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Companies have never had more tools to measure engagement, yet employees have never reported feeling more disconnected. Its one of the defining paradoxes of modern work: Engagement scores are the obsession of many organizations, yet loneliness, turnover, and team friction are rising. People are completing their tasks but not always experiencing the relationships that make work sustainable, creative, or truly human. Engagement measures motivation, whereas connectedness assesses whether people can work effectively together over time. Many researchers and thinkers have named the forces shaping the future of work. Jonathan Haidt, in The Anxious Generation, highlights how todays workforce arrives with higher baseline anxiety and weaker social muscles, shaped by smartphone-centered adolescence and a decline in face-to-face interaction. Sociologist Allison Pugh, in The Last Human Job, argues that the only irreplaceable work humans will do in the future is relational, involving empathy, attunement, and presence, the distinctively human capacities that AI cannot replicate. Given all this, why are organizations still leaning so heavily on engagement surveys, tools that were built decades ago for a radically different world of work? Because engagement has historically been a useful signal. However, in todays context, it is insufficient. Engagement indicates whether people are motivated, whereas connectedness indicates whether people can thrive. When Engagement Worked and Why It No Longer Does Theres a reason engagement became the gold standard of workplace metrics. According to Kevin Kruse, a serial entrepreneur and best-selling author, engagement reflects the emotional commitment employees feel toward their organizationthe psychological spark behind discretionary effort. Engaged employees often deliver higher productivity, better customer service, and stronger alignment with the company’s purpose. For years, engagement surveys have helped leaders understand motivation at scale. In the industrial, colocated workplaces for which they were designed, engagement was a reasonable proxy for performance. But motivation is no longer the primary bottleneck. The bottleneck is relational capacity: peoples ability to work together, navigate conflict, build trust, and collaborate across distance and difference. Today, an employee can be engaged with their tasks while feeling profoundly disconnected from their team. They can care about the mission yet feel invisible in meetings. They can exceed goals while having no one at work they can confide in. High engagement can sit atop fragile relational foundations. In hybrid and distributed work, it often does. Engagement indicates whether people are enthusiastic, while connectedness indicates whether an organization is healthy. Why Engagement No Longer Matches the Moment The central challenge facing leaders is not effort, its isolation. The U.S. Surgeon Generals 2023 Advisory called loneliness a public health epidemic, noting that the workplace is one of the primary places where adults seek connection. Hybrid work has weakened casual social ties, while digital communication has reduced emotional nuance. Younger workers, raised in online ecosystems, often arrive less practiced in conflict resolution, spontaneous dialogue, and relational risk-taking, all core ingredients of high-functioning teams. Employees may be engaged but unable to speak candidly, trust teammates, navigate differences, ask for help, or integrate into a cohesive whole. As Moe, a workplace culture expert and bestselling author, often says: People thrive when they feel seen, not just surveyed. Engagement surveys werent designed to measure visibility, they were designed to measure satisfaction, and satisfaction does not predict resilience. What Connectedness Actually Measures Connectedness is not a vibe, it is a measurable set of relational conditions that determine whether people can do complex, interdependent work together. We define connectedness as The degree to which people feel seen, supported, trusted, and in meaningful relationships with the humans they rely on to do their work. Connectedness captures dimensions that engagement simply doesnt: 1. Relational Trust. Do people believe their colleagues have their backs? Trust is a well-established predictor of team performance and psychological bravery. 2. Belonging. A sense of belonging reduces turnover risk, buffers stress, and improves collaboration. Deloitte reports that 79% of employees surveyed said fostering belonging was important to organizational success, and 93% agreed belonging drives organizational performance. 3. Psychological Bravery. Can employees disagree productively? Tell the truth? Take interpersonal risks? Bravery is what fuels innovation and healthy conflict. 4. Purpose and Meaning. Clarity of purpose is not a strategic artifact, it is relational glue. It helps employees understand not only what they do but also why they matter. 5. Network Strength and Collaboration Flow. This reflects how well people work together across teams, not just how they feel about the organization in the abstract. 6. Feeling Seen. Employees do not require perfection, but they do require recognition of their humanity: their story, their needs, their contributions. Allison Pughs research underscores this point: These relational dimensions are the very aspects of work that machines cannot automate. The irreplaceable human contribution, she writes, is connection itself. Connectedness Predicts Performance Better Than Engagement Does Why is connectedness more predictive than engagement? Research across organizational psychology, sociology, and network science consistently shows that connected teams: Innovate more easily Recover from setbacks faster Handle conflict with less damage Execute complex work with fewer delays Experience lower burnout and turnover Googles Project Aristotle famously found that psychological safetya relational variablewas the top predictor of team effectiveness, beating out individual talent and skill mix. In hybrid and in-person work, it is the strength of relationships, not individual sentiment scores, that determines the speed of collaboration, cross-functional problem-solving, and execution resilience. Engagement fuels effort while connectedness fuels performance. How Leader Can Start Measuring Connectedness Today This is where leaders typically ask: Okay, but how do we measure something as intangible as connectedness? Heres a practical playbook from our combined work: 1. Quarterly Connection Pulses. Short, frequent surveys with questions such as: Do you feel connected to the people you work closely with? Do you have someone at work you can be real with? Does cross-team collaboration feel trusting and safe? 2. Relationship Network Mapping. Organizational network analysis, a method of mapping networks in organizations, can identify bottlenecks, isolated individuals, and overloaded super-connectors. 3. Leader Relational Credibility Index. A relational 360: Do people feel seen, supported, safe, challenged, and understood by their leaders? 4. Collaboration Friction Score. Identify where function-to-function trust is breaking down, even when engagement is high. 5. Belonging Gaps. Identify individuals who are enthusiastic but invisible, the group most vulnerable to burnout and turnover. 6. Monthly Meet-Ups. Replace or refine annual performance reviews with regular, meaningful two-way dialogue between the people leader and the employee. These tools shift leaders from watching scores to watching stories, the lived relational realities within their teams. To build connected organizations, leaders must shift from driving engagement to designing relational ecosystems and from motivating individuals to strengthening networks. In Tonys work designing relational leadership experiences, we call this creating Campfires of Connection: intentional spaces where people can speak bravely, listen deeply, and reconnect with the purpose behind their work. In Moes research, this is the Heart Habit of leadership: showing up with curiosity, presence, and attunement so people feel truly seen. In a world where isolation is rising and trust is fraying, connectedness is a strategic capability, and its time leaders start measuring what matters most.
Category:
E-Commerce
Since the Trump administration deployed 2,000 immigration officers to Minneapolis a few weeks ago, childcare workers have been on high alert. Immigration officers have shown up at childcare centers across Minnesota, leaving many childcare workers scared to show up for work. Childcare providers, who have long faced funding challenges and staffing shortages, are now being forced to figure out how to protect their workers while continuing to provide an essential service to families. Today, many of these centersat least 50 providers, according to the childcare coalition Kids Count on Ushave shut their doors to participate in an economic blackout across the state that is being called the Day of Truth and Freedom. The collective action is intended to protest ICEs presence in the state, by halting all economic activity for the day. For childcare workers, there is a lot on the line: A viral YouTube video that made the rounds in December put a target on their backs, alleging that Somali-run daycares were committing fraud and misusing public funding. The video has since been debunked, but the damage was done: The Trump administration issued a freeze on $10 billion in federal funding for childcare and social services in Minnesota, along with four other states. (A federal judge has temporarily blocked the freeze for the time being, and the states in question have brought a lawsuit against the Trump administration.) From the beginning, childcare and the ICE operation were very closely tied, says Meredith Loomis Quinlan, the director of childcare at advocacy group Community Change. There’s threats of these frozen funds, and at the same time their colleagues are getting targeted by ICE. These childcare providers have really stood togetherand the childcare movement of parents and providers are a really core [part] of what’s happening right now in Minnesota. Many of them feel it is essential that they fight back against both ICE and the looming threat of a funding freeze. Thats why Kayley Spencer and Megan Schmitz, directors at a childcare center in northern Michigan, decided to close their daycare for the day. We have connections all around the state, [and] other providers and families are experiencing this very real heaviness around being scared to go to school, being scared to go to work, and being scared to leave their houses, Schmitz says. We needed to show solidarity, and that we won’t stand for our neighbors and families and other providers being targeted in that way. While their staff has not been directly targeted thus far, they have fielded questions about how the center would navigate any encounters with ICE and introduced protocols accordingly. That is something as a childcare provider that I never thought I’d have to come across, Schmitz says. What if they do show up now? So having those protocols in place was really important for us, to make our staff feel secure in coming to work. This day of action is also intended to call attention to the federal funding freeze, which could leave many childcare providers struggling to keep their doors open. We’re operating on razor thin margins, Spencer says, noting that their center has six families who rely on childcare assistance from the state. If you lose those six familieseven oneyou’re at risk of permanent closure. Access to childcare allows countless parents to stay in the workforce, and closing for the day is not a decision that providers take lightly. Spencer and Schmitz were candid about why they felt it was important to participate and why collection action was critical at this moment. Were very transparent with our families about how this is not just an isolated incident, Schmitz says. We are in the collapse of childcare if we do nothingand we’re already at severe risk of that every single day, and this is just another way to not give childcare [providers] the funding and the resources that they so badly deserve and need. Spencer and Schmitz say they had the support and understanding of many families they serveand a number of them who are small business owners closed shop for the day in solidarity, as well. [As] providers, our only goal is to provide safe spaces for these childrenand now they’re being targeted, and it’s not okay, Schmitz says. This is such a small way of us showing support, but we knew we had to do it. These actions have also extended beyond Minnesota, as childcare workers around the country are finding ways to show their support. Community Change works with grassroots organizations in many states that are hosting events or taking other actionsfrom protesting ICE facilities to closing their centers in solidarityto draw attention to what is happening in Minnesota. Meanwhile, childcare providers and advocates in Minnesota are continuing to put pressure on Republican lawmakers to preserve the federal funding that is so crucial for centers to keep serving families. People might feel hopeless or afraid right now, but there are so many ways to show up for our neighbors and for each other, Loomis Quinlan says. So we’re just trying to encourage more people to join our movement.
Category:
E-Commerce
For the first time in Dr Peppers 140-year history, the brand is the second-most-popular soda in America. And now, it has a shiny new jingle to match. In late December, TikTok creator Romeo Bingham, 25, posted a little ditty she had made up for Dr Pepper. Dr Pepper, baby. Its good and nice. Doo. Doo. Doo, the tune went. In her caption, she tagged the company and noted: Please get back to me with a proposition. We can make thousands together. The original post has garnered almost 54 million views, 6.4 million likes, and almost 500,000 bookmarks at the time of this writing. One month later, Binghams dreams were realized. Dr Pepper licensed the song and folded it into an NCAA football commercial. TikTok creators capitalizing on viral moments is not unusual. Influencers have long been tagging brands in content in the hopes of landing freebies or a lucrative brand deal, as the booming influencer-marketing industry becomes ever-more saturated. Here, the success of Binghams overt brand baiting may signal a subtle shift in power dynamics as creators compete for brands’ attention and marketing budgets. Once the jingle became viral, Binghams comments section was inundated with requests from national brands. Me next bb i beg, wrote Dennys Diner. Yea imma need one of these theme songs right now, added Buffalo Wild Wings. GET HER ON THE PHONE NOW!! Popeyes chimed in. Not to be pick me, but US NEXT, commented Welchs Fruit Snacks. Bingham has since gone on to make jingles for Hyundai and Vita Coca, fully realizing the new American dream of overnight viral success. Brands showing up in the comments sections on TikTok and Instagram, whether the post is about them or not, isnt new. The top comments on a trending TikTok video often garner hundreds of thousands of likes, gaining brands the type of attention they could only dream of on their own channels. But overnight, a new batch of POV: Trying to make a jingle so I can quit my job type videos have been cropping up across social media platforms. Some of the most popular of these jingle videos show brands actually replying to the creators in their comments sectionspossibly as a shoot-for-the-moon attempt to replicate Dr Pepper’s hype. With these public auditions in pursuit of 10 seconds of fame, brands might appear like the real winners, receiving massive amounts of unpaid creative laborsometimes even full commercialscomplete with engagement metrics and audience-testing in real time. If brands reward the noisiest creators with paid partnerships, this could lead to creators shilling spec work ads as a new content pillar, Dayna Castillo, founder of the digital culture newsletter Silence, Brand!, told Fast Company. And yet, brand baiting is normalizing unpaid promotional labor from creators, and long term, this practice risks burning out both audiences, brands, and creators. As she noted in a recent Substack post: We no longer skip the ads. We consume the ads our peers made in hopes The Capitalism will notice. The warp speed with which the internet moves means that trying to re-create anothers recipe for viral success is unlikely to ever deliver the same results. As the saying goes: Lightning never strikes twice. Instead, all thats left to gain is further muddying the shared waters of the internet with subpar unpaid spon-con. (Binghams jingle was at least catchy!)
Category:
E-Commerce
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