As a human being, not just a human resource

Our goal is to seek efficiency with things and not with people.

So it’s important that we give each other full acknowledgement of the whole person, not just our roles. That means being brave enough to interact and connect with people holistically, actually engaging their full self, and not just the small part of the self that the company finds useful and important.

My friend who runs an advertising agency has a brilliant mantra for this. She tells her staff, why start with the customer in mind when you can just start with the customer?

No wonder their client and employee turnover are so low. Humanity starts at the top.

Here’s one daily habit that’s good to get into:

Make a point not to ask for something.

Approaching people with a zero agenda mindset. That way, rather than solely coming to team members when we have a request, we come to them with an interest in who they are as a person. As a human being, not a human resource.

It’s a subtle practice, it won’t get you promoted, and some people probably won’t even notice. But it goes a long way in not making people objectified and makes you feel like a better person.

Harvard recently conducted a poll of a thousand workers, asking for top complaints about their leaders. And in the survey, not surprisingly, the management offenses that the employees most pointed to centered around a striking lack of emotional intelligence.

Leaders didn’t participate fully in their team’s experiences. They were so focused on achieving that they forgot to connect.

Apparently, it really is that hard to ask someone how their day is going before getting down to business.

Apparently, we really are so results oriented that we can’t stop to take a breath, look someone in the eye and make someone feel seen for thirty seconds.

Yikes.

LET ME ASK YA THIS..
Are you efficient with things or with people?