Does the corporate business world promote your sense of individuality, freedom, character, spirit, and ability to completely be who you are?

In most cases, we're fulfilling a particular task or set of tasks as defined in a human resources manual.  Have you ever had a human resources department actually provide real guidance in your career?  Or, better yet, has human resources interceded with your management to suggest better ways to utilize your unique skills?  Probably not.  I can say that I have not had that experience with Human Resources.  I have found them to be a friendly screener through the interviewing process, someone who provides benefit information and i.d. badges, and the person who sits across from people when they are let go.  Otherwise, they've done nothing for my career development.  

But isn't H.R. supposed to be developing their employees to be more and do more?

The reason they don't is because business is structured incorrectly, from the top-down.  Yes, the structure of 99% of all major businesses in the world today are not structured to maximize the strengths of their unique and individual employees.  This is what creates burnout, frustration, and bureaucracy in corporations.

This problem is created because the CEO to Manager is not interested in hiring you for YOU, they are interested in hiring you for THEM.  They have a need, they interview you to fill that need.  This has been the way of "jobs" for quite some time.

What is the way to address this problem?

Right Focus.  The Rule of Right Focus turns the employer-employee relationship around and looks at it from reverse perspective.  Instead of looking at interviewing for a particular job, the employer might simply put out a sign, "now hiring, offer accepted within."  Why the use of "offer" instead of " inquire"?  Well, because, the applicant offers their skills, they are not inquiring about the job, because the job is not pre-defined.  

The benefit to interviewing for employee strengths, rather than running down a list of resume features and benefits and stats, is to truly get to know who we hire, and then develop them for what THEY want to do.  

I'm not necessarily suggesting that the burden of training the employee lies completely on the employer.  Rather, the burden of training lies upon the employee (the employee must take initiative to learn).  However, the employer who is developing their people (resources) will aid the employee with various tools and resources to enable that development.

Here is further clarification of Rule #1.

Rule #1:  Right Focus

The values and priorities of AspireNow's Model for Business Success are: 

 

1.  Integrity* in ALL dealings (with customers, employees, partners, owners).

 

*Integrity defined as:  respect, honor, love, honesty, and commitment through right thought, right speech, and right action.

 

2.  Value spirit and emotion equally to intellect.

 

3.  Reward innovation and consistency.

 

4.  Do not negatively discipline negative behavior/results unless the behavior was identified and positive solutions were mutually discussed and tried first.

 

5.  Reward positive behavior/results with further employment freedom .

 

6.  Offer incentives besides compensation of salary, bonuses, and stock.  

 

*Incentives often include bonuses and stock options in many companies.  However, an incentive might also be a travel program to learn more about an area of innovation.  An incentive might be time off to spend with family, to compensate for time put into a project the employee just completed (reward for good job done).  An incentive might be assignment to new task based upon the employee's request to learn something new or try a new opportunity. 

 

7. Clear and direct communication.

 

8. Focus activities on the customer's satisfaction.

 

9. Fiscally prudent (elegant, yet simple).

Next, to implement Right Focus, a business must implement the right hierarchy of Business Structure of the New Business Innovation:

1.  Customer Comes First (Need, Quality, Value, Performance)

2.  Employees Integrity (Ownership, Love, Poise)

3.  Business Partner/Supplier (Honor Commitments, Outsource Wisely)

4.  Innovation or R & D (Reinvest for the future)

5.  Other Investor/Owner

Following this focus means customers are the primary focus.  If a product (or service) is designed, it is designed not just with the customer in mind, but with knowledge that the customer NEEDS and will PAY FOR the product.  Then, by building the RIGHT product, (focused on the customer's needs) for the right cost/price, with high levels of quality, at the right time the company ensures it will meet the "value" model required for customer/need/product/market acceptance for success.

Second, employees.  A code of honor must be built and maintained from the CEO and board position to the person who handles security and the folks who mop the floors.  Every employee of the company must adhere to the code of honor.  In return, a faith that the company will treat all people with LOVE, respect, kindness, appreciation, and support in the growth of the employee, by hiring for the employee's needs and abilities, rather than the employer's needs.  The CUSTOMER has a need.  How can the EMPLOYEE help fulfill that need?  

Lack of integrity is costing corporations (and their respective shareholders) billions of dollars.  Case in point:  the rise and fall of many of the dot-com companies.  Many of the 400+ failed companies in 2001 were hiring people based upon limited real world experience and offering improper incentives (money, options, cars) without regard for long-term skill-set or capability that the employee offered.  Many of the "older" generation companies (and employees) felt shafted by the internet bubble.  However, in the long run, it is these companies who are now exploiting the weaknesses created by lack of integrity in the company, the employee, the investors, and the venture capitalists of internet bubble companies.  In the end, the customer often ended up paying the price for this lack of integrity, with the result being a lack of trust in many forms of Internet companies.

Next, business outsourcing needs to ensure that partners will enable the integrity and values of the company to be congruent.  If there is a lack of consistency, then the company must consider this area of business to be core rather than outsource the particular function of business.  With integrity and a focus on the core (do what you are good at, outsource the rest) an employee's job is much more secure, and therefore employees are committed to the company.  By supporting employees to do what they love will also increase employee loyalty.  Integrity also means that employees will not be treated like numbers.  

It is for this reason that merger-mania often backfires on companies - it is impossible to consider growth for numbers' sake a reasonable goal if 30% of the company goes away in the process.  The spiritual imbalance created by the focus on numbers essentially guarantees that as soon as the company stops buying other companies, the company will have to stand on their own merit - once that happens, they will either rise or fall with the loyalty established with their employees.  However, an imbalance is created by the mistrust resulting from restructurings.

Embracing employees for their unique skills and talent means:

1.  Creativity is rewarded.

2.  Uniqueness is enhanced and supported.

3.  Division lines are not as important as enabling employees to contribute.

4.  Structure is challenged, meaning managers have to share resources.  Management by committee challenges "boss" mentality.

5.  Employees maintain a balanced life.

6.  Finding ideas to make life easier, or more productive.

7.  Create a company culture and be careful when blending other cultures into the company.

Business partnerships must also maintain skill/talent and a focus on outsourcing non-core capabilities to companies who specialize in that product/service/capability as their own core.  In other words, hire a landscaper to do yard work and a housecleaner to do housecleaning.  You don't hire a housecleaner to do your yard work.  These relationships must save money or improve quality.  They do not always have to do both.  Sometimes, you have to spend a little to make a lot, and this can be true with outsourced business relationships.

Bills must be paid on-time, and suppliers should also maintain a code of honor in delivering services or products with high quality, value, and performance in their dealings with the company.  If a supplier fails to maintain their code-of-honor by dropping quality, value, and/or performance, then action must be taken to correct the breech.  If after significant warning vendor does not improve the targeted area of performance, the relationship should be changed, even if it costs the company more to switch vendors.  The integrity of the values of the company must be upheld.

There must be more balance in companies.  In the time of recession, employers often issue pink slips right around Thanksgiving, to make year-end adjusted numbers.  But they can make a choice to look at long-term growth, to prepare to take advantage of recession rather than laying off and losing opportunity by keeping a focus on innovation and R & D - and maintaining cash-flow.  Cash, in any business, is critical to maintain long-term viability.  But cash must be well invested and utilized to help grow the company with a long-term perspective.  Often, the high amounts of profit companies announce could be turned back into innovation through research and development or building the investment for a future rainy day.

Right focus starts at the top.

The person at the top of the company must embrace this new business model, or it will fail.  The manifesto of human relations maximization requires that they believe in the model as much as the employees.  This will make it successful.  

Like attracts like, so if a company is hiring for the employee, the employee seeking to truly give to the company will be attracted to this company.  It starts with one.  One CEO must buck the pressure of Wall Street and analysts and stop looking at employees as a number and start to see them for what they are:  the glue that holds a company together.  By implementing a "right focus" into your business culture you will see a dramatic change in the value your company provides to your customers.  The change is inevitable.

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