Adam “Smiley” Poswolsky

How Leaders Can Build Belonging at Work

In this timely, interactive, and highly actionable presentation, Smiley makes the case that the future of work is human connection. In the wake of the pandemic, 70% of employees feel disconnected from their coworkers, and workforce disengagement is at a record high. Employee disconnection leads to lower productivity and lower rates of retention. Meanwhile, creating high levels of workplace belonging is good for your people and good for your business. Employees who experience high levels of belonging at work have greater resilience, well-being, personal and professional growth. They experience a 56% increase in job performance and 170% increase in employer promotor score, and better-connected employees save large organizations up to $52 million a year.

What is workplace belonging and what are the key factors for creating more belonging for yourself, your team, and within your organization? Smiley will share an exercise for fostering team engagement and psychological safety, and practical tools and actionable habits to foster more human connection in every stage of the employee experience; from recruitment and hiring, to onboarding and training, mentorship and coaching programs, learning and development opportunities, team building experiences and connection exercises, and even weekly 1-on-1s and check-ins. At the end of this presentation, your team will have an easy-to-use toolkit to create a culture of human connection for your people, your customers, and your company.

Key Audience Takeaways:
• Learn 5 ways to increase human connection at work.
• Understand the definition of psychological safety and how to foster higher levels of psychological safety on your team, including a simple exercise to try at your next team meeting.
• How to make employee onboarding and training more effective and engaging for new employees.
• A concrete example of how one company built higher levels of human connection among their employees.
• A practical toolkit every leader, manager, and individual employee can use to build a more connected, collaborative, and engaged culture of belonging at work.

Creating Human Connection and Community in the Era of Hybrid, AI, and Overwhelm

In a lonely, nonstop, overwhelmed workplace; as time spent face-to-face has been replaced with wall-to-wall Zoom meetings, 24/7 Slack messages, and the rapid rise of AI and ChatGPT; workplace connection has withered. 43% employees don’t feel a sense of connection to their coworkers, 38% don’t trust their coworkers, and 22% don’t even have one friend at work. 70% of employees are disengaged from their jobs—with disengagement at a record high. Lonely employees are less productive and cost U.S. employers $4000 per employee and $406 billion a year. Meanwhile, high levels of belonging can save a company $52 million a year and provide employees with greater resilience, well-being, personal and professional growth.

In this timely, inspiring, and highly actionable presentation, workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky will share how we can attract and retain top talent, reignite human connection, and increase team engagement, by creating a culture of belonging for our employees—and our customers and clients. Smiley will share actionable and easy-to-implement tools for fostering team engagement, psychological safety, and supporting our teams with the common experiences of disconnection, burnout, Zoom fatigue, and anxiety about the impact of AI and ChatGPT. At the end of this presentation, your team will have an easy-to-use toolkit to reimagine a collaborative, inclusive, people-first culture, and become an industry leader in the future of work.

Key Audience Takeaways:
• Learn 5 ways to increase workplace belonging and lead The Great Reconnection.
• Understand the definition of psychological safety and how to foster higher levels of
• psychological safety on your team, including a simple exercise to try at your next team meeting.
• The key to avoiding proximity bias and making the workplace work for all teams, whether in-person, hybrid, or remote.
• Actionable (and no-cost!) team habits and rituals to best support your teams with the challenges of burnout, disconnection, low morale, and overwhelm.
• A practical toolkit every leader, manager, and individual employee can use to build a more connected, collaborative, and engaged culture of belonging at work

How to Attract, Retain, and Engage Top Talent and Communicate Across Generations

As the war for talent grows more competitive and the labor market tightens, five generations are meeting together in an ever-evolving hybrid workplace for the first time in history. To move past intergenerational tension and common misunderstandings, leaders must empower talent across generations by creating a culture of trust and belonging for all. In this timely, entertaining, and highly actionable presentation, workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky will help you attract, retain, and engage the talent of the future by leading with purpose, flexibility, well-being, and human connection.

In the wake of the pandemic, early talent may prefer flexible hybrid work policies, but 80% of Gen-Z and Millennials are also looking to connect in-person with senior leadership and their managers. Top talent knows what they are missing when it comes to opportunities for in-person mentorship, shadowing, training, and personal growth. Smiley will breakthrough common stereotypes about Gen-Z and Millennial talent; discuss the surprising similarities between what Gen-Z, Millennials, Gen-X, and Baby Boomers want in the workplace, and share case studies for increasing employee engagement across generations in challenging times. Smiley will share proven strategies how we can attract and retain top talent of all ages, increase hybrid team engagement, and create more belonging, by building human connection and community inside the workplace. Smiley offers practical tools and simple, actionable habits to foster multigenerational collaboration and engagement, which will help you become an industry leader in the future of work.

Key Audience Takeaways:
• Learn 5 keys to engaging the multigenerational workforce.
• Understand what Gen-Z wants in the workplace, common stereotypes about next gen talent, and the similarities between what Gen-Z, Millennials, Gen-X, and Baby Boomers want in the workplace.
• A simple exercise any leader or manager can use to foster collaboration and trust across generations.
• Insights on the future of work, recruitment and retention strategies that appeal to both Gen-Z and Gen-X, tools to engage hybrid teams, create a culture of learning and personal growth, and prioritize well-being and mental health in the era of burnout.
• Actionable (and no-cost!) team habits and rituals every leader, manager, and individual employee can use to build a more connected and engaged culture of belonging at work.

How to Thrive in a Hybrid World

In the wake of the pandemic, the vast majority employees prefer hybrid work and say they would a leave a job that doesn’t offer a hybrid policy. However, too much of the conversation on hybrid focuses on what days employees are working in the office and what days they are working from home. Workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky believes that more important question is why; why are people coming together in the first place? Smiley argues that hybrid isn’t where we work, it’s how we connect in the future of work. All too often employees are being dragged into the office at 8am on a Monday morning, only to find that the rest of their team (and their manager!) decided to work from home. Or, they come into the office and find everyone on their team on Zoom calls all day long, with noise-canceling headphones on, leaving them to wonder, “Why did I just sit in traffic for 45 minutes?!”

In this timely and highly actionable presentation, Smiley will help you shift from a hybrid work policy to a hybrid work purpose, designed to foster human connection and engagement in-person at the office, virtually on Zoom, Teams and Slack, and everywhere in between. Smiley will address key questions like: How do we make hybrid meetings more inclusive? How do we avoid proximity bias and make sure that everyone has an opportunity to grow and develop, regardless of how often they are in the office? How do we create high levels of psychological safety, trust, and belonging for all our employees, across different time zones, geographic locations, and levels of seniority? Smiley will help your team create a hybrid culture action plan, designed to make the hybrid workplace a place where every employee can thrive and do their best work. At the end of this presentation, your team will have an easy-to-use toolkit to reimagine a connected and collaborative hybrid culture that puts your people first.

Key Audience
Takeaways:
• Learn 5 ways to build a high-performing hybrid workplace.
• Understand how to foster higher levels of psychological safety for hybrid teams, and how to build trust in a hybrid environment.
• A concrete example of how one company’s hybrid policy was used to create more human connection and belonging among their employees.
• Simple actions to make hybrid meetings more inclusive, enjoyable, and effective.
• A practical toolkit to build a more connected, collaborative, hybrid culture that puts people first.

The Power of Friendship to Ignite High-Performing Teams, Build Resilience and Thrive in Overwhelming Times

We are lonelier than ever. Half of Americans are lonely, and half of employees do not feel connected to their teams. Friendship is at its lowest level in 30 years. Meanwhile, the research is clear: employees who have a best friend at work are 7 times more engaged in their jobs. In the wake of the pandemic, it’s more clear than ever that our friendships are vital to our health and happiness. But why can it feel so difficult to keep those bonds alive—especially at work? In his recent book, Friendship in the Age of Loneliness, workplace belonging keynote speaker Adam “Smiley” Poswolsky proposes a new solution for the mounting pressures of modern life: focus on your friendships. Smiley will share how leaders and managers can increase human connection and create more belonging, ignite high-performing teams, and increase well-being, by building supportive communities inside and outside of the workplace. Smiley will share practical habits on how to create meaningful connections, deepen personal and professional relationships, foster team psychological safety, develop a care mindset, and be a Minister for Loneliness at work and in your community. In this inspiring and timely talk, incorporating interactive and playful connection exercises, Smiley reminds us that nurturing old and new friendships is a ritual, a necessity, and one of the most worthwhile things we can do in adult life.

Key Audience Takeaways:
• Learn 5 ways to create a culture of human connection at work.
• Understand the definition of psychological safety and how to foster higher levels of psychological safety on your team, including a simple exercise to try at your next team meeting.
• Learn 3 habits to build deeper and more meaningful connections at work.
• A practical toolkit every leader, manager, and individual employee can use to build a more connected, collaborative, and engaged culture of belonging at work.