Stop Treating People As Functions, Title Or Roles

At times I wonder why companies fail. People may study other factors, but I believe the major reason is that people are treated as titles, functions, and roles but never as humans. Companies that treat their people as humans will see how the human spirit thrives. The human spirit will always find a way and never gives up.

When Thomas Malthus propounded that food production will not be able to keep up with growth in the human population resulting in disease, famine, war, and calamity, what he fails to take note of is the ability of the human to be enterprising and resourceful. He didn’t have an idea of human ingenuity and the ability to transform waste into useful things. He saw humans as functions, animals, as people endowed with the ability of God to create.

To management in almost all organizations, people are either numbers, functions, titles, or the roles they play. They are valued and treated based on the title they have. As people climb the corporate ladder they are treated more as better humans than people at the bottom of the ladder.

I once asked one of the people working in a factory what the difference was between the CEO and the Janitor. He was trying to explain to me that the CEO was more of a better human than the janitor. I corrected him that the difference between them was just their ability to capture opportunities. However, they are all humans.

All the janitor needs are knowledge and the right capability to capture opportunities and he also can be a CEO. We are all fundamentally human. Unlike in Animal Farm where some animals are more animal than others, in the human organization, we are all equal. I guess George Orwell wrote Animal farm to parody the way humans behave in organizations. We act more like animals.

I oft hear people talk about respect being reciprocal. However, I just don’t believe that it is so. I simply believe that people act based on how their emotions are triggered. If we trigger negative emotions, people will act negatively. But if we trigger positive emotions, they will act like angels.

I experienced this with someone. This person was a staff of mine. When the person was around me, the person becomes kind and generous. However, whenever the person spends time with her significant other, she becomes the opposite of kind and generous. It always baffles me. That is when I realize that the way we treat people impacts the way they behave.

Humans are adaptive like chameleons, they take on the behavior of the people they spend time with. They become like the group they are in and lose their uniqueness and individuality. That way they blend and become like them. It's important for organizations to build a culture that makes people feel human and allow them to maintain their uniqueness and uphold their personal creed.

Treat people as functions and they will become and act the part.

Treat them as a title and they will be the title

Treat them as a role and they will act in the role

Treat people like they don’t matter, and they will act the same

But treat them as humans and they will act like human

Organizations miss a lot when they fail to see their people as humans. Our goal at HumanKabal is to ensure that businesses become truly human: that is they bring out the humanity in every single one. People can join companies and get transformed to be and act like humans. That is why we came up with this creed for Truly Human Company:

Exists to cultivate and bring out humanity in people by fostering human connections, experience, and fulfillment through caring and respect for their dignity as humans

8Cs Traits of Humans

When we treat people like humans, we will elicit their humanity. The question then to most companies is whether they have created a culture that makes people feel human. If people feel treated as humans, they will bring out their humanity. However, if they are treated like animals without care and value, they will exhibit their animal instinct.

Animals are competitive, destructive and operate in the survival of the fittest mode. This results in the mindset where the lion has to run faster than the antelope if it wants to have food to eat and the antelope has to run faster than the lion if it wants to live.

Humans, on the other hand, are different. When an organization draws out the humanity in people, their people will be altruistic, collaborative, and creative. Humans see abundance everywhere they are and are able to transform resources from a lower level of productivity to a higher level of usefulness.

1. Care: Humans care for others thereby triggering the humanity in them

2. Charity: Humans are kind and generous to others with what they have

3. Capable: Humans are capable of transforming useless things to be useful

4. Courage: Humans can face their fears and do new things

5. Conquer: Humans can dominate resources and use their elements for good of humanity, to enhance the human experience for everyone.

6. Creative: Humans can make things out of thin air for the use of others

7. Connect: Humans connect with others to build relationships that make the world better.

8. Collaborative: Humans work with others to create new capabilities and make things better.

Companies are simply collaborations between humans. No human is better than the other. We all play different roles in the organizations where we work. We bring our skills and knowledge to create and deliver value for the company where we are working. Treat people as a function, and you will have a part of them. However, if you treat them as humans, you will have the whole of them.

Be part of the Game-Changer Value Creation Coaching program. You will go through the mindset required to create and the tools you need to always create value in the workplace. Are you ready for a fundamental change- a breakthrough in the way you approach your work? If you are, then you are ready for the Value Giver Coach Program. Please call +2348101671745.

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