The Power of Social Health in the Workplace

Being in good health is important to everyone — in all parts of life.

We often talk and think about physical and mental health. But how much do you focus on social health? This can be described as team health, collaborative health, connectedness health, belonging health or networking health. It’s anything that refers to the health our social interactions (or lack thereof) create. 

Social health directly impacts business performance, culture and long-term success. Strong social health at work is a commercial advantage — it accelerates performance, strengthens trust, fuels innovation, and protects both people and business outcomes.

About one third of your life is spent at work, which means that work (whether in person or online) is a major health factor for everyone. How people engage with each other — or not — becomes a driver of social health, which impacts physical and mental health. 

Work isn’t merely what we do, how many meetings we have, how many deals we close, or how much we produce and deliver. Crucially, it’s also the connections between people, the glue that is needed to make the whole greater and more valuable.

To be successful throughout our careers, we need to make the most of those connections so collaboration flourishes and we solve challenges today and in the future. 

The Ills of Poor Social Health 

Consider these ramifications of poor social health at the workplace:

• Poor relationships cause stress, which limits the brain’s capacity to think creatively and collaboratively — further inhibiting relationships and collaboration. 
• Studies on trust show that, after one negative interaction between colleagues, it takes at least 3½ positive interactions to re-establish a good relationship and regain trust.
• An organization’s brand and reputation can be damaged by poor collaboration. That’s because everything takes longer, and mixed communication can negatively impact clients and other important stakeholders. 

High Social Health Performers

Yes, good social health is a must. 

Many high-performing organizations actively invest in social health — recognizing that strong relationships are a competitive advantage, not just a cultural extra. They acknowledge that the workplace is a culture space. 

Some notable examples:

Microsoft considers collaboration, inclusion and psychological safety as part of its cultural transformation. By encouraging openness, learning and cross-team connection, it has strengthened both progress and results. 

Google’s (Alphabet’s) well-known research into high-achieving teams (Project Aristotle) found that psychological safety — the ability to speak up without fear — was the most important factor in team success. This highlights that social health, not merely individual talent, is what drives performance in complex organizations.

Unilever has made well-being and participative leadership part of its business strategy, recognizing that civil, supportive relationships are key to long-term performance, innovation and employee retention.

Across these organizations, a common pattern emerges:

• They prioritize trust, inclusion and psychological safety
• They invest in connection, not just output
• They recognize that how people work together is as important as what they deliver.

How to Promote Social Health

There are four practical ways leaders can promote and positively impact social health at work:

Know your impact. How do you show up in meetings? Are you friendly, positive, inclusive, constructively challenging and a good listener? What ripples out from you? Do you make people want to collaborate with you? Do you help people feel safe and supported in your workplace?

See your colleagues as customers. Be as supportive and kind to your colleagues as you would be to a client. Think about how to be of service to them, add value and go the extra mile to help them be successful. 

Take time to talk. In addition to carrying out work responsibilities, value and maintain work relationships. Take a moment to call a colleague to just have a chat. Listen well and authentically. This time investment will pay off when it comes to work interactions and collaboration.

Don’t just talk to your favorite colleagues or those you get along with most. Make the effort to reach out to those you have little interaction with (or avoid) because you consider the relationship challenging.

Build your network. Think about who you can connect with for creative exchange — so you can learn from, support and challenge one another. Seek out people who are different than you.

Consider factors like gender, education, experience, preferences, culture, age, personality and strengths. Notice how you not only build more and better relationships, but also supercharge your learning and insights.

What part are you playing to increase your workplace’s social health? Imagine the possibilities if you lead the way.

Photo credit: VioletaStoimenova/Getty Images