The holidays remind us to give thanks to our loved ones. At our Thanksgiving, my sister asked everyone what they were thankful for and when the turn came for my ten-year-old grandson, Avi, here is what he said:
“I am thankful to my aunt Tonia for making a beautiful holiday Thanksgiving and for gathering the family all together. My parents who take care of me – my Mom who cares for me and makes sure that I have everything I need and my dad for cooking delicious meals and taking care of me. Grandpa Jack for motivating me to finish today’s Turkey run. Great-grandma Rosa for telling me all about the election when we were walking at the run. Grandma Lola for playing with me. Aunt Sara for getting married in October, I had so much fun on our trip to Napa and being at the wedding. Aunt Hanna for giving me another cousin to play with. My brothers and sisters for being in my life and playing with me – Elli and Adelina for being such good sisters, and Noah and Mikah for being great brothers.”
The reaction by everyone when Avi finished was amazing to observe. Everyone was beaming with smiles and a few of us, including me, even jumped to our feet to give Avi a kiss. The amazing positive energy that fueled the room with warmth and connection lasted all through the day into the night, providing us with a sense of togetherness and joy.
Boards are like families. They depend on each other, share ideas, and make decisions together. They must trust and rely on each other to fulfill their duties and responsibilities and when they take moments of sharing their gratitude for each other’s efforts in making the company successful, they create emotional connection.
In his book, Primal Leadership, Daniel Goleman refers to that connection as “resonance”, a sympathetic vibration between two elements that allows people to synchronize signals and act in a new harmony together. It is the same vibration that you hear in the climaxes of a Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4 when an orchestra of one hundred musicians perform at once. Every cell in your body responds to it, making the orchestra, the music, and the audience as one. When I observe similar moments on boards where board members know how to tune to each other and create an amazing sense of connection, my response is always the same: I feel a sudden joy.
This is exactly what happened at our Thanksgiving. It also happened at a recent board meeting I attended. Richard Ward, the Chairman of the Center Club, opened the meeting by sharing words of gratitude. Throughout the 2-hour board meeting, his gratitude carried through and followed by appreciation, collaboration, and recognition. After the meeting, Victoria Collins, our Past Board Chair, shared, “Henry Segerstrom would be so proud of how this board has transformed. When Henry opened this club, his vision was to create a place where people would enjoy themselves and come together in harmony. That is what we experienced here today.”
These neurons are one of our basic mechanisms that allow us to feel what the other person is feeling. This is different than trying to understand someone’s experience through cognition. This is the same kind of engagement of mind, body, and emotion that happy couples feel when they are in love. They are moving in an emotional flow, without a conscious effort. There is a sense of comfort and safety that is present.
Emotions are contagious. The mirror neurons activate our bonding needs and fuels our connection. Our motivation to engage, collaborate, and innovate significantly increases. Kerstin Unvas-Moberg, a Swedish neuroendocrinologist, discovered that merely thinking about people that you have emotional connection with provides us with a feeling that we matter.
When board members connect emotionally, it creates an incredible energy so that by the time the meeting ends. Everyone feels united, energized and inspired to go out move the company forward. The energy is sparked with gratitude. Gratitude includes everything from saying “thank you” to acts of appreciation and recognition – like celebrating a successful quarter or congratulating a member for a personal accomplishment.
When emotional connection increases, people tend to trust and interact with each other more, explore new ideas and come up with great strategies.
These findings help to understand that when gratitude is incorporated in meetings, members are much more engaged and collaborative with each other, creating satisfying moments of connection over and over again.
Avi’s show of gratitude created such a warm environment at our Thanksgiving, the same principle can be applied to board meetings. Gratitude is showing people that they matter, they are important, and that you care – it is one of the best ways of nurturing the emotional connection and improving board dynamics.
If you would like to learn more about improving board dynamics through emotional connection, safety, and gratitude, feel free to contact us at [email protected].