If you are running a business, or you are a senior manager
running someone else’s, what is the most beneficial to your organisation? A day in the office, right?
I had the privilege the other day to be invited to a
gathering of like-minded people who still believe that making the world of work
a better place is a worthy struggle. And
added to that, the belief that making this abstract, ‘touchy-feely’ stuff a
part of understanding our business will improve the bottom line. All too often we make decisions based on a
business case full of figures on a spreadsheet or design something based on
external constraints and then push what we all say is our most important asset
into a situation or space that is doomed to fail.
I must say at this point (and those who know me will no
doubt back me up) that I am not prone to an overly gentle approach to life and
business but, I listened to some fantastic accounts of examples where actually
putting people at the centre of the solution (rather than just saying it or
writing it on the front page of the corporate website) made a significant (and
dare I say measurable) difference to performance, wellbeing and, you guessed
it, profitability.
My world is generally full of order and process and
deadlines, no surprise there. I’m not
saying we all have to go out and ‘hug a tree’, just that every now and again,
take a step back from the straight lines and try to understand why we do what
we do, why that is important and whether we are in fact doing what we think we
are doing.
Too flowery for all you hard-nosed business folks out
there? I know a few people who can prove
you wrong (and probably save you a few bob in the process).
If you think you have a good/great/exceptional team and want
to make it better, drop me a line and I will point you in the right direction.
If on the other hand, your business is top notch and you
can’t improve it, who am I to argue?
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