A Human Centric Manifesto

Human centricity should permeate everything in organisations — all thinking, problem solving, decision making, collaboration; It should all be done with empathy and care for our fellow humans.

#BeingHuman

We must not forget; we are all unique.

We each have our own thoughts, feelings, needs and desires and that these shape our view of the world. They cannot and should not be ignored or rejected out of hand — to do so will at best create blind spots and at worst, animosity amongst peers that infects an organisation.

It also may not always be possible to completely satisfy everyone, but this is not an excuse for failing to acknowledge what others say, feel or believe.

Empathy is a necessity.

We must recognise that humans are fallible — we make mistakes, get angry or become lost from time to time. The expectation that we will consistently perform at a level just short of perfection is folly. Accepting our flaws and supporting one another to work on these is key.

We are a highly creative species and can learn quickly, which helps us to right wrongs, prevent the same mistakes and find our way again. That same creativity has also enabled us to not only survive but achieve so many incredible things.

Creativity is our superpower.

#HumanProblems

The vast majority of organisations today do not recognise us a human. Instead, we are seen as ‘employees’ — cogs in a machine, that are bound by contracts from the industrial age which exert control to ensure we do the bidding of those who sit above us in a hierarchy of power.

We are also labelled as ‘resources’, putting us in the same camp as money or parts; disposable and replaceable items, something to be managed and used as a means to achieve the goals of others.

We even have Human Resource departments established alongside the swathes of managers, to ensure we continue to be effective as a resource, rather than due to the belief that organisations have a duty to support our overarching happiness and sense of fulfilment in life.

This approach to human beings as a result of exaggerated Scientific Management principles is outdated, wrong and needs to be addressed in order to move away from predominantly mechanistic organisational working and find balance with what makes us human in the first place.

#HumanCentricity

We now have an opportunity to not only solve these problems, but permanently embed a human centric way of being in our organisations, for the good of our species. The COVID pandemic has brought about many changes both good and bad, but not least the realisation for many that something is fundamentally broken in the world of work.

For instance, the fact that so many people have been so ruthlessly made redundant from organisations in order to protect profits in the short term, demonstrates a clear lack of care for the human impact of these actions. It also completely ignores the capacity that those same people will have to solve the problems organisations are facing, if only they were given the opportunity.

We must become more human centric at work. We must:

· Demonstrate empathy — not only to understand someone else’s thought perspective but also their feelings which can play a large part in determining their actions. For example, someone may come across as angry and aggressive because they feel scared and vulnerable.

· Accept our imperfections — acknowledging we are fallible is the first step to thinking differently in situations where mistakes are made, rules broken, or systems and processes are circumvented.

· Incorporate emotional complexity — no amount of data, logical thinking or systematic structures will prevent emotions from becoming involved at some point in work. Recognising our emotions and allowing the right ones to help our mindset is important.

· Unleash our creativity — having an organisational culture, environment and structure that enables creativity to flourish is critical. Not just to be competitive or innovative, but to satisfy our natural desire to be creative. Remember that creativity comes in ebbs and flows as well as in sudden moments and cannot be scheduled.

· Devolve trust — people are capable of great things, if only they are given the right support, encouragement, and opportunities. Trust in this and give others agency (particularly responsibility and authority) to do their best work but also everything they need to succeed (tools, training, coaching, mentoring).

· Introduce playfulness — we are not machines. We naturally want to have fun to make us happy and this should not be restricted to activities outside of work. Equally, a ping-pong table is only effective for the time it’s being used.

· Create partnerships — when the goal of one or more humans in an organisation is to ‘win’, then by definition there must be other humans that will lose. All humans having equal shares in both the spoils of success and the tribulations helps create strong bonds, loyalty, resilience and sustainability.