How does your connect-o-meter work?

Living the belief that connection is what you need if you want to do great things gets tricky. What kind and how much connection is enough to do great things? According to who? But this is where connect-o-meters really, really come in handy, starting with your own. First you have to know what is enough connection for you and what creates it or diminishes it.

I can hear you saying now, “Well, it depends on the situation and the person.” Of course it does, AND there are patterns to be found and I invite you to find a few of yours.

The Great Transaction

Why would people put coffee down as their #1 priority over, say, increased autonomy or mastery? My take is this: it's what is at the center of the relationship between the director and their employees. A better way to say this might be that it's what is at the center of a relationship between an an organization and its employees[1]. Here's another frame: there is a story that we are living in about what it means to be in relationship with our superiors, or the organization we work for. One way to look at that story: we are in a transactional relationship.

When we are in a transaction mindset, we are always in a negotiation. If I give you a coffee maker, will you do your jobs just a little better? Will you give a higher score on the survey next time? That's the deal that the director was making.