Creating Human Connection and Community in the Era of Hybrid, AI, and Overwhelm
Adam Smiley Poswolsky, Workplace Belonging Expert
Wednesday, May 1, 8:30 – 10:00am
We all know that no one "Achieves New Heights" by themselves. Behind every success, there’s a team of people, a mentor, and/or someone supporting and encouraging us to be our best selves. In our remote and hybrid work world, it can be hard for team members to find this support – enabling them to be good at their jobs and feel engaged. As a belonging expert, Adam will provide practical insights for how we tackle this very real challenge.
In a lonely, nonstop, overwhelmed workplace; as time spent face-to-face has been replaced with wall-to-wall Zoom meetings, 24/7 Slack messages, and the rapid rise of AI and ChatGPT; workplace connection has withered. 43% employees don’t feel a sense of connection to their coworkers, 38% don’t trust their coworkers, and 22% don’t even have one friend at work. 70% of employees are disengaged from their jobs—with disengagement at a record high. Lonely employees are less productive and cost U.S. employers $4,000 per employee and $406 billion a year. Meanwhile, high levels of belonging can save a company $52 million a year and provide employees with greater resilience, well-being, personal and professional growth.
In this timely, inspiring, and highly actionable presentation, workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky will share how we can attract and retain top talent, reignite human connection, and increase team engagement, by creating a culture of belonging for our employees—and our customers and clients. Smiley will share actionable and easy-to-implement tools for fostering team engagement, psychological safety, and supporting our teams with the common experiences of disconnection, burnout, Zoom fatigue, and anxiety about the impact of AI and ChatGPT. At the end of this presentation, your team will have an easy-to-use toolkit to reimagine a collaborative, inclusive, people-first culture, and become an industry leader in the future of work.
Key Audience Takeaways:
- Learn 5 ways to increase workplace belonging and lead The Great Reconnection
- The key to avoiding proximity bias and making the workplace work for all teams, whether in-person, hybrid, or remote
- Actionable (and no-cost!) team habits and rituals to best support your teams with the challenges of burnout, disconnection, low morale, and overwhelm
- A practical toolkit every leader, manager, and individual employee can use to build a more connected, collaborative, and engaged culture of belonging at work
About the Speaker
When companies want to increase workplace belonging, human connection, and hybrid team engagement, they call Adam ‘Smiley’ Poswolsky. Smiley is an internationally renowned keynote speaker, workplace belonging expert, and bestselling author of three books that have been translated into multiple languages, including most recently, Friendship in the Age of Loneliness.
Smiley shares industry-shaping insights and practical tools to attract and retain top talent across generations, create a culture of belonging, and engage hybrid teams, at world-class organizations like Apple, Google, Verizon, JPMorgan Chase, and the U.S. Navy. Smiley’s TED talk has been viewed 2 million times, and he has delivered 600 keynotes in front of 250,000 people in 25 countries. Smiley’s work has been featured in 100 media outlets, including Harvard Business Review, the Wall St. Journal, Fast Company, the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the World Economic Forum.