Let’s look at the human brain. Countless studies throughout the years have shown us that our brains produce “happy” chemicals more often when we feel liked, affirmed and part of a community. Even 2,500 years ago, Plato understood that the desire for recognition, “thymos,” is one of the chief motivating forces in humans.
The imbedded desire to connect with one another is demonstrated every day by the hundreds of millions of people who inhabit the virtual communities found on social networks. It makes sense then that businesses who tap into the connection factor of private social networking are ahead of the game when it comes to establishing strong employee bonds within the workplace.
In fact, understanding the highly social nature driving human behavior provides three reasons why those organizations that integrate private social networking experience success:
Social Connection Makes Us Healthier – By nature, connection for mental health is as critical for humans to thrive as food is for physical health. Research across the board shows that people with strong connections are happier, more creative and actually live longer (Psychology Today).This need for connection affects us in the workplace, too. Simply put, we are a species proven to work better within communal environments. The use of private social networking allows us a virtual break out of our cubicles and gives us a collective space for connection.
Collaboration Creates Success – From our earliest days of hunting and gathering, we learned that collaboration was crucial to our existence. We see this experience in the workplace, as well. There’s an unmistakable buzz of energy in a room when team members join collaboratively on projects and goals.Through private social networking, companies provide that creatively charged place where we can join together virtually. As the separation of time and geography fade away, collaboration takes on a whole new power.
New Ideas Take Us Further. The human penchant for working together and solving problems hasn’t just guaranteed our survival, it has also spurred us on to create new solutions. Humans famously fiddle with, improve and invent new technology as a way to enhance our condition, which explains why we just can’t help our attraction to new ideas and novel things.
The advances through the Internet are a perfect platform for the latest tools and technology that make a measureable difference in the quality of our lives. Private social networking is such an addition – this approach to boosting the workplace experience results in a high tech invention that appeals to our basic human core.
As social animals we are a group that flourish in connected communities – one billion members of Facebook prove that fact. And in the business world private social networking delivers a similarly potent communal atmosphere, the perfect size to suit your workplace environment.
Cutting edge organizations are proving that connection through a personalized corporate network provides the perfect opportunity to form an invested, enthusiastic and creative workforce. In the years to come the question won’t be if your company has a private social network but what does it look like?
