Are people picking up the phone and talking to one another?

Over the past few weeks I’ve had some interesting conversations with leaders of some pretty big businesses – and I wanted to share the thinking with you.

They were explaining the real challenges they face with regards to actively getting people from different parts of the company to truly engage with one another.

It’s a real problem – felt across many industries and companies.

At banks, for example, getting the bank tellers engaging with head office.

The engineers at a large corporate truly engaging with the sales people.

People not only aren’t picking up the phone and talking to one another, they don’t even stop to think of it as a possibility.

The need is clear.

The more people connect with one another, the more a company flows. The more that people innovate. The more that people can come up with different solutions.

But for this to be possible, the key is finding ways to bring people together, to cross organisational cultures and build bridges across, sometimes, pretty big divides.

For companies to thrive, it comes down to workplace cohesion.

But how can that be possible?

How can you create the environment for unique experiences to happen between diverse people?

How can you get different divisions and departments working better together?

For that to be possible, people need to share something unusual together, and then a unique connection is made.

And that’s what we’ve been doing with our programmes at TIE over the past 20 years.

We create those connections between people from different parts of the business and we bring them together through unforgettable lived experiences.

We have them engage with one another – it can be once a month over a 12 months, or a couple of times a day over 6 weeks.

But the result is the same.

By exposing people to global challenges and bringing everyone together in unique ways, mind altering experiences are created.

People engage with one another, gain empathy with each other’s realities and start to understand nuances.

They become friends. They know their children’s names. They have one another on WhatsApp. Understand what each other do, know the value they can add, and as a result, reach out when they think they can be part of a solution.

By seeing the world through the eyes of other people, and coming together over a shared objective, everyone with an equal voice and each adding value, bridges are built, barriers shattered, and cohesion created.

If you are looking for more cohesion at your company, why don’t you get in touch. I can bring to life our experiential learning opportunities that transform your staff, and as a result, also your company.

Better people. Better companies. Better world.

xPhilippa