The path to more human friendly organizations can be hazardous. It might have to become a little worse before it gets better.

No sorry, I am pretty sure it has to get worse first.

The choice we have is if we want things to get worse as part of an active scenario for development, or if things get worse because we make ourselves passive bystanders and victims of external changes we don’t understand the implications of. Yes, a tad harsh, I agree. But this is how I read our options. Control your destiny or someone else will.

But either way things will get worse first.

Those that get to work now and boldly move their organizations in direction of becoming more human friendly will have an edge over the others. That is the bet I am making for the coming 10-15 years. The most human friendly wins. The rest might survive. Barely scrape by.

Or not.

So why is human friendly the best strategy for organizations? I have two main arguments. The waste of human potential in our organizations today is just staggering. Up to 75% of all employees are disengaged at work. Imagine tapping into this enormous opportunity. This would result in:

A. Happier employees. Happier customers. More value. Healthier people.
B. Better productivity. More innovative. Better long term financial health.

I have a chosen truth. In the coming decades you don’t get B without delivering on A. A is your strategy. B is the results you reap. When you look too much for B you lose A and then B. So stick to A, but of course keep an eye on B and track development. But targets should be set as functions of A. Management should be about A.

This said, we are increasingly going to manage our organizations without managers. Or at the very least with do away with large numbers of them. And they won’t be missed.

The ones that are left will work differently than today. Very differently.

More about this in a future post.

//jan