After the events of December 14th, 2012 in Newtown Connecticut- it seems difficult to make sense of the senseless violence in our world. Anger, hatred, opposing viewpoints and every other reason we have to be at odds with each other, just doesn’t make the loss of 20 innocent children any easier to explain. Our weekly blog is typically dedicated to a business topic or industry related theme that can help the businesses we serve. Today, our blog will be about the state of Disconnection & Isolation that leads to these types of horrific events. I believe the topic can also be of use in our businesses; if we take the time to find more reasons to know our customers, add value and to be of service: if we find more reasons to CONNECT!
When we feel connected to someone or something, we give ourselves reasons to behave in a certain way. Feeling connected at a church or group causes us to attend the events and interact with the others who are connected. Feeling connected with a teacher or our school, causes us to perform better and work to ‘live up’ to the expectations of those we are connected to. Feeling connected at work causes us to escalate our level of service and contribution and we find ways to improve our offering to our customers and our team. Feeling connected to a community causes us to give back and find more ways to make a positive difference. Feeling connected to our family or a higher power encourages us to elevate our thoughts & goals so we can keep that feeling of connection.
When we are not connected, our actions & thoughts are much different:
- Disconnected @ Church or in a Group: we don’t show up, we do not participate and we can become resentful of the beliefs or causes associated with the groups.
- Disconnected @ School or with a Teacher: our homework no longer matters, grades tend to fall and we tend to feel isolated, making dropping out an easier choice.
- Disconnected @ Work: our work performance suffers, we may wander from job to job and those who are connected or committed to a cause ‘rub us the wrong way’.
- Disconnected within a Community: we do not care about what is going on, we do not get involved and we become resentful of those who seem more connected that we are.
- Disconnected with God or your Family: we lose a sense of who & whose we are, we devalue things like connection and even human life and we become desensitized to the tragedies around us.
As a Child of God, a Wife, a Mother, an Employer and a member of a Community, I feel the pain of disconnection all around me. The stories of suicides, attacks, murders, dishonesty and even petty theft, tell the story of a society that desperately needs to reconnect and the damage that disconnection can cause to all of us. So what can we do?
We can start with considering our impact on the people we come into contact with every day. Are we FULLY PRESENT when we are interacting with our families, our friends, our coworkers and even those strangers we bump into every day? Are we offering a genuine smile or a warm touch- just to say I SEE you- or YOU matter to me? In our businesses, are we going beyond the sale of our particular product or service and really making a connection with our customers? Do they know that they are more important to us than just the sale….
It seems to me that some good old fashioned Gratitude, Love, Caring & CONNECTION can go a long ways towards reducing the pain we are experiencing as a society.
Lets work together to help people get RECONNECTED; to let them know they matter to us and that they are important. If people feel connected, it makes sense that they would do less of the things that could only be done by those who feel so isolated, alone and disconnected. Our individual actions, at church or in a group, at school, at work, with our family and within our communities have a ripple effect. It’s past time to turn up our CONNECTION METERS and really work towards fixing this problem that causes so much pain for everyone. This week try some of the simple tools of RECONNECTION: simple smile, a thank you or a warm hug.
Cheri Perry
Monday, December 17, 2012
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