Five ways to honor employees as people and not just resources

As an HR generalist at a series of Fortune 500 corporations, I was instructed to treat employees more like “resources” than “humans.” We went to great lengths to focus on “the worker” while avoiding (as much as possible) anything personal. Getting to know the whole human worker goes against the grain of what many of us were taught in the finest HR institutions. We’re cautioned to be objective and dispassionate. We’re trained to take out “rater bias” and focus on how each individual compares to an ideal norm. But in the real world, that approach doesn’t encourage behavior change. Our quest for objectivity inevitably fails. Ratings and evaluations are – and always will be – inherently subjective. So how can you demonstrate that you understand human resources are, well, human? Five ways to honor employees 1. Seek first to understand: Listen before speaking. It’s key to recognizing the humanity in others. Far too often we find ourselves acting on illogical, observable behavior that has much deeper, logical roots. 2. Ask the five “whys”: Ask employees why they’re doing things that are counterintuitive. Expect superficial responses at first, but you’ll break through after asking “Why?” several times. Keep the tissues handy. 3. An attitude of abundance: You rent talented workers, you don’t own them. Do your best to keep them tied to you for as long as the situation supports a mutual win. When things change, make transitions easy and natural. 4. Systemized scalability: Create a culture where understanding individuals is the norm rather than the exception. Focus on coaching, creating an environment based on open communication and connection. 5. Earn trust: You can’t require people to tell you about their personal lives. They must believe and experience that it’s safe to do so. Look for a few brave souls to do it first. After some success stories spread, others will open up. Trust will build over time. When you honor the employee, you might not end every conversation with a hug or a high five. But if you acknowledge humanity while confronting performance gaps, you’ll understand and optimize more and damage less. Treating people as three-dimensional human beings also helps with engagement and retention. Understanding what is below the waterline is both a better and safer way to run a business that runs on people. Gary Markle is a senior vice president at Energage, a Philadelphia-based research and consulting firm that surveyed more than 2.5 million employees at more than 6,000 organizations in 2017. Energage is The Denver Post’s research partner for Top Workplaces.