If You Hire Them, Trust Them

By Kari Skipper Foster

Human connection. We see it all over the place. It happens in person and more and more frequently it happens electronically. There are those who turn their noses up at the electronic connection because it’s somehow less valid or real, even though one study showed that our cyber social interactions cause a release of the hormone oxytocin, the feel-good, trust and hug me hormone. How many times have we witnessed the spontaneous smile on a stranger’s face when they’ve checked a text message or LOL’d ourselves when reading an email? Isn’t that just the type of thing that caused the need for such acronyms as ROTFL?

But back to the trust hormone. Again with the trust. In my last post I mentioned that organizations needed to trust the knuckle-heads they hired to run their business enough to give them access to social media. Wait. Did I say knuckle-heads? I meant go-getters. Because we all know that organizations don’t go rooting around LinkedIn looking for troglodytes. Sure, we all stir up the occasional one, but by and large, HR is delivering the most capable, well qualified individuals to the monthly new-hire orientation. Still organizations give away the swipe card to the store while firewalling social media, something that can increase the feeling of good will and trust.

I was thinking this week about my job and what it is that makes me most interested in or even passionate about what I do. I’m not going to lie, I have to work. Among other things, I have this nasty addiction to greenhouses and nurseries that must be supported. But what is it about my day-to-day that keeps me doing this instead of opening an eBay store? It’s the connection, or the hope of connection, or the hope of facilitating a connection, not just for patients and families, but for organizations. I hear clients say they want to put a face on their company for their clients or patients. I would submit that their employees need to see their face too.