fostering connecting points for employee engagement
During the summer, I wrote a post about affinity groups – workplace groups typically formed as part of larger diversity efforts to connect lawyers around such common denominators as race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. I suggested that firms seeking to curb lawyer attrition and build esprit de corps could take the concept a bit further and sponsor affinity groups around a host of shared interests like books, sports, travel and music.
By acknowledging and fostering these connecting points between employees of all levels, firms would send the potent message that they see and care about the humans behind the titles and roles they play at work. And lawyers would gain a sense of visibility and value that comes from being able to express and explore their outside interests on-the-job.
Firms could also import the affinity group concept into their organizational learning initiatives. Lawyers in need of better business development, communication and leadership skills might respond more quickly and favorably to a learning system that reflects and draws on their shared interests.
To spark the formation of interest-oriented affinity groups, firms could create an online and/or offline space where lawyers could access and share content akin to this Fast Company article on 12 must-listen-to podcasts for creative knowledge workers. The podcast coverage includes art history, blues music, museum artifacts and culinary arts.
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During the summer, I wrote a post about affinity groups – workplace groups typically formed as part of larger diversity efforts to connect lawyers around such common denominators as race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. I suggested that firms seeking to curb lawyer attrition and build esprit de corps could take the concept a bit further and sponsor affinity groups around a host of shared interests like books, sports, travel and music.
By acknowledging and fostering these connecting points between employees of all levels, firms would send the potent message that they see and care about the humans behind the titles and roles they play at work. And lawyers would gain a sense of visibility and value that comes from being able to express and explore their outside interests on-the-job.
Firms could also import the affinity group concept into their organizational learning initiatives. Lawyers in need of better business development, communication and leadership skills might respond more quickly and favorably to a learning system that reflects and draws on their shared interests.
To spark the formation of interest-oriented affinity groups, firms could create an online and/or offline space where lawyers could access and share content akin to this Fast Company article on 12 must-listen-to podcasts for creative knowledge workers. The podcast coverage includes art history, blues music, museum artifacts and culinary arts.
http://www.legalsanity.com/admin/trackback/22993