
Social Capital – You find it difficult to motivate team members, who seem apathetic and distant – and you realize how little you know about them as people.
Or maybe you have a problem that seems intractable until you talk to your colleague over a cup of coffee, for the first time, at an unusual ‘in person’ event, and it turns out that they can give you a solution, even though they didn’t know you had it the problem.
What is going on here? The underlying theme is social capital, something McKinsey defines as networks, relationships, shared norms, and trust between individuals, groups and business leaders. Another way of thinking about social capital is the ‘glue that holds people together’, and the connection that this glue provides is essential to business performance. Research shows that when that connection exists between colleagues, leaders, and the organization’s workforce, it increases their ability to be agile, to engage and to give satisfaction to -their customers.
The pandemic, and related changes in the way we work, means that the way we connect is now different. Remote and hybrid work has reduced the time we spend in person with colleagues, which brings with it new challenges. One of the top five leadership challenges in the next five years is navigating remote and hybrid operations.
Leaders with strong EI are flexible, creative and resilient and therefore better able to create an environment where communication can flourish.
To ensure that people and their organizations receive the benefits that social capital brings, leaders need to think differently and change the way they do things to maintain a connection with every employee. and help their entire team feel a sense of community and inclusion.
Developing emotional intelligence skills improves the leader’s ability to build social capital. Emotional intelligence (EI), ‘the intelligent use of our emotions’, or ‘thinking about our emotions to guide our behaviour’, is a common practice of thinking about feeling, and thinking. It is a skill that can be developed by being aware of our own basic attitudes, as well as those of others.
While all EI skills support a person’s ability to build social capital, some are particularly important, for example:
Leaders with strong EI are adaptable, creative and resilient and therefore better able to create an environment where communication can flourish, especially in a virtual or hybrid workplace. Although humans are social beings, with an innate need to communicate, the environment to do so is important and leaders must make a conscious effort to create and facilitate the conditions to help society succeed. Other ways to do this include:
It indicates two different ways in which we connect: cognitively (our knowledge) versus emotionally (our feelings). We also need to understand which stage of the journey is best to connect us because the way it is necessary to build connections with people, ideas and knowledge is different according to what is needed when existing connections are deepened.
In order for intellectual relationships to form and grow, leaders can help each other and use knowledge, for example when assigning work. Supporting people to create emotional connections means that leaders can model ways of sharing who they are, for example through stories, so that information is remembered. Leaders who provide real and relevant opportunities for collaboration, peer support, and challenge create the conditions for those connections to deepen.
Leaders can build trust by using a complementary approach to trusting their teams, taking into account people’s ability levels and motivation to shape challenging, but not incremental, demands. Strong relationships are built on trust and mutual respect, and this grows when leaders are open and honest about how they feel, value and accept themselves and others, ensuring that their personal values shape decisions and their actions.
An important aspect of developing and maintaining strong interpersonal relationships is considering when and how information is shared. Relationships are vulnerable to the timing and content of important messages, and meaningful communication considers what is truly important to people. We must really listen to each other, remove all distractions, including judgment and prejudice, to focus completely on what the person is saying and what they are saying – noticing the conflict between what is being said and how it is being said.
An important aspect of meaningful communication is the ability to ask questions that encourage people to be comfortable and not just talk
Motivation and commitment are at the heart of what employees want to do at their best. To do this, leaders need to create purpose, meaning and involvement, encouraging employees to create an emotional connection with their organizations and work. Creating and maintaining the glue that unites us all, social capital, remains at the forefront of the role of leaders, today and in the future The term social capital refers to the positive product of human interaction . A positive result can be tangible or intangible and can include good and useful information, new ideas and future opportunities. Social capital is not held by one person, but is reflected in the power within the social network connections between people.
It can be used to describe a contribution to the success of an organization that can be attributed to personal relationships and networks, both inside and outside the organization. It can also be used to define personal relationships within a company that help build trust and respect among employees, leading to improved company performance.
Social capital enables a group of people to work together effectively to achieve a common goal or objective. It allows a community or organization, such as a corporation or non-profit organization, to work together as a whole by trusting and sharing a common identity, norms, values and relationships. Simply put, social capital benefits society as a whole through social relationships. Therefore, the study of how social capital works or fails to work is full of social science.
Although the term social capital may have been coined recently, the concept itself—that social relationships can have productive effects on an individual or group—has been explored for a long time. It was often used to describe social and community responsibility or how members of society work together to live in harmony and harmony. When used in this context, the definition is purely social without financial constraints.
But this word can have different meanings depending on how it is used. In fact, social capital is no longer small and local in scope. The concept is often used to describe relationships that contribute to the success of businesses. It is undoubtedly considered as important
as capital or human capital The network and the use of the Internet are prime examples of how social capital works in the business concept. This allows professionals to create social—and often global—connections in many different ways. Most jobs are filled through informal communication rather than job listings. This is social capital in action.
There is no general consensus on how to measure social capital because it can be subjective. Furthermore, different social theorists may think about social capital in slightly different ways.
The use of social capital increases the flow of information in public relations, opens doors and spreads ideas. The famous saying, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” is a paradigmatic expression of social capital.
Sociologists and other social scientists have documented the benefits of social capital. For example, it has been found that most people get their jobs through word of mouth as opposed to formal means. People with access to high levels of social capital also report being happier, healthier, and have higher levels of social trust because of their good relationships. In organizations, such as businesses, high social capital also fosters trust, mutual respect and collaboration – which can lead to increased productivity and profitability.
The concept of social welfare has been known for a long time, but it was formalized mainly by sociologists James Coleman, Robert Putnam, Pierre Bourdieu and Mark Granovetter.
Many people believe that the success of an organization—whether it is a community as a whole or a specific group—depends on the level of money available. This is why social capital has always been linked to positive change. But this is not always true. Although there are distinct benefits to social capital, it can be used for deceptive or harmful purposes.
Corrupt groups, such as gangs and drug cartels, often use public money to strengthen ties to the group and recruit new members. Similarly, a group of business executives may conspire to manipulate market prices to eliminate competition. The creation of these types of groups can reduce the social fabric of a neighborhood or city. Local residents and businesses suffer, and potential customers avoid the area.
Even if it is used for productive purposes, marginalized people and those in minority groups may not have the same communication resources as others in society, which may put them at a disadvantage. Such people can be closed off from opportunities because they don’t have the money to socialize and make a network to be introduced to powerful people or to learn good things.
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