As John Maxwell wrote “Everyone communicates. Few connect. It’s difficult to connect with people while pursuing your own selfish agenda. By nature, connecting is a giving experience.” Connection is the strategy of successful leaders. Connection is the linkage among people who share a similarity, such as the same friends and associates, interests and concerns, careers, status in life, employers and so on.
Living in and through the pandemic wherein communication via social media and technological devices was the only way to communicate and connect has made us appreciate the value of direct contact more than ever in the past. Direct contact cannot be replaced or underestimated; it is what builds and strengthens connections. People still want and need to establish relationships, particularly in the workplace, to define or confirm their personal and professional identity and worth. Other people serve as our teachers and students, and having a face-to-face connection helps us grow as human beings. This is validated by what is known as the Hawthorne Effect.
The Hawthorne Effect is a behavioural phenomenon discovered by Harvard Business School professors who were conducting environmental factors research from 1927 to 1932 at the Hawthorne Works plant of Western Electric. The professors found that the workers’ performance and productivity improved, regardless of the workplace manipulations the researchers introduced. This finding suggests that the presence of the researchers and their close scrutiny, motivated the workers to work faster and better. Although the scientific basis of this research has been challenged, the evidence at first glance suggests that people do their best when they are aware of leaders’ attention to their work and the positive emotional connection they make to their leadership. More recent research has confirmed that a positive and strength-giving connection to one’s leader does in fact improve overall employee performance.
Catherine is the President and CEO of CORPORATE HARMONY, providing virtual solutions for leadership development and organizational culture change. Her leadership and coaching experience as a Project Manager in an ever-changing, fast moving technological organization with unrelenting demands drove her to the realization that a positive mindset and strength-building behaviors are essential for today’s complex and chaotic organizational systems. CORPORATE HARMONY’s virtual platform of programs, coaching and performance measurement, is an innovative online technology of tested proprietary content. The world-class content of CORPORATE HARMONY’s Positive Presence Program develops the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and the necessary ‘Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies’ for maintaining a positive and energized mindset and increased performance in today’s complex work environment, and leading to a culture of collaboration and connection. Catherine’s vision for Corporate Harmony is to bring the skill of “Positive Presence” to the corporate world as it becomes more complex, ambiguous and chaotic. Catherine is uniquely positioned to impact organizations’ productivity and long term success, with her powerful vision of eliminating bad stress from every workplace around the globe, bringing purpose into the people equation to promote healthy, productive and meaningful work cultures and turn the tide on the neglect of mental health on a global scale. Catherine is author of the book: “CORPORATE HARMONY – The Performance Link for Today’s Modern Organization” Catherine can be reached at: Catherine.Osborne@corporateharmony.ca or go to ‘contact us’ on our website www.corporateharmony.ca. Catherine is available for consultation, and can be reached by 519-695-3407.