reality check - no people, no business.

Business is a uniquely human endeavour. It is a product of human inspiration, creativity, determination, and perseverance. Without these human elements, there is no business. At all.  Ever.

Too often, we hear business managers tell their people that "without the business then we would have no livelihood".  Actually, it is the other way around.  

Without people, then the business would have no life. It is the people that enable the business, bring it to life, sustain it, and give it the energy it needs to prosper.  

The way we account for people in the business, though, does not reflect this.  Our accounting processes are broken. In our accounts, people are only recorded as a cost and a liability. Managers might talk of 'people being their best asset', but when their annual accounts come out, the balance sheet is bereft of any people assets. They are only wages and salary costs, and leave and pension liabilities.

Where do we show the asset of people's energy, inspiration, creativity, and potential?  These are too hard to measure, and even harder to value, so the accounting scorekeepers ignore them.  Yet, these are the beauty of humanity, and we all know they are insanely valuable.

If we value humanity, then as business leaders, we should not be merely focussed on the people costs and liabilities. If we don't value humanity, then we don't value business.  When we lose the focus on humanity then we stop building our businesses. We merely sustain them. Without the potential of people, then the business itself has no potential.  

The best business leaders focus on the potential of people. They focus on the energy, drive, ambition, and aspiration of people and tap into that to nurture their business growth. They don't see 'sales' as supporting their employees, they see their employees as enabling their 'sales'. They grow their business by growing their people. These are the leaders we remember, and these are the leaders that build impactful brands.

These leaders know that the true cost of people is not their wages, salaries, and leave entitlements. The true cost of people is the lost business potential if they fail to nurture, enable, or facilitate the creativity, innovation, determination, persistence, and resilience of their team.   

---

The H Factor System Home Page

The H Factor system is designed for business leaders to nurture the contribution of their team members to their business objectives.  The Home page is your business story about why your business exists, the brand you want to create, the things you need to build on your success, and your values.

It enables your people to see the bigger picture behind their work, and identify their contribution to it. 

---

Sign up to receive Change agent by email