Dear friends,
This is our last newsletter following Emily’s team along their Bridging journey. (If you missed our previous Bridging issues, you can find them here.) Through Emily’s team we’ve learned that Bridging is needed to help take us from where we are to where we need to be—so we can increase employee contribution and accomplish more for ourselves, our teams, and our companies.
There are five steps to Bridging. Step 1: Purpose saw Emily’s team examine the why behind their work. They agreed to ground rules for working with one another, and they documented what they wanted to accomplish as individuals and as a team. In Step 2: Exploration, they aired frustrations and concerns, discussed what worked and didn’t work, and were able to identify and own their challenges. Step 3: Imagination saw the team map out what success meant for them, name the choices and behaviors required to bring about that success, and declare what each person needed to behave in new ways. Emily’s team completed Step 4: Commitment by deciding what work they would prioritize and who would be responsible for those initiatives. Today, the team moves to Connection, the final step of Bridging.
Bridging Step 5: Connection
Although technically the last step in the Bridging process, Connection is ongoing. During this step, Emily provided her team with tools, resources, and platforms to share their work and their learnings, ensuring continued transparency and buy-in. But Connection is more than checking in on work progress. Connection is about relationships—the heart of Bridging—and relationships, as you know, require consistent investment.
As some of the issues her team needed to address involved holding difficult conversations, Emily and her team participated in training experiences to help them have truthful conversations without negative impact. To support an inclusive and psychologically safe team culture, they engaged in exercises that developed not only their ability to identify workplace harm, but also to successfully intervene and diffuse it. And, the team learned more about one another by scheduling informal meetings to offer support on team goals and increase familiarity. These Connection efforts will help them make better decisions and behave in ways that will ensure their desired outcomes.
Connection enables teams to trade tension for transparency and silence for support. Connection empowers investment in one another and support of team and individual goals, which creates safety. Where Bridging overall helps teams chart a better future and gives them the tools to achieve that future together, the Connection step of Bridging ensures sustainability.
Friends, Bridging is not easy, but it is simple. And we must learn to build bridges if we are to become the leaders we aspire to be. Bridging will not solve all the world’s problems, but in a world full of manufactured chaos and upheaval, Bridging—and especially Connection—can help create the safe spaces employees need so they can do, be, and achieve more.
We hope you’ve enjoyed following Emily and her team over the past few weeks. If you want to learn how Bridging can help your team, reach out to us. We can help you build genuine connections that unlock contribution and create a healthy workplace culture where all people can thrive.
Until next time, friends, keep making a way.
The Waymakers Change Group
