Why Human-Centered Organizations Are the Ones Hitting Their Targets
Have you ever noticed that we are, as a culture, obsessed with metrics?
We all have targets to aim for and goals to achieve. And when we meet them? That’s when we’ll know we’ve done a good job. That’s how we judge our success.
Everything else — like bringing a sense of compassion to the workplace and fostering a culture that leads to healthy, happy employees — that’s just an added bonus. A “nice to have.”
But here’s the thing:
The counterintuitive truth is that the more we focus on putting people at the center of our organizations, the more we actually end up hitting those benchmarks. The better we are at fulfilling our operational needs.
Unfortunately, it’s the total opposite of how we’re taught to do it.
We’re taught to see humans as resources. We’ve come to accept that because we’re all so stretched in the workplace, we have neither the time nor the emotional energy to deal with the emotional side of being human. We’re continually discouraged from stepping out of our work personas and showing our human vulnerability.
But working in this way leads to organizations that are ineffective, inefficient, and that burn through staff at an alarming rate. And this is uniquely challenging for high human impact (HHI) organizations where the ethos of the organization is caring for others. Because employees in HHI organizations believe so passionately in the work they do, they’re going to push themselves beyond their limits; they’re going to string themselves out.
And if they’re not supported by a human-centered culture, if they’re required to constantly hide their vulnerability, and if well-being isn’t the foundation upon which the culture is built, they will burn out.
So what can organizations do to become more human-centered and to protect their staff from burnout, all while ensuring they’re still meeting their operational needs and metrics?
I’d suggest the following 4 steps as an excellent place to begin.
1. Figure out the current lay of the land.
Assess where your organization is right now; identify what the workforce’s needs and more importantly, what their perceptions are.
There’s often a disconnect between what leadership thinks they’re doing and what the workforce believes is happening. And if you can’t recognize — and then close — that gap, you’ll be left scratching your head wondering why your staff turnover is so high when you’re doing “everything” in your power to keep them.
2. Take care of the logistics.
It’s important to take care of the logistics of what you want to happen. For example, if you’re offering certain services or programs to help your workforce, you first need to make sure that what you’re offering is what people really want. And secondly, you need to ensure that the people who most need to take advantage of these programs are not just encouraged, but actually able to access them easily.
3. Work with employees to create win-win solutions.
You may have a ton of brilliant ideas about what will improve your organization’s culture but have you run these ideas past your team? Have you checked in with your employees to find out what would truly make a difference to them?
Asking these questions doesn’t just foster buy-in, it also often leads to the creation of solutions that satisfy both leadership and the workforce. A true win-win.
4. Experiment with these solutions.
Once you’ve hit on these win-win solutions, test them to see what happens. Some will work out exactly as you all hoped…and some won’t.
But by showing a commitment to experimentation, you’ll eventually find a solution that works for everyone. And in the meantime, your dedication to improving things for your employees won’t go unnoticed. The very fact that the intention is there is often enough to help people feel more valued and supported.
We all have targets to hit, and operational needs to take care of — but we have people to take care of, too. And when we commit to taking care of our people, when we create a human-centered organization that supports staff and protects not only their physical health, but also their mental, emotional, and relational health and energy, we create a working environment in which people are willing AND able to achieve exactly what you need them to.
