The March 2009 newsletter addresses a core leadership and organizational effectiveness question: can we be people-centered and profitable too? The issue is more compelling than ever now because of the state of the economy.
Most managers may want to be people-oriented, but finances, peers, and role expectations all pressure them to put profits before people. Even the best leaders can feel a sense of urgency that causes them to transmit demands directly down the line. The increase in tension is felt acutely at each next level. Short-term strategies and behaviors often push aside management philosophies based on the long view.
Keep these principles in mind:
• Your best source of competitive advantage is in your knowledge workers.
• Your competitors can buy the same things you can buy and hire generally from the same employment sources as you, but you can be differentiated in how you develop and manage your people.
• The advantages you achieve through a committed and knowledgeable workforce are hardest for a competitor to replicate.
• Task focus and people focus are not a trade-off. You do not need to choose one or the other or compromise between the two. Organizations such as Southwest Air show convincingly how to achieve high task standards and maintain high people focus simultaneously.
• Your organization’s ability to adapt and succeed will depend not just upon top management but also on the engagement, commitment, understanding, and ideas of people throughout the organization. Losing people focus now is a sure way to cripple your organization when you most need agility.
• This is a time to communicate with others even more than usual. Not only will they feel more informed and involved, this will also ensure that you remain people-focused now, when you most need to.
To read this month’s issue, please click on the link below:
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