Month: October 2016

18
Oct
2016

How to Connect Through Exceptional Customer Service

Welcome to Day 17 of 31 Days of Connection! Find every post as they are published linked up on Day 1, in case you have missed anything. Don’t miss any more posts in the series – click here to sign up now to receive them in your email inbox!

Use Exceptional Customer Service to Connect Internally

We experience customer service everywhere we go. Surprisingly there is a lack of good customer service in many companies. There is no reason not to offer exceptional customer service in order to differentiate yourself in today’s economy. But there are other reasons for practicing this level of customer service – creating connections and building up professional relationships.

In order to improve the customer service experience, it must start as a priority internally. Happy employees lead to happy clients. If you don’t begin by treating employees within a company or group extremely well, you cannot expect them to overflow with helpfulness and kindness when dealing with clients. Do you treat your employees as the MOST important clients of your business? If you’re not, then you might be able to pull off decent customer service externally, but it will never be exceptional and exceptional is what it takes to connect.

customer service

Create the culture of exceptional customer service internally by emphasizing the importance of it, recognizing employees who give each other excellent service, and putting customer service goals into place. Survey internal “customers” to get an idea of how the service is among employees and how to improve it. Hire employees who share the vision of exceptional customer service and truly care about helping out coworkers.

When you work as a team to deliver great service to each other, you show care and concern which creates connection between you. That connection grows into stronger professional relationships. By showing top down and inside out the value of excellent service, you will be setting up your employees for success in giving exceptional service to external customers as well.

Use Exceptional Customer Service to Connect Externally

Once we have established an internal focus on exceptional customer service, we can encourage and expect our employees to deliver that same level of service to external customers and clients. But we need to continue prioritizing exceptional service or it will fade and we’ll lose the connections that we have built.

When you give not just good, but exceptional service to a customer, that stands out. It makes them feel special and valued. Because of this, they are more likely to be a repeat customer. Not only that, they may be willing to spend more on your product or service because they enjoy the level of service you provide. But that exceptional service needs to be consistent in order to keep your customers delighted and returning to you over and over. Repeat customers turn into customer connections. Customer connections turn into lifetime customers and sometimes trusted friends. These are the customers that also refer family and friends to you. Connecting with customers through exceptional service is not only of value to the customer, but of great value to you and your company.

customer service

Focus on exceptional external customer service by hiring the right employees and emphasizing the importance of excellent service. Remember that a smile is a great way to start connecting. Be sure to publicly praise employees when customer compliments are given and survey your customers regularly to determine service strengths and opportunities for your team. Connecting with your external customers through exceptional service is rewarding both for them and for you.

Day 17 Daily Connection Challenge:
Focus on giving exceptional internal customer service today. Make it your goal to have each coworker or group member walk away from their interactions with you with a smile on their face and a feeling of connection. Over the next 3 days, find ways to go above and beyond with external customers, creating a service experience that they will want to tell all of their friends about. Whatever level of customer service you normally give, make this about reaching that next level up.

Thank you for joining me for Day 17 of 31 Days of Connection! What is the best customer service experience you have had lately? Tell me about it in the comments! See you here again for Day 18!

17
Oct
2016

10 Ways to Connect Through Employee Appreciation

categories: Connection, Learning

Welcome to Day 16 of 31 Days of Connection! To catch the posts you may have missed, click over to Day 1 for the links to each post in the series.

Connect Through Employee Appreciation

We have already discussed why it’s important to connect at work. This post takes it a step further and applies to anybody who holds a position in charge of other employees, though it can also be applied to the coworker relationship. Connecting with employees in the form of employee appreciation shows them that they are valued members of the team, which leads to better working relationships and job satisfaction. A lack of job satisfaction is one of the main reasons that an employee will leave a job or start looking for new opportunities.

The more connected to you and the stronger the relationship an employee has with you, the less likely they are to look for another job. By showing employee appreciation, not only will you have loyal, hard-working employees, but with stronger relationships the work environment will be much more like a group of friends working together and sharing a common vision. And being happier at work means being happier at home as well. It’s win, win…win.

employee appreciation

10 Employee Appreciation Ideas

Some of the main ways of showing how much you appreciate an employee’s hard work are by offering a promotion or giving a raise. Many people do not actually have control over whether promotions and raises can be given out at a company, so I’m not including them in the 10 ideas.

I recommend taking a look at the 5 Languages of Appreciation at Work to help figure out which types of appreciation will be the best fit for your specific employees. Try using a mix of these 10 ideas to cover more than one of the languages of appreciation:

1 – Praise by Touch: When in the workplace, only appropriate touching is okay. This might mean using a fist bump, a high five, or a handshake to say congratulations for a job well done. Always pay attention when using these appropriate forms of touch. If you see any signs of it making an employee uncomfortable, make sure not to do it in the future or ask the employee if that’s okay with them to continue.

employee appreciation

2 – Tackle a Task: If you have the opportunity to perform a simple but annoying task for an employee so they don’t have to, do it and then let them know you took care of it for them. This could include things like sending a folllowup email, running an errand for the office, making a new batch of coffee, or some other specific work task that doesn’t require their skill or expertise. Be careful not to tackle a task that they really like doing or one that is a main part of their job, as this may lead to them feeling like you have a lack of confidence in their abilities.

3 – Public Praise: When an employee has a great new idea, or does an excellent job on a work assignment, or even when they have accomplished something significant outside of work, take the opportunity to praise them in a public way. This might be verbally in a team meeting or in front of another coworker or boss. This could also be done in an email that copies everybody on the team.

4 – Personal Praise: Take the time to write a personal email or a handwritten note to an employee. Express to them how much you appreciate how hard they have been working and praise them on some specific tasks they have handled. Try to make it motivating and encouraging. Keep the tone of the note professional.

5 – Opportunity to Lead: If the employee is doing well in a particular part of their job, or if you just want to challenge them to keep work interesting, assign either a new project or idea for them to be in charge of. Tell them why you are making them the lead as well as what your expectations are. And then let them run with it. Follow up and check in, offering assistance when necessary, but make sure you are allowing them to be in charge of some of the decisions.

6 – Treat to Lunch: Keep the lunch low-key and you can include more than one employee at a time. This could be a regular occurrence – maybe quarterly with different employees – as a thank you for hard work but also an opportunity to connect outside of the office. Use this opportunity to ask how they feel about the job, to get input and feedback, and to talk about what their goals might be. But also use this time as a way to connect personally by sharing about what things are happening in each other’s lives, even if they are more trivial/fun subjects like television shows and music, etc.

employee appreciation

7 – Company Perks: Offering perks to employees can be as inexpensive as you need it to be. Sometimes just sharing a simple perk to say thank you and keep up the good work is all that’s needed. This might be picking up Starbucks coffees on a chilly morning, giving a gift card to a favorite store or restaurant, giving movie passes, offering a discount for a local service or membership, or providing free coffee, tea, soda, etc. and/or snacks at the office. Note reactions to perks so you will get an idea of which ones are more appreciated by your group of employees.

8 – Acknowledging Events: Choose your favorite way to keep track, including setting reminders, of employee birthdays and work anniversaries. You could also acknowledge events as they occur, like weddings and births. If you don’t have the info already, email out a survey and make sure you get these dates from each employee. It’s crucial not to leave anyone out. Even if you are in an office that already celebrates birthdays and/or anniversaries in some way as a group, take the time to send a separate card, an ecard, or a personal email to tell that employee happy birthday or congratulations. It doesn’t have to be anything eloquent – simple is fine. The fact that you took the time and effort to remember these dates personally is what matters.

9 – Christmas Gifts: This may be tricky if you have employees that don’t celebrate Christmas, but even then, most do not mind if you celebrate by giving them all gifts! You may already do something as a group in your office. But do something personal for each of your employees for Christmas, no matter how small. Handmade goodies, gift cards, tickets to an event, or books are some great and simple gift ideas. The sacrifice of your time and a few of your dollars are the real gift.

employee appreciation

10 – Time Off: If your employees have worked extra hard on a project or gone above and beyond on their tasks or have even survived a busy season and are in danger of burnout, offer some unexpected time off. This is in addition to granting regular time off requests or holidays off. If you can spare them, tell them they can leave work a couple of hours early on a Friday to begin the weekend sooner or give them a half day off and let them choose when to take it, within a specified time range. This should be paid time off or it won’t really be showing much appreciation.

There are many more ways to show employee appreciation and work on connecting with the people who work for you or who you work with. How many of these have you already done?

Day 16 Daily Connection Challenge:
Find one or more ideas from the list of 10 Employee Appreciation Ideas and use them this week, for one or more employees. These can be people that work for you or coworkers and in a number of different settings like at the office, virtual, volunteer, co-ops, etc. Note the reaction of the employee and whether your relationship with that employee changes for the better.

Thank you for joining me for Day 16 of 31 Days of Connection! Have you experienced somebody showing employee appreciation to you in one or more of these ways? Did it make you feel more connected to that person? Let me know in the comments. See you here again for Day 17!

15
Oct
2016

Connecting at Work

categories: Connection, Learning

Welcome to Day 15 of 31 Days of Connection! Catch up on any posts you missed by clicking over to Day 1 where all posts in the series are linked as they are published.

Connecting at Work

We’ve talked a lot about connecting with family and friends, but now we’re going to start branching out more. Let’s talk about connecting at work. “Work” might mean a variety of things: volunteering, working from home, working outside the home, teaching a homeschool co-op, church ministry, writing/blogging and more. When we talk about people that you work with, that can mean any group of people that you regularly see (even virtually) in a more professional role, outside of your family and friends.

It’s possible that you can do your job and only develop acquaintance-level relationships with coworkers while never having any contact outside of the work environment. You could still do your job successfully and even be well-liked by your peers and your boss. But that doesn’t help you connect with and improve your relationship with people. By connecting at work, you show that you are invested in the vision of the company, you are a team player, and you are a valuable employee.

connecting

Even if you’re more of an introvert or uncomfortable with connecting with people you don’t know well, you can do this! Set yourself up for the right one-on-one opportunities to connect and plan ahead for interactions and conversations. Connecting at work will involve more than conversations; you have to be willing to really listen and to get past the surface and create an emotional connection. The more you connect with people at work, the stronger the relationships that are built, which leads to a happier workplace and loyal coworkers. It takes effort and practice, but it’s rewarding for you and for your team.

Day 15 Daily Connection Challenge:
Start with one coworker and have intentional conversations with them this week, trying to go past the usual “How was your weekend?” by asking more in-depth questions. Pay attention to their likes and dislikes and try to show that you have noticed as well as praise them for a job well-done or a professional trait that you admire. if you already have a decent relationship with a coworker, try bonding outside of the workplace with lunch or coffee or an online chat if you are only connected virtually.

Thank you for joining me for Day 15 of 31 Days of Connection! What has been the toughest daily challenge for you so far? Let me know in the comments. See you back here on Day 16!

15
Oct
2016

Connecting at Social Events

categories: Connection, Learning

Welcome to Day 14 of 31 Days of Connection! If you’ve missed any posts in the series, stop by Day 1 and you’ll find all the links listed there. And sign up by clicking here to receive the posts in your email inbox.

Connecting at Social Events

Social events are great for connecting with a group of people who already have something in common with you. This makes it easier to start connecting with new people or strengthening the connection with those you already know. But it means putting yourself out there and actually attending the social events.

We can focus here on somewhat smaller social events, but larger ones like charity benefits or weddings can be other opportunities to meet new people and see if you can create a new connection. Smaller social events might include a church outing, an outside-the-workplace team activity, a baby or bridal shower, a holiday party, or a family function. These social events might have a combination of people you know well, people you know only as acquaintances, and people that you don’t know at all. It’s the perfect time to maintain the connection with those you know well, strengthen the connection with your acquaintances, and start connecting with new people – all at once!

Sometimes our lives get busy and we stop attending social events. For the sake of relationship development, it’s important to make time to attend some. Yes, that’s right – attending a social event can be good for you! The more you practice going out and connecting with and relating to others, the more you improve the way you connect at home as well as how you connect with yourself. You’re also modeling to your family or children how to build and maintain relationships. While it is important to spend time at home and work on family relationships, it’s also important to not cut yourself off from social events away from home.

Day 14 Daily Connection Challenge:
Accept an invite to a social event coming up in the next month, especially if you were on the fence about going – let this be the push that gets you to accept that invite. If you haven’t been invited to one, research and find one to go to, or create one yourself and invite some people to join you.

Thank you for stopping to see me for Day 14 of 31 Days of Connection! Leave me a comment and tell me what your toughest daily challenge has been so far. See you back here for Day 15!

14
Oct
2016

Connect Through Hospitality

categories: Connection, Learning

Welcome to Day 13 of 31 Days of Connection! Stop by the first day of the series to get all the links to the posts as they are published.

Connect Through Hospitality

Hospitality is the friendly reception and entertainment of guests. In order to use hospitality for connection, those guests should be people that you are trying to build better relationships with. And though you can offer hospitality to a large group of people, for our purposes I suggest offering hospitality to smaller, more manageable groups so you have the time to have meaningful conversation with everybody.

connect

Hospitality used to be almost automatic – everybody invited people over. Somewhere along the way, this silly idea crept in that our homes must be decorated perfectly and meticulously cleaned with elaborate menu and activity offerings for our guests. What happened to inviting friends over at the last minute to a comfortable, mostly-clean, lived-in home, serving whatever you were going to eat for dinner anyway? Don’t let this the hospitality myths stop you from connecting.

Step on out of that comfort zone and try simple hospitality. It doesn’t need to be extravagant. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It doesn’t even need to be planned way ahead. It doesn’t have to be a meal. I like what Tsh from The Art of Simple says about it:

What I’ve learned is that hospitality isn’t about the state of my home or complexity of my meals. It’s about showing people I love them in simple ways. With coffee. Or beer. Or by allowing them into my mess so they can see that perfection isn’t a prerequisite to being loved by our family – not for us, not for them.

It means welcoming people in, no matter what.

By welcoming people into your home, you have a chance to really connect and build new and better personal relationships. You might even build better professional relationships if you take hospitality a step further and extend it to coworkers and/or clients.

Day 13 Daily Connection Challenge:
Plan a super simple way that you can offer hospitality to friends or family this week (Coffee and dessert? Afternoon tea? Watch a game and drink a beer? A crafting evening?) and invite them over. If schedules don’t allow, plan for when it will work or invite somebody else.

Thank you for joining me for Day 13 of 31 Days of Connection! I hope you are finding some encouragement to work on connecting more and better with those around you. See you again on Day 14!

12
Oct
2016

Connecting Through Acts of Service and Kindness

categories: Connection, Learning

Welcome to Day 12 of 31 Days of Connection! Find links to all the posts in the series as they are published on the Day 1 post. Have you signed up to receive my posts by email? Click here now to do it!

Connecting Through Acts of Service and Kindness

Acts of service is considered one of the love languages that I mentioned in yesterday’s post. But we do acts of service and acts of kindness all the time for all sorts of different reasons, not just to express love and appreciation. Performing acts of service and kindness for people or with people is another great way to connect and strengthen a relationship.

Acts of service or kindness can be small or large. It might be small like taking somebody’s dishes to the kitchen or it might be larger like cooking a meal for a friend or even bigger like fixing a house or car. It’s going out of your way to do something nice for somebody else with no expectation of anything in return. It can be something that you do for one person or it can be something that you do along with others, for one person or a group of people. These are not random acts of kindness or service – those are great but do not help you build connection. These acts of service would be done for people that you are trying to develop or strengthen a relationship with.

When you perform an act of service or kindness for a person, the goal is to bless that person without expecting anything in return. Of course connection is a two-way street, but you will find that stronger connections and relationships happen with the right people naturally when you aren’t looking for reciprocation. And you’d be surprised how much it benefits you when you are only focused on how you can bless another person.

connecting

Acts of Service Ideas

The best way to think of acts of service to do for family and friends is think about the things that they really dislike doing or never have enough time to get done, like doing the dishes, organizing a garage, cleaning up a yard, washing a car, getting the oil changed, cooking a meal, babysitting for free for an evening, etc. It can also be doing something when asked – it doesn’t have to be spontaneous or just your idea. Sometimes an act of service is about saying yes to a person’s need for help even when it is inconvenient for you.

Doing acts of service as a group is a great way to build connection. Not only do you bless the person you are helping, but you are building relationships with the people you are working with. This might be volunteering to build a home, cleaning up a neighborhood, cooking for an event, creating a website, etc. There are so many acts of service that a group of people can do and have fun while doing it!

Day 12 Daily Connection Challenge:
Perform 1-2 small and simple acts of service or kindness today for a friend or family member. Plan 2 bigger acts of service to do in the next week for somebody that you would like to improve your relationship with. Think of a group act of service that you could join in or help organize to bless somebody you know that has a need.

Thank you for joining me for Day 12 of 31 Days of Connection! Have a beautiful day and I’ll see you back here for Day 13!

11
Oct
2016

Connection Through Love Languages

categories: Connection, Learning

Welcome to Day 11 of 31 Days of Connection! Have you missed one of the posts? Stop by Day 1 to get the links to all 31 days. Have you been following along with the daily challenges? Don’t forget to grab your 2 free printables to help you get through the challenges!

Connection Through Love Languages

Have you heard of the Love Languages? Gary Chapman wrote a book in 1995 talking about the 5 ways that love is expressed in marriage. Since then, he expanded the idea for children, singles, the workplace, and more. He came up with these 5 love languages: receiving gifts, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service, and physical touch. I’m not saying that the 5 love languages should only be considered in marriage or that they are the only ways to express love. The love languages are a helpful tool to discover how you can be more effective when you are trying to improve the connection with family and friends. (If you don’t know what your primary love language is, you can click and take a test online.)

When you realize that there are different ways to express love and friendship, you can try figuring out what ways might best appeal to those around you. When you take the time to know people better and connect with them in a way that means more to them than maybe it does to you, you strengthen that relationship. And when you realize that the ways you perceive love and appreciation may be different than the ways your spouse, family member, friend, or even coworker are expressing that love and appreciation, you will benefit and have an improved connection.

connection

I’ll use myself as an example. My primary love language is words of affirmation (followed very closely by acts of service – almost a tie). That doesn’t mean that I don’t fully appreciate physical touch, gifts, etc! It does mean that if you give me words of affirmation, I hold those very near and dear to my heart and they have a greater value to me. In fact, words of affirmation from family, friends, teachers, coworkers, and even strangers mean so much to me that I have saved those words over the years in my mind – almost in a virtual scrapbook. Words of affirmation create a special connection for me, even if I don’t talk to or see the person very often.

I won’t discuss each love language in detail, though I have already posted about connecting through touch and will be talking about acts of service tomorrow. If you are not familiar with the love languages, I do recommend checking out the website or reading one of the books, if for no other reason than to understand how people connect in different ways. And though you can’t go around asking everybody to tell you what their primary love language is, you can often figure it out. People tend to express love and appreciation for others in their own personal primary love language, so that might give you a clue. Using the love languages can help you find new ways to strengthen your connection with the people closest to you.

Day 11 Daily Connection Challenge:
Figure out what your primary love language is or what you think it might be. Pick 1 or 2 people – family or friends or coworkers – and try to figure out what their primary love language might be. Try to improve your connection with those people this week by doing something for them in their primary love language rather than your own, if different.

Thank you for joining me for Day 11 of 31 Days of Connection! Are you working on connecting better with your family and friends? How is it going? Let me know in the comments! I’ll see you right back here for Day 12, friends.

10
Oct
2016

Connecting By Phone

categories: Connection, Learning

Welcome to Day 10 of 31 Days of Connection! Find links to all the posts on Day 1. And remember to click here to get the posts delivered right to your inbox!

Connecting By Phone

How do we connect with others when we’re not meeting up in person? These days using the phone has become almost obsolete. It’s so much easier for most of us to email, text, or use social media to message or contact somebody. I’m guilty of it myself and tend to make very few phone calls as they take up more time and there’s less control over the message (I might forget to mention something on a phone call or say it as clearly as I could in an email.). So why mention connecting by phone when we have so many other methods available? Using the phone involves the voice and that matters.

The voice is an amazing thing – we speak; we sing; we laugh; we cry out. We cannot convey in written form what we can with the voice. Voice communicates more than words can. It includes pitch, tone, and emotion. We recognize voices and even when we don’t know a person’s voice, we assign a voice to their writing. I had always read the posts from one of my blogging friends with a certain voice assigned in my head, as we had never met or spoken other than online. I was so surprised when I finally spoke to her on the phone and she had a lovely Southern accent! It changed the way I read her words from then on and it was so nice to be able to better understand her words in her actual voice.

connecting

When we hear a voice over the phone, it’s familiar and makes us feel like that person is almost right there with us. That creates a stronger connection than just the written word. Sometimes talking on the phone is outside of our comfort zone and it keeps our world safe and happy by only texting or messaging. Some people feel more valued, loved, and comforted by hearing a friend or family member’s voice over the phone. It’s worth stepping out of our comfort zone once in a while to make somebody else feel important and to strengthen our connection.

Day 10 Daily Connection Challenge:
Call a friend or family member today instead of texting or messaging them! Within the next day or two, call somebody that you haven’t spoken to (other than in writing) in a long time and see how you feel after connecting by phone rather than by email or letter.

Thank you for joining me for Day 10 of 31 Days of Connection! Are you finding the daily challenges helpful? Let me know in the comments. See you back here for Day 11.

09
Oct
2016

Connecting With Friends

categories: Connection, Learning

Welcome to Day 9 of 31 Days of Connection! Stop by the first day of 31 Days of Connection to get links to the whole series as each post is published. Click here to sign up to receive the posts by email.

Connecting With Friends

We’ve talked about connecting with family, but connecting with friends is also very important. Friendship is a true blessing. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has experienced a season without friends or at least without nearby friends. It can be lonely and difficult. Having the kind of friends who are lifetime friends no matter how often you talk to each other is an amazing thing. But what takes somebody from acquaintance to friend and then from friend to lifetime friend? Connection and maintaining or growing that connection.

connecting

Helping an acquaintance grow into a friendship requires connecting on some level. It could be getting together for a playdate, or breakfast, or through doing an activity together. The connection might happen digitally, over the phone, or even through handwritten correspondence. There are so many ways that friendships are developed. The connection usually occurs because of things you have in common and talking about life and really listening to each other. We might have 1 friend or 100 friends, but we have connected with them all in some way.

We may have friends that we see regularly and do things with, and then other friends that are those forever friends that have your back no matter what – the ones you call when life gets too hard to handle. The reason those friends have become so close is because of a deeper connection that has usually developed because you have talked about the real hard stuff of life or you have gone through a difficult experience together or you have grown up together and have so much in common that you are practically family. These friendships are lasting and true. Growing a friendship into this lifetime friendship only happens with that deeper connection.

connecting

In order to keep friendships flourishing, we need to work on continuing to connect. A friendship can be like a flowering plant. The more attention and care you give it, the more it grows and flowers. If it’s neglected, the blooms die off and the growth is stunted, though the roots remain and stay strong. I am certainly guilty of neglecting friendships and allowing the growth to be stunted. Connecting with friends and growing our friendships means taking extra time and making the effort to get together and to talk, or sometimes just to listen. It’s a small sacrifice for a huge reward.

Day 9 Daily Connection Challenge:
If you have an acquaintance that you’d like to develop a friendship with, reach out today to connect through a Facebook friendship, a call, or an invite to an event or outing that you would enjoy together. If you have a friend that could turn into one of those special forever friends, take time today to write or call or schedule time to get together one-on-one to talk about life. And take a little time to nurture your existing friendships by connecting sometime in the next few days in a way that your friend(s) will appreciate.

Thank you for joining me on Day 9 of 31 Days of Connection! See you back here for Day 10. Have you had any light bulb moments from these connection posts? Have you stepped out of your comfort zone in any way to achieve a daily challenge? I would love to hear about it in the comments!

08
Oct
2016

Connecting With Family

categories: Connection, Learning

Welcome to Day 8 of 31 Days of Connection (we’re only a quarter of the way through)! Remember, stop by Day 1 to catch the links to all 31 days.

Connecting With Family

I know, you’re thinking, “Hello, Lisa – I’m around my family all day. Don’t you think I’m already connected enough?” Maybe. But maybe you could connect more, better, deeper. Of course you’re connected – you’re related and you love each other and there’s a connection between all of you that won’t ever go away. Have you been intentional about your connection with family members lately? I know that we tend to get comfortable and familiar and get to that point where we don’t really work at it anymore. But it takes constant effort if you want that deeper level of connection. And by developing that deeper connection at home, we’ll be better prepared to connect with those outside our family circle.

connecting

Connect With Your Spouse

Connecting with our spouse should include connection through intimacy and touch, but we should also be making time to “date” each other. It’s important to have one-on-one time away from the distractions of children so you can talk about your dreams and goals for your family or work through issues together. It doesn’t have to be an expensive night out with a babysitter at home, though I recommend saving up and doing that at least once in a while. It can be time together at home after putting the kids to bed early – that might mean you have to stay up really late, but it’s worth it for some time alone together.

Connect With Your Children

Connecting with children happens all day long, but this is about taking extra, intentional time to connect with them one-on-one. Make it a priority to fit in or schedule time with each child without the other children. Maybe that’s a parent/child “date” or maybe it’s just time together in the child’s room. It’s certainly easier to achieve this with younger children as they usually love to cuddle and read stories together. It gets tougher as they get older and requires you to figure out what ways they prefer to connect. Is it playing a video game together and talking about what’s happening at school? Is it shopping together and laughing about your day? When you have teens, it’s harder still.

connecting

Connecting intentionally with a teen may mean perseverance on our end. Just because a teen seems outwardly not to care about connecting, don’t believe it. Teens want love and connection but won’t always give you the satisfaction of showing that they care. But if we give up, they will assume that we don’t care enough to keep trying. Don’t give up! Make a coffee date and talk about their day or hang out at the mall to people watch and share some of your wisdom at the same time. Keep things low key and no-pressure. Developing a deeper connection with your teen may take more effort now but it they will appreciate it as they get older.

Connect With Other Family Members

Connecting with other family members outside of your immediate family is important, too. Whether it’s grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, or in-laws, make time during each year to connect or reconnect with them. This probably won’t be able to happen as often but make that effort to rearrange your schedule once in a awhile to visit your other family members or attend a family function. Not only are we developing a better connection, we are also setting the example for your children on how to connect with family.

Make taking time to be intentional about connecting with family members a priority and you’ll see the benefits not only with your relationships with family, but with your own ability to connect with others. This will mean planning ahead. Being intentional means working to make it happen rather than waiting for the right moment to spontaneously occur.

Day 8 Daily Connection Challenge:
Schedule some intentional one-on-one time to connect with family members. Start today if possible. Plan ahead and schedule time with each one as well as commit to a family occasion or event coming up in the next month or so.

Thank you for joining me for Day 8 of 31 Days of Connection! Make life easy and click here to sign up to receive each post as it’s published – right to your inbox!