When we announced our “Pay your people for the human work FFS” campaign we did think it was a tall ask but we had no idea what height we were talking about. Over the last few weeks, every conversation seemed to reiterate a hard-to-swallow truth: we’re aeons away from being ready for the message. After years of having repeated ad nausea “You have HumanDebt. To compete in a marketplace that puts people at the centre so that they can create technology as fast as possible, you have to lower it. The only efficient way to do so is to “outsource it to the edge” – i.e. distribute it to the employees both as individuals and as teams and effectively ask them to better their behaviours and emotions through human work” that message is only now starting to reluctantly land but the next logical step of “… and since they’re expected to do that human work you must think of ways to recognise and reward it” seems to represent yet another immense logical leap.
As ever, interrogating the “why” of it is academic and largely unuseful, but chances are that the reasons are part of that same debt – how organisations don’t think of their people topic cohesively and at a strategic level and how, the pockets of care, while some times located at the HR level as an exception, are really mostly resting with technology leaders having to really show delivery excellence and being unable to do so because of their HumanDebt and yet having no say in the de facto processes that affect their human capital. It’s a vicious circle most don’t even recognise leave alone can they attempt to break.
Of the companies we have spoken to that are receptive to the crusade, most have done something already. At the very least they have considered what it is that can and should be included in the human work and are commencing the exploration regarding the ways that would make the work stick the best. They are asking what behaviours they want to incentivise and what skills they have to grow. Those are good questions.
Learning – and in a sense curiosity- is the easiest to quantify and underline so many companies are starting to find ways to measure it fairly. That’s one of the many things that people have to demonstrate and that they can improve through their human work efforts. Some leave it there as they don’t have a genuine burning desire for change and it gets harder after this level but others leave it as they don’t know what else to query or reward.
So what if you’re a genuinely open-hearted organisation wanting to transform towards being a true human-centric organisation with a solid culture free of HumanDebt? Where should you start in this exploration of establishing if the human work is happening and how to reward it?
Firstly ask the biggest question: “How do our people truly feel?” and don’t take vague or wooden-language lip service for an answer but do your darndest to get to the truth.
Then check “Are our people burned out or actively disengaged?” – If that’s the case then the list below is irrelevant – you’re in a state of emergency that needs to be addressed first or you will find yourself being mortally wounded by the next wave of the #GreatResignation.
If not, and they are still engaged enough to show up for this other type of work that you need them to put in, then go on to ask yourself “How can we express our organisational permission towards a new “people-first” era to where they believe us and start doing the human work?” and the truthful answers to that are bound to take you to have to evaluate how much command-and-control productivity paranoia there may be and how far you are from servant leadership; how clear or unclear you have left the commitment to trust and hybrid and remote; how empowered, respected and autonomous your teams feel and so much more. An exploration you undoubtedly need.
Once you establish they are neither in active crisis nor disbelieving you as an organisation that is now genuinely supporting them and you see your people willing to start the human work to lower the HumanDebt, then here’s what to check:
- Are our people doing any human work now? What does it consist of? Is there time set aside comfortably in their schedule to do so or is it treated as an extracurricular activity?
- Is the time for human work protected and respected?
- Do they have the tools and software they need for human work?
- Are they having enough coaching (either external, through mentoring or through software?)
- Are they spending time on self-care? Do they need your help with any of it?
- Are they spending time on bettering their team’s dynamic?
- Are they learning and growing?
- Are they psychologically safe and open?
- Are they flexible? Resilient?
- Are they actively engaged and connected to their purpose and are conscious of their impact?
- Are they emotionally close with their teammates?
- Are they empathic and kind to their own selves and their teammates and therefore inclusive?
- Are they spending enough time in flow/ in the zone?
- Are they feeling proud, fulfilled, seen and valued and are they demanding that of the organisation and each other?
- Are they happy, are they having fun, are they feeling like the best version of themselves?
Most fundamentally “Are they EQed enough to confidently answer and care about any of the above?” and if the answer to this is “No” then help them comprehend their emotions and the emotions of their peers first and foremost, invest in tools and programs to raise EQ fast and then return to the list above.
Ultimately, the point of recognising and rewarding this work is that it becomes integral to everyone’s work life and is sustained and sustainable and ends up the dynamo that will power all of us through the ever-increasing demands of our VUCA world.
So look around you and ask the hard questions. Are they equipped and ready to do the work to better their understanding and their behaviour and how can we make those efforts consistent by ensuring they feel “seen”, valued and appreciated?
——————————————————————
At PeopleNotTech we make software that powers the human work, and measures and improves well-being by increasing Psychological Safety in teams, come see a DEMO.
“Nothing other than sustained, habitual, EQed people work at the team level aka “the human work” done BY THE TEAM will improve any organisation’s level of Psychological Safety and therefore drop their levels of HumanDebt™.”
To order the “People Before Tech: The Importance of Psychological Safety and Teamwork in the Digital Age” book go to this Amazon link