As we strive to find opportunities amidst the current economic slowdown, we should remember the importance of social capital—a critical currency for all business leaders. We can all benefit from a renewed focus on building and nurturing our networks, both inside and outside our own organizations. In her August 8 “Your Best Next Move” video, Bobbie LaPorte shares a simple tip you can employ each week to strengthen your connections and manage those relationships more intentionally.
This week’s Your Best Next Move: The Importance of Social Capital in an Economic Slowdown
Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly leadership tip for your Best Next Move, where I help you see continuing curveballs as an opportunity. This year, I will help you actively use your personal agency to accelerate what you want to accomplish in 2022.
This week I’d like to continue to address the topic I introduced last week – which is the current economic slowdown we are experiencing.
And in this environment, the concept of “social capital” is more important than ever.
What is the importance of social capital in an economic slowdown?
Because our professional networks have shrunk since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, while our companies’ attrition and hiring challenges are growing. To help reverse these trends, people and organizations will need to manage workplace interactions more intentionally. And it all starts with you as a leader.
Before I provide more context and offer my tip, let’s define social capital.
Social capital is the presence of networks, relationships, shared norms, and trust among individuals, teams, and business leaders. It is the glue that holds organizations together.
When teams feel connected, they tend to get more work done and do it faster. When colleagues trust their managers and one another, they tend to be more engaged, more willing to go beyond minimum work requirements, more likely to stick around, and more likely to recommend that others join their organization.
Social capital matters to an organization’s performance. And it is an important currency for today’s leaders.
Also, employees who feel more connected with people in their networks are two times more likely than those who feel less connected to report higher levels of sponsorship for their career advancement, one and a half times more likely to report a sense of belonging at work, and one and a half times more likely to report being engaged at work.
But recent research shows people are less focused on building or nurturing their networks. During the pandemic, employees turned inward and focused mostly on maintaining connections with close associates and members of their own teams rather than building or maintaining relationships with newer colleagues or other indirect associates.
While this varied by industry, job level, and gender, it is clear that social capital is no longer just nice to have. It’s becoming a core lever business leaders can use to attract, retain, and bring out the best in employees, enabling them to achieve (and even exceed) their performance goals.
Leaders should manage social capital in the same way that they manage other types of corporate capital: intentionally.
So here is my tip:
Motivation is one of the keys to building and maintaining relationships in this environment.
Consider your motivation: how can being more intentional in building and deploying your social capital to benefit you/ your team/your organization? Start with identifying just one person who could be instrumental to your success. Then answer these 3 questions:
- Do you have a strong, existing relationship with this person?
- Do you need to repair/reinvest in this relationship?
- Do you need to build this relationship from scratch?
If you do this each week for the next month, you will be on your way to building the critical social capital you need…and starting to role-model how this is done for your team.
That’s my tip for this week. Please also check out my “Summer Slowdown” tips on LinkedIn each Thursday to help you make the most of this summer.
Have a great week; I’ll see you next Monday.
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