Connection As A Productivity Hack — People Work Harder When They Feel Seen

Connection As A Productivity Hack — People Work Harder When They Feel Seen

Productivity gets a lot of attention in leadership circles. We measure it, chase it, worry about it. But the longer I lead, the clearer it becomes: productivity isn’t usually the problem. Disconnection is.

People don’t burn out because the work is hard.

They burn out because the work is lonely.

A while back, one of my monitor techs was reported as being lazy—missing rhythms, making errors, frustrating colleagues. They liked her as a person, but they wanted her gone. Fired. Done.

But leadership can’t run on rumors. It has to run on truth.

When I brought her in for what I assumed might be a disciplinary conversation, it unraveled differently. Before I got far into the discussion, she broke. Tears—real ones—came out of a place that had been carrying too much for too long.

She told me the part no one saw:

Incomplete training.

A teammate who regularly slept for hours.

The desperation of trying to keep up while already behind.

Reporting these concerns before—but no one had the bandwidth to investigate.

She wasn’t careless.

She wasn’t lazy.

She was unsupported.

In that moment, the whole story shifted. This wasn’t a performance problem. In a way, it was a loneliness problem. A leadership problem. A systems problem.

We could have written her up and called it accountability. Instead, we rebuilt her orientation from the ground up: cleaner structure, better coaching, clearer expectations, and actual support. She wasn’t offended—she was relieved.

And then something beautiful happened:

She didn’t just improve.

She improved quickly.

Support changed her performance.

Connection changed her confidence.

Safety changed her effort.

She connected more with me because I gave her the tools she never received.

She connected more with the team because she finally felt safe enough to ask questions.

She connected with her work because she was no longer drowning alone.

This is the part many leaders miss:

Connection fuels accountability.

Support fuels growth.

People try harder when they feel seen.

We still addressed the issues. We still addressed boundaries and standards. But we did it in a way that built trust, not fear. Healing, not hiding.

If you want better performance, build better connection.

If you want accountability, build safety.

If you want a healthier team, treat people like people.

That’s the real productivity hack.

Let me know if this resonates with you—your stories always matter to me, and I love hearing how your teams grow when you choose connection over reaction.

🎧 Listen to the podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3BbLJge4eO7ubYmY2woGfJ?si=96MfxBYKTSyN0OCBt69CBw