As many as a quarter of all Australians are affected by loneliness. In this video, ECI Partners’ Chris Corneil asks Martin Blake for his insights to help leaders address the issues of loneliness in their organisation, business or team. It starts with leaders having the courage to acknowledge and embrace the issue and working with their teams to implement practical, fit-for-purpose solutions that encourage connectedness.
Groundswell Foundation Chairman Martin Blake suggests leaders should focus on three key initiatives:
Raise awareness (your own and your teams’!) – Have the courage to stand up in front of your staff and tell authentic stories about your life. This will raise awareness that loneliness is a real issue and will give people in your team permission to tell their own stories. Keep it very low key – just tell your lived story and acknowledge that you don’t have all the answers.
Strengthen connections – Think about how, as a leader, you can strengthen meaningful connections within your organisation. If you operate in an agile work environment, think about implementing a day a week when you can bring everyone together with no agenda but to connect and talk among yourselves. This can include the idea of allowing people to contribute to the community in a meaningful way.
Co-create within your networks – While acknowledging that you don't have all the answers, you should remain open to the ideas of your organisation’s future leaders. Foster an environment where you can bring those ideas to the surface and then create subgroups or teams to think about how you can operationalise them.
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