Successful organizations build a culture of human connection and belonging in order to attract and retain top talent, said an internationally-recognized author during the Omaha Chamber's POWER Conference.

"I think we grow this word 'belonging' out all the time," said Adam "Smiley" Poswolsky. "We don't necessarily know what it means, but we know how it feels. We know it when we see it. We know it when we experience it. We certainly know when it's missing."

What is belonging?

"At its very core, belonging is this sense that every single person on our team, every single person at our organization, every single customer, every single client, whether they've been with us for 20 years, for two years, for two weeks, they matter," he said.

Poswolsky, author of three books related to workplace management, was the keynote speaker at the first-ever POWER Conference at CHI Health Center Omaha. The Oct. 10 conference combined the best features of two previous Chamber events - Conference on Opportunity, Diversity and Equity (CODE) and Human Resources Innovation Retention Employment (H.I.R.E.).

The POWER Conference offered an opportunity for local businesses to learn new workforce initiatives, as well as connect with other professionals. More than 800 attended the one-day event.

About 70% of workers feel disengaged from their work, Poswolsky said.

"This statistic around disengagement means a lot to me personally, because a few years ago, I was living in Washington, DC, at the time, working a job, and I think it was a pretty good job," he said. "Salary, healthcare benefits, job security. I go to happy hour after work and people would say, 'Oh God, how cool is your business card? My boss was impressed. My friends were impressed. My parents were impressed. Everything was perfect about this job, except for one tiny thing. I was miserable."

How did Poswolsky realize he was disengaged?

"Every single day, my alarm clock would go off at six in the morning," Poswolsky said. "I felt it when I got out of bed. When I brushed my teeth. When I left the house. When I took the bus to work. When I scanned my ID badge in the office and rode the elevator up to the eighth floor. When I was sitting at my desk, reading memos and talking points."

Watching friends change careers, open new businesses, travel the world added to Poswolsky's disengagement.

"I hate my job," he said. "I hate my life, like I can't even get a date on Tinder."

Realizing he needed to take action for himself, Poswolsky said he decided to find ways to become engaged and connected. He quit the job and eventually lived in San Francisco, where he started writing a book.

"How do we create that culture of belonging for ourselves, for the people around us, and most importantly, for the people and the community and the clients and the customers that we serve?" he said. "The first lesson I learned is that you have to stop comparing yourself to others and start caring for others."

People can also achieve a sense of connection and belonging by exploring their leadership approach, Poswolsky said.

"How we attract new talent, how we empower our team, how we serve our customers from a place of love, of service, of compassion, of allowing people to show up and share their gifts with each other every single day," he said.

While people contribute individually, businesses need to embrace team members and encourage them to share those talents, Poswolsky said.

No longer can companies expect people to adapt to their ways; they need to adapt to a changing landscape, he said. Up to six generations of workers - from Baby Boomers, who can remember astronauts landing on the moon, to Generation Alpha - people born in the 21st century and children of Millennials - can interact with each other daily, Poswolsky said.

"Millennials and Gen Z, together, currently make up 50% of the workforce," he said. "Some data show that the next five to 10 years, they will make up as much as 75% of the workforce."

Generation X doesn't get the recognition it needs, Poswolsky said.

"If you go to any business industry conference anywhere in the world, on any given day, there is not one session titled 'Gen X anything,'" he said. "And these are the people often leading our organizations."

Baby Boomers are treated as if they're watching the clock until they can retire, he said.

"These are the people who have built our institutions, have built our companies, have built our organizations, and have the legacy, the wisdom, the knowledge to take us to the future," Poswolsky said. "So we have to create a workplace that works for everyone."

The workplace is constantly evolving - with the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI), hybrid work or people working from home - and companies need flexibility, he said.

The hiring process has changed drastically, with applicants not content with waiting weeks to be offered a position, he said.

"They are not applying for the role that the person had six months ago," Poswolsky said. "They're not applying for the role the person had six weeks ago. They are applying for the role for their future."

Gone are the days of people expecting professional growth, working their way up the career ladder, getting a promotion or a raise, he said. Increasingly, young people are looking for personal growth, Poswolsky said.

Managers need to adapt their approach to team members, Poswolsky said.

"When that person comes to us on Monday morning with their whole life story and everything that happens, and we're just like, rolling our eyes," he said. "I can't believe I have to talk to this person. I can't have this conversation. I can't even talk to this person. Please leave me alone forever."

Instead, managers need to engage on a personal level, Poswolsky said.

"Tell me more," he said. "What's on your mind? How can I support you? Have you read this book? Have you listened to this podcast?" Companies need to build a culture based on employees' mental health and wellbeing, Poswolsky said. A LinkedIn survey revealed that about 66% of Generation Z expect their workplace culture to be rooted in mental health and wellbeing, while an American Psychological Association survey revealed that 92% of all workers expect it, Poswolsky said.

"It took a pandemic for us to start talking about mental health in the workplace," he said. "Frankly, it took a pandemic for us to start talking about the needs of working parents in the workplace."

Loneliness has grown since the pandemic, Poswolsky said.

"About 50% of Americans are lonely, one out of two," he said. "Loneliness is as dangerous to your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It's correlated with an increased risk of stress, anxiety, depression, even death."

About 20% of people don't have someone for close social conversation, Poswolsky said.

"If someone in their family were to get sick, they would have nobody to call," he said. "About 15% of men have no - zero - close friends at all, which leads to so many horrible outcomes." A sense of belonging and connection is a business issue, as disconnected employees contribute to lower productivity, lower quality work and a higher risk of turnover, costing employers about $154 billion per year in lost productivity, he said.

"On the flip side, connection is the cure," Poswolsky said. "When people do not have to hide their true self at work, they are less lonely. Employees who have a best friend at work are seven times more engaged in their job. In fact, if you do not have a best friend at work, there is only a one-in-12 chance that you will be engaged at work. Don't just assign more work or have them fill out that spreadsheet by 5 p.m., but actually have them learn and grow, and get to know each other better.

"When we have shared goals with our colleagues, we have a sense of mission, vision and purpose. Our view is they set that North Star. We know our goal, all in it together. We know how we fit in, even simply picking up the phone and calling someone."

Instead of a work/life balance mentality, companies need to create an environment where life and work are separate, Poswolsky said.

"We're creating opportunities for discovering new things about others, to learn something new, to see our leaders in a way they've never seen them before," he said. "That's what it means to elevate your power. So we're talking about connection here, actually."

Building on Poswolsky's message of belonging and connection, individual sessions focused on subjects such as building a welcoming, inclusive work environment, as well as leading with authenticity.

Having people engaged with their work is critical to a company's success, said Jamie Kelly, an adjunct professor at Midland University. When they aren't, it not only impacts productivity, it affects people's wellbeing, she said.

"It's really disheartening to know that some of our employees have that pit in their stomach, that dread, Kelly said. "It starts to bubble up, especially on Sunday nights. Not everybody works Monday to Friday jobs, so it might be a different day of the week for you."

When people aren't happy, they'll look for new opportunities, such as a new job, she said. But, subtle changes in the workplace can improve attitudes, resulting in increased retention rates, Kelly said.

"We want to help retain people and get out ahead of them having that feeling," she said. "We can maybe find a way to help them get ahead of that, maybe redesign something about what it is they're doing. Sometimes it's not a brand new role, but redesigning what they're doing, so they feel more engaged."

While finding ways to keep people engaged are important to a company's success, leading with authenticity helps show team members their boss is human, said Melissa Hurrington, chief financial officer, and vice-president of operations at Premier Claims.

After spending a night at the emergency room treating her daughter's allergy, Hurrington needed to take time away from work to mentally recover. Turning off her phone, Hurrington dealt with her emotions. She didn't realize the message that she sent to her team.

The next morning, after turning on her phone, she had several messages.

"Thank you Melissa, you just showed me that you're human," Hurrington said. "'Thank you Melissa. You just showed me that it's okay to not be okay.” “Thank you Melissa, for displaying the kind of leadership that allows me to be human.”

"That was the last thing on the entire planet that I expected. Leaders just powered through because I thought that's what strong leaders did. You dust it off, and you walk into work and you go and make it happen."

Instead, she received a lesson in authenticity, realizing she needed to embrace it in the workplace, Hurrington said.

People tend to have 60,000 thoughts each day, with about 80% of them negative, she said. Nearly all of them are repetitive, Hurrington said.

Rather than give in to them, challenge yourself, Hurrington said.

"Vulnerability is not weakness," she said. "It's our greatest courage. So let me show you one last time about what vulnerability looks like. I have debilitating imposter syndrome. I've dealt with it my entire life, and it doesn't go away.

"Every single day, I pull up to this building, I tend to be one of the first people in the parking lot. I park directly in front of the door, and I look up at it, and I take a deep breath. And every single day, I think to myself, 'I wonder if today is the day everybody finds out I have no idea what I'm doing.' And then I get out of the car, grab my laptop and I head in and see what's going to happen."

As leaders address their vulnerabilities, it creates an improved workplace, Hurrington said. People are more willing to follow an authentic leader, she said.

Being authentic doesn’t mean sharing your political views or acting like a jerk, she said. Instead, it means moving away from the traditional boardroom concept of management and embracing a more personal approach, Hurrington said.

"The reality is that our current society's definition of professionalism was written for a boardroom that looks like 55-year-old white guys," she said. "That's no longer who's leading our companies. For some of you, it is, and we're still trying to fit into this box that they built for us, but for the 55-year-old white guys in the room, your wife also doesn't look like what their life looked like before, having the stay-at-home wife is no longer the norm.”

 "The world has changed. I believe, in some ways, for the better. So why are you still trying to fit into this box? And then it makes me ask, 'Are you guys all just putting on a Halloween costume and going to work?'"

Rather, determine what makes you authentic and bring it to work, she said.

"Show up in a way that is just a fraction closer to your true, authentic self," Hurrington said. "It's gonna feel scary."

Tim Trudell is a freelance writer and online content creator. His work has appeared in Flatwater Free Press, Next Avenue, Indian Country Today, Nebraska Life, Nebraska Magazine, Council Bluffs Daily Non-Pareil and Douglas County Post Gazette, among others. He is a citizen of the Santee Dakota Nation.