Connectable: How Leaders Can Move Teams from Isolated to All In
Ryan Jenkins and Steven Van Cohen
McGraw Hill (March 2022)

The power and impact of thinking in terms of first-person PLURAL pronouns

Why did Ryan Jenkins and Steven Van Cohen write this book? Briefly, in their remarkably informative Introduction, they point out that today’s workplaces are cold and barren, in need of leaders to provide a sense of belonging. In fact, loneliness within and beyond the workplace [begin italics] shaves 15 years off of a person’s life [end italics]. “In the workplace, employee productivity, loyalty, collAboration, all decrease when employees are lonely. Reducing isolation I[and feeling of being isolated] is good business…This is the first book to tackle loneliness in the workplace. As a business leader, you can become a pioneer in addressing the unaddressed loneliness.”

Keep in mind that all organizations need leaders at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. Jenkins and Van Cohen would be among the first to point that out. Also, focus throughout their narrative on the almost unlimited opportunities for positive and productive interaction between and among workers. In TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest Moments, Douglas Conant and Mette Norgaard explain how to prepare for and then embrace the privilege of being of meaningful service to others, helping them to feel they belong, indeed to feel that they are appreciated.

Back to Jenkins and Van Cohen: “Workplace loneliness is defined by the distress caused by the perceived inadequacy of a quality connection to teammates, leaders, the organization, and work itself. Remote workers who feel connected to their work and team will experience less loneliness than someone who works in the office surrounded by people but lacks quality connections.”

These are among the passages of greatest interest and value to me, also listed to suggest the scope of Jenkins and Cohen’s coverage:

o Loneliness (Pages 3-19)
o Modern Causes of Loneliness (21-46)
o Rapid Spread of Loneliness (24-27)
o “Big Eight” Contributors to Modern-Day Loneliness (27-28)
o Business impact of loneliness (56-99)

o Science of Belonging (67-81)
o Brain’s processing of exclusion (68-70)
o Belonging as survival need (71-75)
o Workplace belonging  83-103)
o Less Loneliness Framework (105-114)

o Looking at loneliness (Framework, Step 1) 116-145
o Identifying loneliness (134-139)
o Invest in Connection (Framework, Step 2) 146-193
o Emotional intelligence audit (170-171)
o Oprah’s style of connection (176-178)

o Team connections (181-192)
o Narrow the Focus (Framework, Step 3) 194-217
o Re-looking to improve mental health, and, to reconnect with humanity (222-229 and 223-225)
o Creating a climate of attention (238-239)
o Be Interruptible (245-260)

Jenkins and Van Cohen introduce and then carefully examine what they identify as the “Less Loneliness Framework.” These are among their key points:

I. “Look at loneliness to gain awareness, look inward to gain perspective, and look outward to gain understanding of where you can lessen loneliness.” In a word, MINDFULNESS

2. “Invest in connections that are safe, personal, and team-wide so that workers feel connected to their leader and teammates.” In a phrase, NOURISH CONTINUOUSLY

3. “Narrow the focus on purpose, clear direction, and growth so that worker engagement overpowers loneliness.” Channeling Albert Einstein, “Make everything as simple as possible but no simpler.”

4. “Kindle the momentum by re-Looking, re-Investing, and re-narrowing so that progress can be maintained toward boosted belonging.” Channeling Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Jenkins and Van Cohen devote substantial attention to the WHAT of loneliness reduction (if not elimination) but most of their material focuses on the HOW. And to repeat, the “Less Loneliness Framework” program must have full support at the senior level when implemented (and especially thereafter!) but cannot succeed without wide and deep buy-in throughout the entire organization.

Who will derive the greatest benefit from reading and then (hopefully) re-reading this book? First, and obviously, occupants of the C-suite or its equivalent (i.e. the senior management team). Next, others who also have direct reports entrusted to their care. Finally, I think this is a must-read for everyone else involved — directly or indirectly — in the process of talent identification, recruiting, interviewing, evaluating, selecting, and/or then onboarding new hires.

Some people are not “connectable,” unless it serves their interests and purposes. For whatever reasons, they are reluctant to communicate, much less to cooperate or (God forbid) collaborate. I view them as human silos. In today’s business world, one that is much more volatile, more uncertain, more complex, and more ambiguous than at any prior time that I can recall, these people are a self-endangered species. Perhaps Ryan Jenkins and Steven Van Cohen know how to get them engaged or at least involved. I do not.

Here’s a final reminder to connectors, from Theodore Roosevelt: “Your people won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”