We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make better connections; with our customers, with our co-workers, with our employees, with each other. Basic human connections and strong relationships can be elusive. We make strong connections with some people, but it can be a struggle to expand beyond our immediate circle.

Research shows that there are four basic things that we all want to help us feel connected, recognized, and appreciated. If we focus on these four basic things we can build better relationships and become better connected to more people. These simple and foundational actions are: being greeted, recognized by name, helped, and thanked; four very simple actions we can take, four very simple things.

We can use these four simple things; every time we interact with somebody, and with everybody we interact.

It’s easy and it might sound something like this:

“HI.”

Step one, greet people, every time.  Say “Hi” or “Good Morning.” That’s all it takes. Then we ramp it up a notch:

“Hi, Jill. Great to see you today.”

Step two, greet people and use their name. If we don’t know someone’s name, we should figure out how we can learn it; for example, we could ask them. Let’s see what adding step three looks like…

“Hi, Jill. Great to see you today! Is there something I can help you with?”

Sounds nice, right? Let’s hear what the whole process sounds like…

“Hi, Jill. Great to see you today! Is there something I can help you with? …Thank you for…”

Natural.  

Simple.

Four simple things.  

If we commit to these four simple things, these four simple actions, each and every day, we will build better connections, better relationships, maybe we can even build a better society. Maybe we can build a higher level of civility across our culture, simply by connecting with people, recognizing that we all have the same basic needs.