Small business coach Howard Partridge explains the power of community and connectedness to help leaders and teams become more engaged, productive and ultimately successful.
Every human being has a longing for belonging. We all want to feel loved, accepted, and validated. We want to feel that our lives matter. Deep down, we want to belong to something bigger than ourselves. We want to make a positive difference. Today, we are more connected digitally than ever before, and yet we often feel more isolated and disconnected personally than ever.
This sense of isolation not only affects our personal lives, but dramatically affects our work life as well. The ongoing Gallup Poll reveals that 70 percent of American workers are disengaged from their work. Perhaps even more disturbing, 18 percent of those workers are actively disengaged, meaning they are actually working against the success of the company. Not surprisingly, this lack of positive purpose bleeds over from employees to customers and has a serious negative impact on our organizations.
The Power of Community in Teams
There is, however, one simple concept by which leaders can reengage their team members and transform their business to be phenomenally successful. That concept is community, and that’s what The Power of Community is all about. Building a sense of community in your organization will not only help you engage your team, but will create more loyal and devoted clients in the process, which in turn will create higher returns for your organization.
Community has many meanings for many people. We often use it to refer to a neighborhood or local area, and we sometimes refer to an ethnic group as a community, but the kind of community we are talking about goes much deeper than just a neighborhood or a group of people. It’s about the sense of belonging that all humans hunger for—the need to be connected to one another, the deep desire to be a part of something meaningful that makes a difference. This longing for belonging can have either positive or negative consequences. It’s the reason people join clubs and do volunteer work, and it’s also the reason people join gangs.
The Power of Connectedness in Communities
A genuine community is a group of people who belong to one another. True community is a group of people who are committed to one another in every way possible. They share the same vision and values in life. They care for one another deeply. Someone you’re in community with would get up in the middle of the night for you for any reason.
Social media gives us a sense of connectedness, but a “virtual community” is an oxymoron. Business owners and managers who understand and implement the principles of building community within their organizations can help their team members experience a feeling of being truly connected and valued. A sense of being part of something bigger than themselves. In return, those employees will love being part of the company and will be more likely to treat others with respect and appreciation. That in turn will create loyal customers and, ultimately, bigger profits for the organization.
Howard Partridge, the founder of Phenomenal Products, annually provides seminars to thousands of small business owners. He has served over 1,000 coaching clients in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Costa Rica, Holland, and the U.K. through his exclusive Howard Partridge Inner Circle Coaching Community and is author of The Power of Community: How Phenomenal Leaders Inspire Their Teams, Wow Their Customers, And Make Bigger Profits.
