Strengthening Team Culture: Connection as a Leadership Practice
Dr. LaNysha Adams is an educator, author, and leadership expert committed to expanding access to opportunity.
When she joined a Traveling Table dinner hosted by &Human, she entered a room designed around creating a space where people working toward similar goals could meet as whole people, rather than representatives of their organizations.
For leaders whose work is deeply tied to service, this can be difficult. Many spend years introducing themselves through what they do, while the experiences and values that shape them remain largely invisible. That same pattern was present inside her own organization. While deeply committed to her mission, her team was not fully aligned; they needed a stronger relational foundation beneath the work.
It was this gap that led her to adopt &Human’s Connection Cards as a lightweight way to build shared understanding.
Dr. Adams's Traveling Table experience clarified that connection is shaped before conversation begins, in the conditions that define how people show up to each other.
We asked participants to introduce themselves without reference to title; this changed how everyone at the table spoke, what they emphasized, and what they chose to reveal.
Connection Cards supported this shift by introducing prompts that invited reflection and curiosity rather than performance.
When responding to the prompt “How is your heart?”, she named a condition rather than an idea. “My heart is different. Damaged and different.”
She later situated that response in a defining medical experience following a cardiac arrest in 2022, which resulted in emergency intervention and a permanent shift in how she understood presence, family, and continuity.
As she spoke, the interaction did not fragment. Participants followed with more personal reflections, and the dynamic shifted from exchange of perspectives to shared exposure of experience.
By the end of the evening, the connections formed at that table extended beyond the room itself.
Dr. Adams went on to build relationships with multiple guests across the broader Traveling Table community, collaborating professionally, sharing platforms, and creating new opportunities together.
Today, she uses &Human’s Connection Cards with her own teams, creating space for authentic conversation before meetings begin:
"Your connection cards have been one of the simplest ways I’ve strengthened team culture. Before our weekly meetings, we use them to connect before jumping into work. One prompt asked someone to share a story about being helped, and it opened up such an honest, relatable conversation. It never feels forced because the conversations are real and deeply connective."
What started in the dinner became a repeatable practice for strengthening culture and deepening trust—helping people connect through who they are, not only through what they do.
We believe the brightest future is human. We partner with those bold enough to build it without compromise.
