Belly to Belly

I just spent the last couple of days down at Kingscliff on the beautiful Northern NSW beaches with my mentor Jane Anderson and a group of amazing women. This time away reminded me of the power of being belly to belly, face to face to your people; spending quality time with your tribe. 

When you’re meeting, training, learning together with others, it’s not just the formal discussion in the room that’s valuable, it’s the conversations in the bathroom at morning tea or the conversation you have with someone while you’re lining up for your hotel lukewarm coffee. This is where the real magic can happen. You engage in a conversation with someone that sparks a new way of thinking and you build relationships with people that you would never have met otherwise. 

I’ve experienced this as both a facilitator and a participant. During my career as a lawyer, I was lucky enough to attend numerous training and strategy events both here and overseas. The learning and the bonds I made with my fellow colleagues will last a lifetime. With every experience, my connection, loyalty and commitment to the firm grew stronger. Now, as a facilitator, during team building and leadership programs, I continue to observe the interactions and conversations between participants at these events. I can actually feel their connections growing.

This is why I believe that as a leader the greatest thing you can do to build your culture, to build leadership and to gain loyalty, engagement and commitment is to BRING YOUR PEOPLE TOGETHER.

Now, I know the issue with belly to belly interaction - it costs money! It’s way too expensive to bring people together; the cost of travel, meals, venue hire….. and let’s not even think about the cost of lost productivity. But that’s the difference between leaders and great leaders. 

Great leaders focus on long-term effectiveness and not short-term efficiency. Yes, in the short-term it costs money to bring people together, but the long-term benefits of retention, engagement and performance outweigh these costs. As a leader, you need to believe in your people, invest in them and put them first. 

Sure, webinars, skype meetings, emails and e-learning have their place. They are wonderful tools to connect people with just-in-time learning concepts and compliance training and they help managers stay connected when they are geographically dispersed. However, when it comes to cultural alignment, leadership development, behavioural change and inspirational connection, you need to bring your people together. That ‘stuff’ just can’t happen over a screen. 

So, my question for you is; when is the next time you can bring your people together belly to belly for connection, learning and inspiration? The sooner the better! 

Midja x