Time to reconnect
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report October 2022
STLE can help rebuild broken networks.
New research from the McKinsey & Co.
1 consulting firm confirms what many of us have sensed in the COVID-19 era—the health of our professional networks has been adversely affected by the pandemic. That’s not good news for individual professionals or their companies and organizations.
The study, which questioned about 5,500 U.S. workers on their networks and connections, found more than three-quarters of the respondents said that they “are connecting with others less frequently, have smaller networks and spend less time and effort on relationship building since the start of the pandemic.”
According to McKinsey, “Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, only 24% of the nearly 5,500 respondents are focused on getting in touch with old contacts within their professional networks. Only 28% are focused on building new relationships, and 31% say they are focused on strengthening existing relationships.”
“These data are in line with other research showing that, during the pandemic, employees have turned inward and focused mostly on maintaining connections with close associates and members of their own teams rather than building or maintaining relationships with newer colleagues or other indirect associates.”
The result of being disconnected is an erosion of social capital, your network of trusted individuals both inside and outside your organization. The absence of these connections erodes one of the success factors that are critical to people and the companies or organizations that employ them.
For example, when people are asked about the value of STLE, a typical response is, “It is a great source of technical information and education, and most valuable of all to my business is the networking opportunities.”
While STLE doesn’t hold all the answers, our society can play a role in helping people in the tribology and lubricants business to repair lost connections and acquire some new ones. Here are some practical ideas on how to do that.
Attend technical meetings. The next upcoming national event is the
2nd STLE Tribology and Lubrication for E-Mobility Conference being held Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 in San Antonio, Texas. For more information, visit
www.stle.org/EVConference. While that’s sure to be valuable, you also can take advantage of meetings held in your area by STLE Local Sections.
Volunteer. Visit
www.stle.org/volunteer for a list of opportunities to get involved. Many of these only require remote participation, but the networking benefits are still potentially significant.
Download the
STLE mobile app. It delivers everything STLE in the palm of your hand 24/7/365, from hot topics to industry news, an app-responsive industry directory, STLE meetings, valuable member resources, community engagement and more!
Register for
STLE Industry Insights, a monthly online technical discussion group. It allows you to connect with your STLE member colleagues in a casual and meaningful way in a virtual environment. For more information, visit
www.stle.org/IndustryInsights.
Give these ideas a try. You’ll discover how to make the Connect portion of STLE’s Connect-Learn-Achieve value proposition come alive for you and your employer.
REFERENCE
1.
Lauricella, T., Parsons, J., Schaninger, B. and Weddle, B. (August 2022), “Network effects: How to rebuild social capital and improve corporate performance,” McKinsey & Co.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.