BRINGING MORE LIFE TO WORK, NOT WORK TO LIFE

FORWARD There are four (4) key takeaways; their text is in bold.

The text is 850 words, a 10-minute read.

The video at the end is 28 minutes long.

Both the text and the video will present the future. I strongly suggest you begin to reflect and consider this future – because it is here now.

THE INQUIRY

Employees are one of the most, if not the most, expensive items on your balance sheet. More than likely, you have suitable employee management structures that are faithfully in place, systematically administered, and routinely reviewed. Things like performance reviews, personality assessments, 360s, well-defined direct reporting, accountabilities, job descriptions, SOPs, performance data analysis, raise policies, incentives, and benefits packages. Or, you're at least heading down this path.

What people are being asked and expected to do and the projected outcomes they are supposed to deliver are defined and measurable. However, when this is your sole focus, it ignores a critical and fundamental aspect of what you might consider earnestly working on - people's humanity.

Having humanity as an integral part of most companies is simply nonexistent. It's not inhumanity or heartlessness; it's not callousness or unkindness. It's just unconsciousness of what is ultimately wanted and needed for people to be fulfilled in the future.

Everybody realizes that AI will do much more of what people are now doing, with its machine-to-machine learning, data analytics, trend reporting, neural networks, and robotics. First, it was only in the manufacturing industry, but now it's reaching higher and higher into the employee ranks and even into the executive roles. But AI has its limitations, and people will always be needed.

What is next?

PLEASE CONSIDER

To date, nearly every company's formula for success has been fully engaged in growing the business – increasing cash flow, upping their EBITDA multiple, boosting stock price, longing for an IPO or another round of non-toxic financing, hitting numbers, and capturing faster, better, and more finite analytics. I could go on, but all those intentions won't be enough in the new future dominated by AI.

It would be wise to grow your people, not just grow your business.

To enhance a person's humanity – what it means to be human - having humanity as a core tenet of your business is – like it or not – your next leadership challenge.

A HUMANITY CENTERED BUSINESS

A humanity-centered business puts its people at the very center of its business model. As a result, there is an authentic caring for the well-being of its people - in both their professional and personal lives.

This focus on humanity would encompass physical, psychological, intellectual, spiritual, and financial well-being. At this time, for most companies, upgrading these components of their people's lives hasn't been considered essential for business success. But, in the future, it absolutely will be.

A declared intention to keep humanity as fundamental would be physically evident because the company would be spending time and money bringing greater humanity to its workforce. Humanity would show up in their department budgets. Humanity would be on everyone's meeting schedules in one form or another. Humanity would be made real, not just talked about. It would become a commitment versus a good intention.

Humanity-centered businesses genuinely believe that if they help people be the best version of themselves, the company will be the best version of itself.

EVIDENCE-BASED

Nearly four decades of business research, numerous books, videos, and blogs - from case studies to significant cohort studies - have been done. It has repeatedly been shown that people who feel genuinely listened to, important, respected, and cared for, stay longer with their employers, work harder, produce higher-quality outcomes, and are happier and more fulfilled in their jobs and lives.

This caring, this benevolence, this generosity shows up in customer/patient satisfaction and spending. Customers/patients who feel this kind of commitment buy more, refer more, and are more loyal when things go wrong. For healthcare providers, patient compliance is much higher when humanity is present in the doctor's office or hospital.

Customer/patient trust rests more on meaningful human exchanges than on well-executed transactions.

While I remain a firm believer in the power of advanced technology to improve business performance, I question whether artificial intelligence can ever replicate the deep personnel interactions or customer experiences when humanity is central.

I suggest you consider the possibility that putting people's humanity at the center of your business model could generate unimaginable positive ripples for your employees and your customers/patients. In my view, those who move humanity onto the front burner will be ahead in this unfolding future of machine-to-machine learning and its acceleration of AI and robotics.

If you want to succeed in the future, you best be able to enhance both "soul and scale."

FOR CONSIDERATION

If this content on humanity, personal growth, and development resonated with you and opened something you hadn't considered before, connect with me at info@drmarbcooper.com