Frequently, we get asked about our point of view—the Felix Global point of view—on business strategies for optimal business performance. Our answer is always the same. Strategies must be founded in PEOPLE and the RELATIONSHIPS they create and hold.
Nilofer Merchant, a global speaker on innovation, succinctly captured the empirical differences of thinking since the industrial age. She states, “In work archetypes, we believe we must choose either performance or people. We can’t see them as one and the same. We tag performance as the quantitatively focused work of what we can design, market, measure, track, bill, and monetize. Talent, purpose, culture and creating meaning is the ‘people’ work mostly viewed by the performance folks as “cost centers,” or departments that exist only to manage legal risk. The two camps operate with a “live and let live” approach, and they don’t attempt to collaborate or interoperate with one another.”
The demand for transparency and collaboration (brought on by the internet and social media) creates an irrefutable argument that companies grow or fade-away based on their PEOPLE and the relationships they create. For optimal business performance, the primary relationships must be the focus and they must be equal, respectful, and reciprocal. One element cannot be stronger, nor can any relationship be one-way. Instead of thinking performance OR people, we should be thinking performance THROUGH people.
Why Transparency Matters – IIya Pozin – Forbes.com
If you think your company is transparent enough, think again. According to a recent poll, 71% of employees felt managers didn’t spend enough time explaining goals. When asked what was holding their company back, 50 percent of these employees pointed the finger at a lack of company-wide transparency.
Transparency matters because it helps your best people engage in the workplace. Keeping things secretive makes employees less trusting, and less trusting employees are less likely to stick around. This is probably why a CareerBuilder survey found one in five employees are looking for a new job. The cost of employee turnover can set you back anywhere from 50% to 60% of an employee’s annual wage, and Gallup estimates lost engagement is costing the economy $550 billion a year. Transparency clearly matters — especially to your company’s bottom line.
At Felix, we think this. We know this statement is true. We’ve strengthened our business models to align the primary relationships—giving them a “CORE.” Powerful business drivers can be generated from this core.
Our economy has changed. The landscape has shifted. There’s a “wild west” sort of mentality over ENGAGEMENT. Engagement is with people. It’s about relationships—employees, customers, and brand. And it is about interdependency. More to follow!
