Humanization of cooperation ? – It really works ! (2012)
Take the trouble to stop and think of the other person’s feelings, his viewpoints, his
desires and needs. Think more of what the other fellow wants, and how he must feel.
Maxwell Maltz
Most companies could nowadays easily produce a lot more value. Value in terms of fun, money and personal prestige. Not from a negative point of view – how to squeeze more out of my employees? – But from a positive one.
In particular large companies often perceive their employees as a job description, with a related ‘KPI’ and a ‘target’. The concept is that, by defining people as stable and well defined elements in a structure the company creates organizational stability and liability. Employees only get assignments in accordance with their formal job title. Everyone within the company ‘is’ more or less a job title.
However, a job description doesn’t really reflect a person’s human needs, his or her real capabilities and competences. Do you really know what employees in your company are capable of? Do you know who is a professional violin player and who is “fluent in Russian”, capabilities that are not in the job description and therefore not known in the company’s coded information or Human Resources Database? However, I’m very sure there will be many business events in which that would have been business wise and useful to have known these talents and competences as well. (for ‘Russian’ you may fill in any other talent example).
Large companies operate in some respects as psychopaths. Companies don’t feel anything. They can’t start or maintain an emotional relationship and they have no conscience. Therefore, we need an ongoing pressure on companies not to go this inhuman way and to reduce people to ‘nuts and bolts” as ‘job descriptions’ usually do.
I sincerely hope that the ‘social companies’ will form part of the answer and will make companies more human. Social media are a perfect tool box to enable this transition from ‘lean and mean’ to ‘lean and meaningful’ where cooperation doesn’t just reflect the outcome of a spread sheet exercise but, instead, is the result of personal decisions taken by responsible individuals.
‘Behold the man ‘. Make tacit knowledge available for business, knowledge that everyone has but that is nowhere on a note or formally coded. This creates transparency, reduces organizational costs, honours colleagues in all their contributions and renews the company in a meaningful way. It results in more (human) value.
You want cooperation? be human! The humanization of cooperation is the future.
References:
http://www.fransvanderreep.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/europeanretaildigest01.pdf (2005)
http://www.fransvanderreep.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/engelse-versie.pdf