“Connection Before Content” - Dave Warner
My Professor, mentor, colleague and friend Dave Warner's wise words regularly run through my mind. Prof. Warner’s adage highlights the importance of creating psychological safety, inter - and intra- personally, prior to facilitating learning and development experiences.
As more and more organizations are leaning into normalizing operations, their people are returning with immense levels of emotional, physical and mental stress. This stress is showing up in all sorts of ways, detracting and distracting from their ability to connect to themselves, one another and their work. These last few years have not been easy, and while we are grateful to have work, we are yearning for more connection and belonging at work.
While the level to which employers are responsible for meeting the socio-emotional needs of their staff can be debated all day, it’s a fact that leadership must honor them for the benefit of all. Luckily, there are many simple and strategically aligned ways that organizations can help their people connect in ways that reinforce alignment, efficacy and impact.
Thanks to the Heartmath Institute, we are beginning to understand the science of connection. For decades, Heartmath has been advancing research topics related to the power of the heart, and discovered an important concept they dubbed, “Heart Coherence.” Heart coherence refers to a specific pattern of heart rate variability that indicates a balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems - a smooth, sine-wave-like pattern of heartbeats that are in sync with breathing. When an individual is in a state of heart coherence, it means that the body is in a state of relaxation and balance. In this centered state of being, individuals can respond more effectively to the stimuli in their environment.
In group settings, we can use music, movement and breathing to sync up participants' heart beats, boosting collective heart coherence. We can then leverage group rapport to support individuals in balancing their nervous systems, and a lot more.
Research has shown that heart coherence is associated with a wide range of physical and psychological benefits, such as lower blood pressure, bolstered immune systems, and improved cognitive performance. Additionally, heart coherence has been linked to increased feelings of empathy, compassion, and cooperation, all of which are beneficial in personal and professional settings; with self and with others.
There are different ways we can increase heart coherence, including biofeedback, mindfulness and meditation, and breathing techniques.
Listening to music is an energizing and playful way to increase heart coherence in professional settings. When music and playlists are thoughtfully constructed and played, it helps to reduce stress and anxiety, and promote feelings of relaxation and balance.
Syncopated breathing activities (“On my count, let’s all take a deep breath in and out. 3 - 2 - 1, hmmmmmm, ahhhhhhh….”) are simple and profound ways to improve team cohesion by improving cognition, coordination, focus, and well-being.
Moving together (such as a dance break, tossing a ball, taking a walk, stretching) are effective ways to create unity, improve communication, promote trust and mutual understanding, enhance mental and emotional wellbeing, and increase engagement.
In the coming newsletters I look forward to sharing more of the art, science and practices that will support you in catalyzing your organization’s alignment, efficacy and impact through practices that promote heart coherence.
