The Power of Connection & why it matters at McDonald’s

Why connection is important to McDonald’s

Connection plays a pivotal role within the foundations McDonald’s values are built on, and the Company understands the importance of building safe spaces where their employees can create those meaningful connections with all stakeholders across the business.

Making connections through staff networks

McDonald’s Inclusion network aims to create a safe space for people to connect and share lived experiences.

The network is not a people team or HR initiative and is led by various department representatives who want to make a difference and use this platform to create connections across the business and embed a culture of inclusion.

The network meets regularly with the purpose that all corporate teams from all areas of the business can share ideas and best practices.

Pronoun badges being offered within restaurants is one of the changes that came from conversations within the network and also a reflection space used for prayer, meditation or time out.

Another key network within McDonald’s is the UK&I Women’s Leadership Network which engages women across the business by empowering and inspiring women to become leaders, The Women’s Leadership Network is chaired and sponsored by Michelle Graham-Clare who is the Chief Marketing Officer. 

The purpose of the network is to engage, empower and inspire women by providing resources, tools and support throughout their career journey.

The power of connecting leaders with their teams

As part of their wider DE&I education strategy, McDonald’s launched their cultural intelligence workshop at the beginning of the year where restaurant leaders can explore DE&I and why cultural intelligence is so important. 

This encourages their leaders to explore and reflect upon their own levels of cultural intelligence in order to create deeper connections within their teams and to get to know them on a different level. This allows their leaders to gain a greater understanding around uniqueness and adapting their management style to accommodate the individual’s needs. 

They also recognise that psychological safety is paramount in order for their teams to thrive.  Their ‘creating belonging’ workshops focus on creating authentic connections through the means of dismantling barriers within the workplace by opening the lines of communication and creating an environment where employees feel they belong.

They are determined that no matter what level you are within their business DE&I education is a critical part of leadership.

As part of their wider listening strategy connection is embedded here too.  They use ‘how’s it going chat’s’ on a regular basis as a way of creating and maintaining connections with their teams and each other.

The chats are used as an informal way of catching up and checking in on their teams, it’s also a great way of getting to know team members on a deeper level. Their ‘Next Big Conversation’ tool is another way that they try to build deeper connections within their teams. 

The restaurants select a topic they would like to explore, covering values, wellbeing, or DE&I, or all three!  The conversations are great, and the toolkit and resources used to support these are well received.

If you want to find out more about the Daily Actions, take a look at our quick guide here. If you’re not yet registered for National Inclusion Week, find out more about getting involved here.