Happiness & Humans: Finding Connectivity & Community Now

Share this post

  

COVID-19 has been the catalyst for a massive change in our world. Globally we have been forced to discover new ways to approach every aspect of our everyday lives - learning, shopping, schooling, socializing. Ultimately it has supercharged the movement of our lives from in-person to online.

The ability to digitally share experiences, collaborate, and receive support has the benefit of making us feel more connected and less alone. This has stimulated the creation of a vast amount of online communities and support groups for individuals, groups, and businesses. 

The role of digital connectivity has rapidly grown in recent years, but until now, never has it been so abundantly clear how reliant we are on it. According to the World Economic Forum, "Internet usage is up 50% in some parts of the world." We cannot take this profound change in connectivity for granted and must make efforts to capitalize on this online world and create communities and connections that benefit our health, wealth, and happiness.

"Communication - the human connection - is the key to personal and career success." - Paul J. Meyer

The importance of connectivity & community

Now is the time to join together in support of others. Online communities are proving to be highly valuable for businesses that want to communicate and understand their customers' sentiment and empathize with them. Online communities are the best way to build, develop, and maintain meaningful relationships with colleagues, customers, and other businesses - now, physical contact and global travel are restricted. You can share knowledge and resources, update your followers, keep your finger on the pulse of your market, and communicate your response to COVID-19 and your new business processes and operations.

Driving empathetic leadership through online communities 

The ability to practice empathy is so crucial in all walks of life, but when it comes to the business world, it's essential. Empathy is a key skill for progressive business leaders who want to get the best out of their people, understand their market, and create products and services that have a purpose and fulfill needs. 

Being empathetic to people and organizational needs is a vital component of being a successful communicator and leader. The Center for Creative Leadership conducted a study into the importance of empathy when leading; "Empathy is positively related to job performance. Managers who show more empathy toward direct reports are viewed as better performers in their job by their bosses." 

To be an empathetic leader, you should think beyond yourself and always consider others' needs and desires. It will help you connect and relate with people, as you will begin to see things from other perspectives. All of this is essential to cement meaningful connections with all your stakeholders and potential stakeholders in a post-COVID world! 

For more leadership tips download the Free Employer Toolkit-It is filled with exercises, stats, and examples of how to incorporate values, trust and well-being into your organization. 

Happiness and Humans - A community for learning, collaboration & support

The Happiness Index wants to revolutionize the working world & create Happier & Healthier workers and workplaces… that's why they created Happiness & Humans! 

Happiness and Humans is a community designed to bring together like-minded people so they can connect, converse, and network. You will learn from each other's insights, make friends, and be part of a group with similar goals and ambitions for the future of people, the planet, and work!  

Lots of HR professionals are in standalone positions, which can be quite lonely. Having a community can highlight that other people are in this with them and going through similar problems. People aren't organically catching up at the water cooler or grabbing lunch together anymore. We all know that video calls can be exhausting and less effective than face-to-face interaction. The feelings of isolation have grown as more and more teams are still working entirely remotely. This is why Happiness and Humans is so essential! 

No topic is off the table. It can be utilized as a resource for HR professionals and business leaders to learn, collaborate, or even to vent! 

There are only three guidelines for the Happiness and Humans Community:

1. Membership is FREE, but every new member is required to introduce one new member to the group.
2. No selling. This is a fantastic place to collaborate and network… but let's keep the sales jargon to a minimum ;) 
3. "Be Awesome to Each Other" – Bill & Ted.

Join the Happiness Revolution! 

"I highly recommend this community; I don't have enough fingers to count on how many HR professionals that have told me how they have benefited from being part of it." - Kevin O'Brien, Director of Williams Kent on the Happiness and Humans Community

When your culture is not operating at it's best, your employees will feel frustrated and not empowered 

The solution: create a happier, sustainable workplace culture that empowers and engages your team.

About the Author

Joe Wedgwood

Chief Storyteller at The Happiness Index – Joe is a published journalist and blogger whose thoughts on work-life balance and organisational culture featured on page one of Google. He has consulted and created comms plans for a company in the FTSE 100 Index and has helped to compile and graphically design global reports on workplace happiness and Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS). He previously worked as a Content Manager, Marketing Executive, Language Acquisition Teacher, Journalist & Counsellor for homeless, continued users.

Comments