Growing Into the Human Work

We write a lot here about the organisation, the team and the Superheroes. That we need to do something about the existent and ever-increasing HumanDebt?. That said “to do” is to distribute the needed work to the team level and let them fix themselves and then get into a groove of continuous improvement aka “the human work”.?

And we have to keep writing about it because for such a simple and obvious concept, the above is so eerie to what Tracy Bannon calls organisational “muscle memory” that we’re looking at a long, long time of having to flog this horse before true change will happen.?

And that change can not be lip service, it can not be painted on a pig, it can’t be the discreet occasional eye roll at the passing butt naked emperors and it can not be incremental. Instead, it has to be at the same level that we have had to do ourselves when we realised that we have to grow - a fundamentally gargantuan transformation of thoughts and beliefs so that they get realigned around humans and their wellbeing at work as the cornerstone of any technical performance.?

Growing pains - there’s a reason growth is rarely hailed as pleasant - it simply never feels fun when it’s needed. When bones grow, they hurt. When minds expand, it’s with discomfort. When we change habits, it’s full of effort and it costs us. When we evolve in any way there’s shedding to be done, there’s breaking to be had and there’s shape-shifting that has to happen.?

So why seek growth as an individual unless you’re a masochist? No reason.?

All we can hope for is that we are compelled to grow and that makes us disregard the hardship. When it comes to changing our ways, be they the ways of working, the ways of leading or the ways we interact with others, the growth promises to be evidently painful and the rewards are intangible and personal as opposed to clear, practical and common for all of us. This is because the imperative for change is more likely to be powered by the individual’s common sense and a need for doing what’s right than it is ever going to be an organisational stance.

In other words when we consciously or subconsciously rewired our brains to comprehend the need for true flexibility and collaboration that Agile demands, when we arrived at the impossibility of sustaining command and control considering what outcomes we’re seeking and even when we realised we have to do the human work as it’s harder and more needed than the delivery day-to-day work, when we did all these very hard things and we grew, we did so because we knew it in our bones that they are right and they are needed. It was never because the organisation said so and we believed it. Let’s face it, most companies haven’t even said all this with all their might and the ones who did, we found it hard to believe because there isn’t even a sliver of trust we can predicate believing them on.?

Why seek growth as an organisation? Because you can’t afford not to.?

Because no matter how much denial you are in, you know that the new Human Debt you’re building today will be disastrous. Because if you’re honest and you close your eyes and imagine 10, 15 or 20 years into the future you can’t claim you see a world where clocking in for command and control happens still. Or teams that have to ask for tens of approvals. Or centrally distributed work. Or any waterfalling. Or enterprises that are winning while having huge existing HumanDebt and not having reshaped around their people and their human work. Where the conversation on emotions is once more non-existent, feedback loops are a mere desiderata and people are expected to still be just resources, machines or robots and not have human feelings, reactions and relationship dynamics that they observe, discuss and work on.?

We all know that world won’t exist. Where there would be only theoretical work. Or only delivery work. Or anyone would write code and never be called upon to figure out their emotions and those of others. A world where we hadn’t empowered teams so they continuously improve. Where there’s no human work.?

We tried that collectively as humans stepping into the world of work as we lifted it from a factory’s production line and tried to superimpose it onto the technology-making realm. That didn’t work. It won’t work.?

The only guys winning so far are those that were able to quickly steer the ship away from trying that same thing and towards talking about the important topics that are now as central to the work as where the cafeteria used to be - Who are we? What’s our purpose and how do we make an impact? How do we get to flow and therefore performance? How do we feel safe? How do we grow and learn together as a team? What magic can we make together in this creative, fearless and innovative new world?

Look, I’m preaching to the choir here, I know I am. No one reading this questions how the human work must become the utmost priority. Or that we have to start paying off some of the HumanDebt. Or that we have to support our people to learn how to access and discuss emotions and how to lead with servitude and helpfulness in mind. Or that every organisation should be putting every waking minute into transforming into a “people first” shop. No one. That said dear choir, we need to start singing louder. To make our voices heard and save the organisation despite itself.?

Growing into the human work and putting people first isn’t easy. We’re all busy, we’re all tired, we’re all overwhelmed and we’re all tempted to hang up the cape at times. It’s new, extra, harder work that’s largely thankless for now. Not only isn’t it easy but it’s not mandatory either. It’s not mandatory that all these enterprises that choose to ignore their HumanDebt make it. It’s not mandatory that they stop adding to it. Success isn’t in the cards for everyone so why fight so hard to make them stand a chance alongside the Netflixes or the Googles or the other people-first shops? We could all choose to ignore what’s right and let the organisation sink, by the time it does, we won’t be around anyhow but if we won’t apply that questionable stance to any other sustainability matter from moral legacy to climate change why should we to what we leave behind in the world of work?

So it may be mandatory after all - the louder choir. The leading by example when it comes to continuous improvement. The pointing out of the HumanDebt and the need for the people work. Painful at it may be.?So may your painkillers be strong and your resolve stronger and may we all keep growing.

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At?PeopleNotTech ?we make?software ?that measures and improves Psychological Safety in teams. If you care about it- talk to us?about a demo?at?[email protected] ??

To order the "People Before Tech: The Importance of Psychological Safety and Teamwork in the Digital Age" book go to this Amazon?link