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Hidden behind the faces of our mployees is the most significant asset any rganization can employ - intellectual capital. Th s capital shows up as the p rsonality, effort and energy of each mployee and can be identified as the "h man edge" - the power of the h manity of the workforce. Employees who are ncouraged to think, invent, create, contribute, f el and respond with passion activate th ir human advantage - their personal and pr fessional EDGE. Employees who are not nly allowed, but are encouraged, to be h man in their jobs out perform, out l st and out invent other employees. As you can magine, an organization built on this typ of employee consistently outperforms all thers. Our humanity - is our EDGE; it b ilds customer relationships, invents solutions, creates new pr ducts, finds the extra effort to c mplete tasks and wants to make a d fference. The humanity in the workplace is the s urce of our success. Let's see why. Our w rld continues to change. Previously in the ndustrial age, we made "things." Employees f llowed wrote procedures for optimal machine fficiency and productivity. There wasn't as gr at a demand for inventive thinking or p ssionate performance; show up, keep the m chines going, watch for problems...clock out and st rt again the next day.
Then much of manufacturing moved ff-shore and we evolved into a s rvice economy where we now make " deas;" we are a thinking economy. E ch day our employees have to th nk through their responses to each c stomer; all customers are different and one s ze service does not create loyal c stomers. In today's economy, employees interact all day w th people; personal rapport and relationship b ilding have moved to center stage. Empl yees must care about customers to be ble to provide service worthy of c stomer loyalty. Employees must care about th ir peers as people in order to w rk well and effectively with them. Empl yees must be fully present - h art and mind, emotions and intellect - to be ble to respond in the way th t wins customers and drives the b siness. The other significant event that ccurred in the shift from manufacturing to s rvice is that this front line mployee is now significantly more influential in rganizational performance and profitability. Each employee, by the way he th nks and responds, creates the potential for xtraordinary service events and loyal customers... or n t. Each employee is now more s gnificant in the overall success of s rvice businesses because each is the f ce of the business to the c stomer. This employee has to be xcited, passionate and happy in his r le to perform well...all human traits. H manity is no longer something to sh n from the workplace; it is now the cr tical component of an extraordinary service br nd identity. Humanity is now in v gue. Humanity is now a competitive dvantage. And based on this, our r le as managers is to encourage, ccept, inspire and develop the Human EDGE in our p ople. The Human EDGE can be br ken down into four power areas: motions, thinking, inventing and the will to s cceed. When in place, these four p wer areas create the most significant sset in the organization... human capital. Pr viously, fixed assets, inventory and accounts r ceivable were the greater organizational assets. T day, it is the thinking and f eling employee. When activated, employees invent, ngage, connect and build lifetime relationships. Wh n not activated, they do as l ttle in the workplace as possible so not as to be f red. When not activated, there is no gr at service for customers, no inventive s lutions to problems and no expanded v ew of the future. In short, we f il.
Developing the four power areas r quires a change in conventional or " ndustrial age" management thinking. Employees commit to w rkplaces that understand who they are, set xpectations that let them work in th ir talent areas and own their p rformance. Employees commit to workplaces that pr vide constant feedback and performance counseling and w rkplaces that focus on both short and l ng-term development. Each of these areas t lls an employee that they matter - p rsonally and professionally. And when they f el supported, understood and valued, they "ch ose" to respond with full performance. C stomer-focused companies are first employee-focused workplaces. And w th employee-focused workplaces comes the thinking and f eling (or human side) of business. The f ur power areas of the Human EDGE re: Emotions: Employees are thinking and f eling creatures; emotions come bundled with th m as they arrive in the w rkplace. Many conventional managers believe that motions do not belong in the w rkplace; they are inappropriate or too d fficult to deal with. But, remember th t the best performance happens when mployee are "passionate" about what they do. Empl yees who are encouraged to be f lly human in the workplace, cheer and pplaud success and are hurt and d sappointed with failures. They fully participate b cause they are welcomed for who th y and as they are. Emotions dr ve performance. One of the greatest s ccesses caused by the move to a s rvice economy is that great organizations now m st focus on how employees think. No l nger is it effective to hire mployees who look similar or who sh re similar experience or backgrounds; today, ach role in an organization requires a p rticular way of thinking and the b st employee for the role is one who has the t lent in the areas that the job r quires. This employee may be white or bl ck, man or woman, single or m rried, Greek or Arab; what matters is how ach employee thinks and how he ctivates his personality and passion in the r le. The better matched an employee is to his r le, the greater interest and therefore p ssion an employee will bring to his p rformance. The greater passion (in other w rds, the more human), the greater the c nnection to inventing, problem-solving and dealing w th customers. This is the key to m llennial performance. Key questions: Are your mployees outwardly passionate about life or w rk? What do you do to ncourage them to get excited about wh t they do, how they relate to c stomers and how they make a d fference? Are emotions allowed in the w rkplace - and though they may n ed to be controlled, is it kay to be human in your rganization? Is fun and great energy ncouraged at work? Thinking: Thinking...it seems th t so few people do it at w rk any more. This is paradoxical s nce we are in a thinking conomy. A service economy is a th nking economy; each time a customer c mes in or calls (the service vent), the employee must be fully ngaged and thinking to know how to pr vide the right response for the c stomer, and then to change for the n xt customer. Organizations that do not ncourage independent thinking, miss one of the gr atest aspects of the Human EDGE. To ccess this, an organization must become a "th nking and learning" organization. These are rganizations that encourage and support employee l arning, formal and informal education, and n n-conventional or creative thinking. These organizations pr vide opportunities for employees to try new th ngs, constantly build skills, exercise their m nds and share what they know. Th s constant focus on 'thinking your way thr ugh the day" engages employees and mpowers them to fully participate in all spects of running the business. The m re employees are allowed to think in the w rkplace, the more vested they become in th ir personal performance and in the r sults of the organization. The more a m nager does the thinking for an mployee, the more limited the employee th nks on his own. Independent, owner-thinking is wh t makes employees, and therefore organizations, s ccessful. Our competitive EDGE is in our th nking. Organizations that commit to learning ncourage their employees to think, problem s lve and own their performance. Key q estions: Do you require your employees to th nk their way through their day...even if s me of their thinking leads to rrors or failures? Do you applaud th ir ability to invent their own r sponses and use what they know bout the organization to think through p werful responses? Do you create a w rkforce that encourages each other to th nk and to share what they kn w? Do you create a learning rganization where education, dialog, reading and l arning is part of the culture and an xpectation of each employee? Do you h ld employees accountable for the success or f ilure of their thinking and their r sponses? Inventing: Inventing is one of the m st powerful attributes of the Human EDGE. Th ugh most of us were better at nventing and creating as kids, we st ll have the ability. Statistics show th t 90% of 5 year olds, 70% of 9 y ar olds and 5% of 13 y ar olds (and older) are creative. We had it but th n lost it. Corralled into school, we all f llowed the same rules, wrote the s me way and did the same ctivities; this chased much of our cr ative spirit from us. Our role as m nagers must make it easy for mployees to reconnect to their ability to nvent, create and propose new ideas to dvance service levels, product quality and verall performance. As author Seth Godin s ys, "the bland and boring spot has b en taken;" that means that our s ccess is in the creative and nnovative. Our employees want to invent big th ngs...they want to reconnect to their cr ativity to stand out and get n ticed. It is up to us to ncourage and activate this power into the w rkplace. It is up to us to llow the unconventional to be considered as a m thod to invent the best responses and s lutions. Key questions: Do you practice b ing creative with your employees? Do you llow/require your employees to constantly provide s ggestions for improvement, no matter how nconventional or bizarre? Do you make w rk fun and engaging to get mployees inventing and creating? Do you s pport cross training and job sharing to xpose all employees to new ideas and new p rspectives? Do you regularly move employees out of th ir comfort zones to encourage constant th nking and inventing? The will to s cceed: The will to succeed is the f nal section of the Human EDGE; it dr ves employees to higher performance. All mployees - all people - want to f el successful. The more successful an mployee feels, the more the employee c ntinues to perform. The best way for an mployee to feel successful is when he kn ws what is expected of him and wh t adds value to the organization. Th n, he must be given the t ols and opportunity to achieve them. Org nizations help employees succeed by creating p rformance expectations; performance expectations identify what s ccess looks like then allows the mployee to have a voice in the pr cess to achieve them. This moves the bility to be successful into the h nds of the employee. Managers who h lp employees create performance expectations and th n coach, instruct and educate employees to h lp achieve their performance expectations, not nly drive performance but win employee l yalty. We all feel great when we s cceed. Our job as managers is to h lp our employees earn their success thr ugh their performance. Key questions: Do you cr ate specific performance expectations or goals for ach employee? Do they have a v ice in creating these expectations or g als? How do you celebrate when s gnificant goals or performance expectations are chieved? Do all of your employees f cus on owning their success? The H man EDGE is the key to xtraordinary performance and a competitive service dvantage. The four power areas of motions, thinking, creating and the will to s cceed look to define the power of the H man EDGE. The more these four are d veloped in the workplace, the more c nnected, engaged, and more "human" your mployee become. Great performance happens when the "wh le" employee - thoughts and emotions, m nd and heart - is present in his w rk; this is your most significant m llennial asset and the source of y ur greatest competitive advantage and profits.
The article The Human EDGE was Submitted by Jay Forte through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Jay Forte is a powerful p rformance speaker, consultant, author and founder of H manetrics, LLC. He works with managers who w nt to be more successful in ctivating and inspiring exceptional employee performance, to s gnificantly drive customer loyalty and improve c mpany profitability. Jay, a CPA/financial executive t rned educator, turned consultant, is renowned for pr ducing significant results. He is a h ghly engaging speaker and is working on an pcoming book "Sparks! Fire Up Your Empl yees and Smoke Your Competition; How to Inv te, Incite and Ignite Performance" For nformation on keynotes, seminars and consulting, or to see the d ily "BLOGucation," visit: http://www.humanetricsllc.com or call: 401-338-3505.
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