New Insights for a new Century
The Old Paradigm of Human Assets is now outdated
Linear, rational thinking & analytical problem solving has done and will only ever deliver incremental results.
In today's world, we rush around working hard but give ourselves no time to rest and think. Advancements in technology such as mobile phones, computers and Blackberry's mean we all process more work than ever and yet seem to work longer hours than ever too and this is resulting in burnout in our minds and bodies and those of our employees too.
In an organisational context this perspective of human beings as cogs in processes is a hangover from the industrial revolution, but in large part is still the primary paradigm in organisations today. Even the most forward thinking organisations still refer to their employees as “human resources” or classicly “our people are our greatest asset”.
Workplace stress has reached epidemic proportions
In fact, as human beings, we are not assets or resources in the traditional innanimate sense, and we are definately not machines. Rather, we are a complex bio-processor made up of mind, body, energy and emotions all in one living, breathing system. For some reason, at work, we seem to forget that and we expect people to work hard, long hours, without rest and under stress.
The reality today is that stress in the workplace is at epidemic proportions. Employers are investing £billions in health insurance and the impact on revenue of lost productivity and absenteeism through employee illness runs into 10s of billions in the UK alone today.
If we cannot work much faster, then where will growth in the future come from ?
How you feel determines how you act
Organisations are made up of people and it’s their level of engagement, how they feel and what they subsequently do that determines an organisation's success.
To deliver transformational performance we need not just to change what we do, but also how we feel about work.
To release the extraordinary power inside people, we need to release them from the shackles of themselves, their limiting beliefs about what’s possible and what's not and at the same time engage them in the mission, purpose and values of the organisation.
This process first allows employees the opportunity to align their own purpose with the organisation's and then secondly access their personal power. Without fear they can act with volition and by marrying intuition and analysis in pursuit of a worthwhile purpose they can create new more powerful approaches and options to deliver growth.
Emotional Intelligence is a pre-requisite for Leaders of the 21st Century
The successful people in business these days “do a lot”, “think a lot” and “feel a lot”. It is these people, who have the most flexibility in any given situation, that will be able to have the most influence on others.
Successful leaders will not only be able to strategise and direct, but they will also be able to "sense the mood" of their people, their customers and their stakeholders. They will have the skills to adapt their behaviour elegantly and gracefully, so that they can slip between motivating the organisation, coaching a direct report, making a multi-million pound decision and being totally aware of the impact all of this will have on their customers and people alike.
