Let’s Bowl Together Again

I’ve been a huge proponent of people working where and when they need to, as the route to achieving the best results at work, while integrating the unique needs of our personal situations. What I am NOT in favor of is isolation.

“We need a world where inclusion is front and center… Everyone has a right to feel that they belong in the workplace.” Johnny C. Taylor, President of SHRM.

“We’re at a really important turning point in American history. What I wrote in ‘Bowling Alone’ is even more relevant now. Because what we’ve seen over the last 25 years is a deepening and intensifying of that trend. We’ve become more socially isolated, and we can see it in every facet in our lives. We can see it in the surgeon general’s talk about loneliness. He’s been talking recently about the psychological state of being lonely. Social isolation leads to lots of bad things. It’s bad for your health, but it’s really bad for the country, because people who are isolated, and especially young men who are isolated, are vulnerable to the appeals of some false community.” Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone.

The research underlying living well and long is irrefutable: WE NEED COMMUNITY! WE NEED EACH OTHER, and it is a human condition to really BELONG!

Working and contributing is most often measured in employment statistics, productivity, etc. Enlightened organizations measure employee engagement, well-being, retention, and facsimile metrics. The very best also measure organizational cultural health.

As a healthy society, we would also greatly benefit from measuring belonging. This is a two way street: Employees have to show up and want to belong, while employers need to create the conditions to do so. This does not have to be complicated. My research shows that it involves four questions that ideally receive a thumbs up more often than not:

Can I be my genuine, authentic self at work?
Do I feel psychologically and physically safe in my work environment?
Do I feel that I provide real value and make a contribution to others?
Do I feel welcome, recognized and appreciated, while offering the same to others?

On occasion, bowling alone has merit. We need peace, quiet and to be comfortable with ourselves. Most often, we need to be part of something that meaningfully advances our purpose and other human beings.

If organizations score high on belonging (per the above four questions), without gaming the system, they ideally should be rewarded with a material reduction in corporate income tax or equivalent for non-profit institutions. Why? They are making a major investment in putting people first! The benefit to the organization and society overall is a huge ROI.

As other institutions lose their community foothold (churches/clubs/etc.), we need to be confident that the workplace is promoting a greater sense of thriving together, and much less bowling alone. This is a leadership call to action: If you want to run any organization, you must know how to create conditions for belonging. Any mediocre manager (or AI) can hit a net income or earnings target. How you do it is the hard part.

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now,

- Lorne

One Millennial View: Sometimes I wonder if we remember what loneliness is. Most of us have to make a sacrificial effort to be more than one foot away from a device that can connect us to anyone at any time. Since there is always someone or something virtually communicating with us, we forget to seek connection in its most meaningful forms. That’s why belonging is a two way street. Bowling alone is safer, more convenient, less expensive, faster, less apologetic and sufficient, however belonging attracts the bowlers that dare to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the alley.

- Garrett

Let’s Bowl Together Again

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