Deepening Connection within Our Teams
Whelp. It was that time again. Time to think about what to write about for my contribution to this fine publication. I blame my 20 years as a lawyer in my previous career for my lack of desire to author a scholarly piece on advocacy, fintech and all the other very worthy topics that you, my dear reader (yes, I have stolen that phrase from Bridgerton IYKYK), deserve and maybe crave. I spent two decades drafting footnote and research laden briefs and, frankly, do not feel inspired to put pen to paper in that genre this month.
Alas, I have concluded that there are far more worthy and capable people than I to author encouraging and insightful industry prose on a plethora of critical topics relevant to us all at the start of 2025.
Where that leaves me is offering some words that may provide you with a bit of inspiration and reflection as we all navigate this life together. I think I am a better writer on things from the heart versus the brain, when it comes down to it. Regardless of your title, area of expertise or technical knowledge, as humans, there are certain things that we can all relate to and reflect on in our shared experience. Maybe an article that talks about connection is very timely given the division that surrounds us this season.
Remember those tests you used to take in school that were geared towards helping you pin down a future job or profession? The multiple-choice questions were trying to elicit whether you liked to work with your hands, fix things, work at night or day, etc. Some of the questions were also clearly trying to determine if you like to work on your own or in groups. I don’t recall what profession the tests I took pointed me to, but I do know I was not cut out to work alone, or independently. I prefer, and thrive, in working with a team.
When you analyze the post-pandemic workforce, loneliness and depression still persists for remote workers. According to a USA Today survey in 2024, 34% of the respondents said they feel isolated from their team, 14% reported decreased collaboration with their team and 25% reported fewer opportunities to learn from their team. We know our teams like the flexibility remote work offers, but we cannot forget about the downside – the solitude and loss of connection when working without in-person interaction.
I am not pushing a return to in-office work for all, but I want to continue to beat the drum that while we may offer our team flexibility in working remotely, and having people work from home may help our bottom-line, we cannot forget or overlook the downsides. In fact, we must do more than just remember the downsides, we must solve for them. We must continue to talk about this post-pandemic workforce and how to keep our team feeling connected to one another and to our mission. So, while I am confident you have read a lot of articles about connection and remote work, we need to continue this discussion just as we continue to offer the option for our teams to work remotely.
I recently had one of the best workdays in recent memory with my team. Let me share our current office situation before I dig in. I am lucky enough to lead two groups of teams – one for our association, the Michigan Credit Union League, and also our CUSO, CUSG. Following the pandemic, our association has been humming along very nicely in our office in Lansing, our state capital, on a hybrid work schedule. For CUSG, like a lot of employers, the large office was shuttered during the pandemic, and workers were shifted to remote-work. A few years ago, CUSG opened a collaboration space for remote workers to use. However, the space was in a remote location not easily accessible from the freeway and not conducive to larger gatherings given the choppy and small room sizes. Given these truths, the space was underutilized and sold.
Flash forward to today where CUSG very recently opened its new corporate office in downtown Royal Oak, Michigan. Royal Oak is a bustling suburb of Detroit and is very walkable and loaded with restaurants and coffee shops. So…what was my best day in recent memory?
My best day happened this winter when our CUSG leadership team met and used, for the first time, our new office space in Royal Oak. There was a sense of excitement, similar to what you feel when you unpack and have your first night in your new home. We were gathering again in a functional space, a warm and inviting space that was easy to get to. After our day of departmental updates, we sat in the “lobby” which is akin to a living room with couches and carpet. We ended our Friday with a beer in hand and talked about our future vision. I sat cross-legged on the carpet, petting my dog (my golden retriever George can visit our office due to my lease negotiation!) and laughed and brainstormed with my team. Sounds amazing, right?!
I wish I had a photo of our group meeting that late-Friday afternoon. (I did capture one of our CFO, Wendy Vadnais, with George).
On our Friday workday, even when 5:00 pm came and went, no one was anxious to leave. We were enjoying each other’s company and talking about how our company, CUSG, can better show up in our industry. If you did not know we worked together, a picture of that “meeting” would make you first think we were a family or group of friends at someone’s home. Actually, the team feels like a family and the continued, in-person meetings foster that connection.
As I drove home from work that day, I felt so much pride. Proud of our new space and proud of our team. I felt lucky to have my job and lucky to work with such amazing people. As I reflect on those feelings and that particular workday, it’s clear to me that a remote workday can never compare to that. It can never capture that feeling of belonging and connection. That workday is impossible to recreate in a Zoom or Teams meeting. So, where does that leave us as we think about our everyday work experience?
What is the takeaway for you, my dear reader, from this article?
Creating connections with our team and in our workforce is a challenge. For all of us. We can’t just look at performance and determine that our remote workers are performing so all is well. This “if it is not broke, don’t fix it” motto will only get you so far, for so long. If you don’t focus on engagement and create a sense of belonging with your team, chances are, they will leave. I’m not suggesting that they‘ll leave for a hybrid or in-office work experience, but they will leave for a place that focuses more on their well-being and is, frankly, more fun. We can’t all create the living room team meeting scene I described. I can’t even do that on a regular basis given that several CUSG employees don’t live in a city convenient to our new office. But I can encourage our leaders and give them the tools to engage their teams and know that, while productivity may be humming along, we need to connect and engage with our teams with a focus on their well-being, not simply output. I can remind them that those working among us are people that often feel lonely and disconnected.
At our company, we are still trying to improve and know that solving for loneliness and disconnection in the workplace is a journey, not a destination. I hope that this article serves as a reminder to you that this is a problem that still exists. With so many distractions happening in our world, and some division, we may be left feeling that there is nothing we can do. My challenge is for you to not lose sight of a group of people that you have the power to help feel connected and less alone during a volatile time. That group of people is your team. And if you’re lucky, they are like family.
Originally published on CUInsight.com.
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