Start with the end in mind

If we start with the end in mind, what would we design?

For our lives, our families, our organisations? Even for our planet?

The wisdom those who have lived long lives always impart focuses on spending more time with others, continuously learning and growing, and being kind and curious. Regrets are for opportunities and risks not taken, and decisions taking us away from building meaningful relationships.

The very essence of being human.

And yet, when we roll this up to groups – families, teams, workplaces – it can feel challenging to find a focus on this end state.

Why do we struggle to nurture conditions where humans can flourish, as a goal in itself?

Systems, processes, expectations of work are around 200 years old. The goal historically was to produce things faster, more consistently, efficiently and profitably. People operated and monitored machinery. In essence, we were resources – what output can we achieve with 100 resources? What’s the return? How can we speed this up?

It is only more recently in history that we have started to truly consider people as humans. As complex, social and emotional creatures. We’ve realised there’s more to motivation and sustained performance than setting rules and paying money. We understand that employees offer more than outputs, KPIs, financial return. We know they’re much more than a resource.

Or do we??

Looking into many organisations today at the language used, reporting and metrics shared, expectations set, and how people are managed, might lead you to conclude that humans are still regarded as resources:

• Human Resources
• Headcount reports
• Overheads
• Utilisation metrics
• Finance-led strategy
• Down-sizing or right-sizing
• Bonuses linked to commercial results
• Performance appraisal (the origin of this word is about evaluating something’s worth)

?At a human level, this can leave many feeling detached, possibly even de-humanised within the organisations they work in. They see colleagues come and go, with no announcement or explanation. When people are resources, focus is on ensuring a replacement is quickly lined-up. There’s no need to make a big deal of this, just make sure the tasks can get done.

However, to us as humans this jars. This isn’t just a resource we lose, it’s a person who has played a critical role in our teams and communities. We will miss them. We want to know why they’re leaving, and have they got something exciting to go to? We want to know what it means for us? If this is supressed or concealed, it quickly creates negative emotions – suspicion, fear, resentment.

Why do we often shy away from talking about and valuing the relationships we build? And how we achieve the results we deliver?

The serious cultural challenges at Boeing , resulting in the tragic crashes of two 737 Max aircrafts in quick succession and the deaths of 346 people, highlight the serious risk in getting this wrong. Several leadership changes later, and the company is still struggling to get the right balance between Purpose (safety) and Profit. Historically, Boeing had a renowned safety culture. It was embedded into everything - this was the priority for all actions. With a merger, came re-positioning of commercial return, and the balance with safety put into question. Senior leaders were now rewarded for financial return, and this interrupts thought-processes everyday, re-defines decision-making, likely means concerns raised by team members are quashed if they jeopardise the commercial goals. This is a stark reminder that we really can become what we measure.

In sport, we see the balance between winning at all costs (resulting in doing whatever it takes to get the result) and competing in a fair and ethical way frequently play out. In recent years, in athletics, cycling, swimming and gymnastics individual and cultural issues have been unearthed as the price people are willing to pay, as humans, to win is revealed. Earlier this year World Athletics announced there will be a $50,000 prize for gold medal track & field winners at this year's Olympics in Paris. This pushes things into the heart of a centuries old debate - intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. It will be interesting to watch how this impacts athletes, spectators and commentators view of the event many have invested their lives training for. And, will this open the door wider to those willing to abuse the system, to take bribes, to break trust in order to secure a financial outcome? Cath Bishop, an Olympian, speaker and leadership & culture coach, perspective in the Guardian highlights the longer-term risks:

"This move further damages the image that audiences and particularly youngsters watching their sporting idols see – that the drivers and rewards of brilliance are purely material: bonuses, prizes, money and medals. In fact, the world of sport and all our lives are crying out for greater attention and investment in the intrinsic values of purpose and belonging to a community. What drove Andy Murray and Justin Rose to change their calendar and their training to attempt to win the Olympics was as far from cash prizes as you can get."

We need to pivot our organisations towards embracing what brings out the best of us, as humans, from the outset.

I believe it is time for a new scorecard for success, because we become what we measure:

In Human Organisations thriving people is the goal

In Human Organisations, we talk about people, not resources. We focus on the things humans need to thrive (because safe, supported, included people deliver their best work and this drives business success). We value developing human skills and relationships as key outcomes – learning and developing new skills motivates, engages and fuels an agile workforce, and if our teams build friendships they feel a sense of belonging. How results are achieved is just as important as what is delivered. This is a place people want to be part of, and when they do, they share ideas, collaborate, and encourage others to join.

In Human Organisations, we focus on cultivating human experiences. We pool our knowledge to proactively design moments that matter - when people join, when they start their first project, when they want to progress their careers, and we understand that people will leave and move on. In fact, this is a good sign, because our success is about developing people to do more than when they started. So, we celebrate their contributions, ask them for their feedback on how we can improve, and we wish them well – giving them a heartfelt, human send-off! Dave Ulrich and Bev Kaye's call for 'Elegant Exits' is well worth a read on this topic.

Behind durable businesses are happy, healthy, human workplaces.

Let’s build workplaces where we as humans can flourish. Get going by embedding new measures for success, and using words and metrics focused on being a people-fuelled business.

This will enable us to start with the end in mind.

Want to go deeper into HOW to build teams and cultures where people and business thrive?

Join the next Make It Human Club Webinar: 10 Signs of Culture Cracks (& how to fix them!) at 12pm (UK) on 22nd May. ??

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