Photo by Jopwell: https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-people-sitting-inside-room-2422294/
This is a blog from our CEO, Tony Gale, who shares his perspective on the importance of maximising your People Experience. We hope you find it helpful.
Introduction
A number of years ago I addressed colleagues at a CIPD Conference on why maximising our ‘People Experience’ was important.
Deloitte annually produce a great read, referencing thousands of business and HR leaders around the globe, in the form of their ‘Human Capital Trends’ Insights reports. In 2016 the Insights report1 suggested that, in this current era, the top job in HR could legitimately be labelled ‘Chief Employee Experience Officer’. at the end. I proposed that, to maximise our People Experience and each associated personal return on investment, our organisations had to take a hard look at the gap between what humans ‘home’ behaviours, attitudes and capabilities were like in comparison to what they’re allowed or expected to do at work.
This thinking has come full circle, having also been raised in Deloitte’s 2024 report2, which referenced the need to look at the behavioural and cultural factors of human sustainability in resourcing and career planning. In an age where AI is eroding technical and routine task capabilities in roles performed by humans, it makes sense to invest in maximising the People Experience to allow our organisations ‘best asset’ to function at an unfettered level of fulfilment and productivity.
Photo by fauxels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-people-standing-infront-of-blackboard-3184432/
Drawing from both research and real-world patterns, I intend to explore how everyday human behaviour and digital experiences inform the future of work in this blog.
Lessons from Everyday Life
Each of us, outside work, is subject to a barrage of messaging, from a full range of technology, calls to action and their related interfaces that interact with us. We operate at all times of day, in all manner of productive and non-productive environments; multitasking amongst friends and family, amidst a myriad interruptions. Our home life requires collaboration and adaptability to ‘get stuff done’. We bring all of our knowledge, experience and capabilities to bear, and our family and friends benefit from that, which in turn makes us feel good.
Photo by Kampus Production: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-happy-family-looking-at-the-laptop-while-raising-their-hands-together-7919624/
And yet we potentially don’t deliver the same at work. We are hindered by clunky systems, rigid processes that limit what we can bring to the table. As a result, we can feel diminished, and organisations miss out on our full value.
The Leadership Challenge of the Workplace People Interface: A Cultural Signal
At work, our people are often recruited and onboarded to a specific job profile, working their way through (and around!) variable quality interactions with colleagues, processes and systems that can actually filter out a lot of what they are, as well as potentially what they could ultimately be. That hurts them as well as our organisations.
But what if we designed systems that revealed, rather than restricted, human potential?
One of the most practical ways to begin doing that is by giving people visibility — a platform to express their full capabilities.
A Capability Shop Window
So simply put, why wouldn’t we give our people an easy to engage with ‘capability shop window’ in which all their knowledge, skills and experience can be seen by all from the outset and throughout their career with us?
A stronger correlation between how our people feel about themselves and how our organisations see them, holistically, surely has to be a more powerful talent acquisition, development and retention tool than tightly bound technical job profile-only versions of our people, doesn’t it?
Reflecting Culture Through Systems
We spend so much time at work that it’s vital we use organisational design tools, like software systems, to reflect not only our brand and culture but also the evolving needs of our people throughout their careers.
Our people these days have very busy lives, and modern culture has moved to one of shorter-term delivery expectations and a focus on career fit, with our organisations – a need to be more closely aligned with ethical issues. Competition for valuable skills continues to increase, so why not make it easier for our people to thrive within our organisations; make it easy to say ‘Yes’ to the next career step with us. Having a more complete and up-to-date shop window of our people’s talent means we can make faster and better business decisions and, for our people, a faster route to achieving aspirational goals – it’s a win-win!
Photo by Thirdman: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-in-white-crew-neck-t-shirt-holding-silver-tablet-5319357/
Building a Digital Environment that Works
We should consider catering to platforms and device-agnostic friendly-looking software that is available 24/7. When we combine this with a collaborative capability academy approach, we provide a portal to a digital environment in which our people and our organisations can flourish. Immediacy, personal relevance and low barrier to use welcome our people into our carefully curated People Experience.
Photo by Canva Studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-people-using-laptops-3194521/
Engagement surveys often surface organisational issues such as siloed structures and a lack of career direction. A well-thought-out, intuitive people interface gives a transparent process and reflects the importance we place on our people. It shows that we value their time and their full interaction and we make it worthwhile to use. It ensures that our people want to engage because it helps them see where their career could take them.
Recruiting managers throughout our organisations will be able to find our talented people and see their whole worth. Different parts of our organisations may begin to value the experience and capabilities of their counterparts, building cohesion, greater collaboration and breaking down siloed structures. This alignment of interests ultimately allows for mutual success and satisfaction, opening the door to greater innovation.
Photo by Jopwell: https://www.pexels.com/photo/group-of-people-sitting-inside-room-2422294/
To fully grasp what good digital design means, we need to reflect on what people interfaces are really about — the point where human and machine meet. What we really mean here is what is commonly known as the ‘User Interface’.
Humans and Machines in Harmony
To quote Wikipedia:
A user interface is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine from the human end, while the machine simultaneously feeds back information that aids the operators’ decision-making process.
Generally, the goal of user interface design is to produce a user interface that makes it easy, efficient, and enjoyable (user-friendly) to operate a machine in the way which produces the desired result (i.e. maximum usability).
So, consider this…
What if the ‘machine’ is our organisation and the ‘human’ is our people? Isn’t the desired interaction exactly the same?
Photo by ThisIsEngineering: https://www.pexels.com/photo/code-projected-over-woman-3861969/
We interact with consumers and social organisations every single day, at all times of day, across a myriad of platforms and devices, even when in company and in conjunction with other activities. It is made attractive and easy for us to do so and we willingly engage with it.
I’m suggesting that we should be thinking about the desired outcomes for our organisation and our people whenever a workflow is designed that employs people and machines.
Our people are more sophisticated in their system use and how they consume information, so it is sensible to present data in different formats according to what should be done with it, whether it is a graphical dashboard, an intelligent action-oriented to-do list or a guided workflow process.
However, beyond the constraints of these limited, simple observations, it is our duty as leaders to create the best, most welcoming and encouraging User Interfaces when serving up digital worlds to our people.
Our Systems Represent our Organisations
If the digital experience is poor, it sends a negative message and can diminish engagement or loyalty, even after our people leave. Hence, it makes total sense for us as leaders of our organisations to invest the time and effort to bring the ‘home’ you into the entity seen as the ‘work’ you!
In short, our leadership imperative is to ensure human–machine design and interaction work in symbiotic, productive harmony for the greater good.
Photo by fauxels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-people-holding-each-other-s-hands-3184436/
Would you like to know more about how OPL can help your organisation? If so, please do make contact. We’d love to hear from you!
Pick up the phone today and call us on 01455 550732 or email us at info@onlineprofiling.com