can Do for You— Ask What You Can Do for AI, to Serve Humanity 85
Hamilton Mann

10 The Case for Humanity in the AI Era 101
Stephanie LeBlanc-Godfrey

11 Human Against the Machine in Forecasting 109
Ville Satopää

III Inclusive Leadership 117

12 Four Simple Words to Help Connect with Others 119
Kirstin Ferguson

13 How to Build Your Human Touch 127
Susie Kennedy

14 Five Ways to Develop Your Meeting Intelligence 137
Soulaima Gourani & Thomas Roulet

15 The UNITE Framework to Build Social Connection at Work 147
Constance Noonan Hadley

16 Devotion and Detachment: The Yin- Yang Equilibrium for Transformative Growth 159
Faisal Hoque

IV Connecting Culture 171

17 Win- Win-Win: When Human Purpose Meets Platform Thinking 173
Daniel Trabucci & Tommaso Buganza

18 Organizational Purpose and Action: Who Sets the Table? 187
Weslynne Ashton

19 The AI- powered Organization: Puzzles to Be Solved 195
Martin Gonzalez

20 Cultivating Active Allyship 209
Poornima Luthra

21 Remote— But Not Disconnected 217
Malissa Clark

V Open Minds 229

22 Making Human Connection Neuroinclusive 231
Ludmila Praslova

23 Inclusion Is the Foundation for Human Connection 243
Mita Mallick

24 Beyond the Individual: The Power of Community 253
Neri Karra Sillaman

25 Empathy 263
Kai Anderson

VI People Pleasers 271

26 How to Avoid Burnout Through the Power of Human Connection 273
Kandi Wiens

27 Leading Gen Z 285
Jenny Fernandez

28 How to Develop Strategic People 297
David Lancefield

29 Your Imagination Is Your Currency 307
Natalie Nixon

About the Editors 315

Acknowledgments 317

Index 319

DES DEARLOVE is a British business journalist and management theorist whose work focuses on the history and state-of-the-art in management theory. He is the Co-founder of Thinkers50, the first global ranking of management thinkers.

LISA HUMPHRIES is a freelance editor and writer, specializing in business and management theory. She has edited, curated, and researched business books and articles for a global portfolio of clients and is a contributing editor for Thinkers50.

Recent studies indicate that 94% of employees are more productive when they feel connected to their colleagues and are twice as likely to stay at their jobs. Other research suggests that most employees value corporate environments even more highly than compensation levels when evaluating whether to stay or leave a position. And, as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, building strong human connections at work has never been more important.

In Connectedness: How the Best Leaders Create Authentic Human Connection in a Disconnected World, distinguished management theorist and business journalist Des Dearlove and Lisa Humphries deliver a startlingly insightful new take on how businesses can forge powerful, meaningful, and authentic connections with their employees. These bonds will increase productivity, improve talent retention, and help to create an enduring competitive advantage.

The book explains why the latest peer-reviewed research supports the idea that it is the nature of interpersonal environments, rather than compensation, that many employees believe is the most important determinant in job retention.

Connectedness walks you through the most important factors to consider when building a connected working environment and describes the most common mistakes and myths about employee well-being that will sidetrack your managerial efforts to improve working culture at your firm. You’ll also find examples and case studies that demonstrate the real-world impact of the ideas presented in the book.

Perfect for executives, managers, directors, and other business leaders doing their best to improve employee retention, engagement, productivity, and health, Connectedness is also a can’t-miss resource for frontline employees, human resources professionals, consultants, and anyone else with an interest in—or responsibility for—employee well-being, safety, and productivity.

Improve employee retention, productivity, well-being, and health by creating a connected, human workplace

Connectedness: How the Best Leaders Create Authentic Human Connection in a Disconnected World, by business journalist and management theorist Des Dearlove and Lisa Humphries is a singular discussion of how to create and maintain an environment of authentic human connection in your workplace that increases productivity, improves safety and health, encourages talent recruitment and retention, and creates an enduring competitive advantage.

The authors discuss the most critical factors that determine the connectedness of a vibrant working culture. They also describe the most common mistakes that managers make when trying to transform and improve the working environment in their company, and the myths that many of us buy into around employee well-being and connection.

You’ll find case studies and examples that illustrate and highlight the potential real-world impact of the concepts discussed within, and why it’s the nature of the interpersonal environment at your firm—not compensation levels—that largely decide whether your employees will stay or move on.

An essential book for managers, executives, and directors, Connectedness is also a must-read for entrepreneurs, founders, human resources professionals, and anyone else interested in boosting your organization’s bottom line.