I believe it is time for a humanity upgrade at work.
So much damage is caused to people’s health and well-being when they work in de-humanised workplace cultures.
These are cultures where people are used, exploited, and treated as mere objects. These working environments are often characterised by low levels of trust and excessive management control. There is fear and blame. People feel devalued, disengaged and demotivated.
This is not a healthy environment for people to do their best work. It is a major problem that manifests itself in high levels of stress, all of which impacts on our level of engagement and connection with our organisations. It reduces business performance.
It is a major problem that needs to be addressed.
Business is at its best when it is solving problems.
Good businesses upgrade their internal systems and infrastructure regularly so they can develop their ability to solve problems and become more resilient.
It could be an investment in new IT, new technology, or new ways of working. It could be an investment in new products and services. These investments are expected to deliver a positive financial return to the organisation.
Investment in internal systems can be positive because they equip organisations to better meet the challenges they are facing. They build the capacity for organisations to take advantage of new opportunities.
I am suggesting that the factor so often overlooked is an upgrade in humanity.
I’m suggesting a humanity upgrade represents a significant and noticeable change in the way people are actually treated within an organisation, at all levels.
A humanity upgrade means deliberately and intentionally putting ‘people-first’ into practice every single day, in every single conversation. It means leaders walking the talk.
If leaders don’t give a damn about people – if they don’t really care about people – we won’t overcome these problems. People will keep feeling disconnected and will ‘quietly quit’.
A humanity upgrade means investment in leaders to develop high-level Emotional Intelligence [EQ} capability to coach their people. It is a more meaningful, reflective, and personalised form of development. It means we keep people at the heart of our organisations and design our systems around their needs. It means we put an end to dehumanising processes and behaviour wherever they exist.
Organisations can have the best infrastructure and systems but if the people in the organisation do not truly feel they matter then the full value can never be realised.
Success comes when technological and business system upgrades go hand in hand with a humanity upgrade.
As Zig Ziglar said
‘you don’t build a business. You build people, and they build a business.’
If we can achieve humanity upgrades in our organisations, we’ll improve people’s lives, improve business results, and strengthen organisational brands. These are win-wins all round.
