Sad to be All Alone in the World

Last night we went to the opening  of a quite excellent high school production of "Thoroughly Modern Millie."     Those familiar with the show understand that it fairly swirls around this iconic line, "Sad to be all alone in the world."

The set-up from the line is that those without family are subject to kidnapping (and other bad things) because they have no ties;   because they have no ties, ultimately no one wonders (or cares) what happens to them.

And how many times have you seen this happen in the workplace?     Probably many.

Whether through self-isolation, lack of social skills or just being ignored. . .there are those in the workplace who are all alone in the world.   They may be excellent contributors, but because of a lack of ties (social and professional) they can drift in and out of the picture and no one ends up caring.  Or, like what happens in  the show, they fall prey to truly bad things.

I'm convinced that work should be a social place with strong, genuine interpersonal ties so that all are looped in and everyone ultimately cares what happens.    Here's what we can do:

If you have someone who is victim of their own self-isolation -  draw them out into the team.    Listen to them, integrate them into both casual and formal discussions, make them feel confident in their abilities to be both a contributing member of the team and an important part of the social group.

Same principles apply to that team member who is just "drifting" out there without any strong connections.    As a leader, you can form connections and pull that individual into the social circles that drive your workplace.   

And if you have someone who is isolated because of lack of social skills - take them with you and demonstrate what needs to be done to integrate into the ecosystem that drives your enterprise.

If a team member is isolated - bad things happen;    if they are part of the bigger world good things happen to them and to the entire team.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders"  is available on Amazon Kindle.