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“Let’s connect on LinkedIn.” This has become a commonplace invitation in professional spaces these days, and the platform highlights for each user the number of connections they have. As I work to get my business noticed, making connections matters, so I appreciate the ease with which one can do that on LinkedIn. This has caused me to think, though, more broadly about the concept of “connection” – especially for leaders, wherever they are in their organizations.

We read in business journals and see in the popular press that our world is highly (and increasingly) interconnected. This makes sense as technologies expand and people in most corners of the world have at least some access to the internet. Yet, we also find many studies and perhaps can attest with first-hand experience how less connected people felt during the COVID pandemic and remain feeling with remote and hybrid work.

I find this interesting. Are we really both more and less connected at the same time? Perhaps so, and this is where intentional connectivity can have meaningful impact.

Full disclosure, I cringed a little as I wrote that last sentence, because as a person with a strong introversion preference, my mind automatically replaced “intentional connectivity” with “forced networking.” So, for my sake and yours, let me clarify that there are many types of connections.

People to people. Yes, these do matter, yet the quantity and quality of such connections depends on the person and the situation.

People to organizations. Research by Gallup and others tell us that people’s connections to their employer organizations are weakening. Many leaders cite reversing this trend as a top priority.

People to places. A sense of home, a comfortable familiarity, or an aesthetic appreciation can drive these connections, pushing us to protect, long for, and favor particular places.

People to ideas. A powerful driver of progress, connecting people to ideas can bolster such things as inclusion, access and empowerment.

Ideas to ideas. Studies have shown that creativity is less about coming up with a completely new idea as it is connecting and reshaping existing ideas; this can lead to greater innovation and more durable solutions to vexing problems.

A person to their values. When a person connects clearly to their values, they create a personal compass that guides behaviors and conveys authenticity, trust, and credibility.

Values to decisions. Connecting to their values can allow leaders to make difficult decisions, even when they are hard, inconvenient, or go against the status quo.

This short list of just some of the connections in our lives points to our interdependence with so much beyond ourselves, even when we may believe we are highly independent or when we may feel somewhat disconnected.

Connections can be strong or fragile. Sometimes connections get broken. Other times, connections are unmade.

If we look beneath the surface of an impending change, we might see that some of our anxiety stems from the change potentially placing some connections in jeopardy.

In all aspects of our lives, our connections can help us, and they can hinder us. Discerning between the two returns us to the idea “intentional connectivity.”

I invite you to spend some time reflecting on connections (remember, not just to people) in your life. Things to consider may include…

* How might your current connections limit you?
* How might you be expanded by them?
* What new connections might serve you?
* What reconnections might be valuable?
* What disconnections might benefit you?
* How are you building new connections?
* How are you nurturing existing connections?

Some people may collect connections, comfortably tapping into a wide variety of people, ideas, organizations, places, and more. Other people may more carefully curate their connections, limiting their number while increasing their quality. Neither approach is better than the other, nor is being somewhere in between.

Perhaps “meta-connection” – connecting our thoughts to our connections – will prove the most powerful connection of all.