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The Emotional Economy
(E2) brings to the fore the whole
paradigm of people being our greatest assets. Finally things
like trust, truth and relationships where we clearly see
that the human element begins and ends as one of the
prime pillars and the foundation for
long-term success. Many talk...few walk their talk.
For years, companies have been adamant in stating that
employees are their greatest resource. And while the
sentiment is admirable, very few have displayed a
commitment to that core value when the day is done.
In today's Emotional Economy,
there are two primary "teams" in our business camp. The
cost-cutting team and the margin-building team. Until
now, the cost-cutting team seem to have had the stage.
This riding the razors-edge down to nothing... lower
costs, lower expenses, lower margins, lower profits is a
dead-end strategy. Cutting costs (cutting out jobs,
slashing payroll, reducing training budgets) and
refining processes (outsourcing, automating) may reduce
overheads, but at what expense?
What leaders don't calculate into the equation is the
invisible impact of their strategies. These "hidden"
effects can be devastating on the Human Capital aspect
of the organisation.
Leaders will have to to re-think their definition of
an employee-centric behavior, and closely examine the
relationship between their human talent and their profit
margins in order to better understand and effectively
work within The Emotional
Economy.
Understanding and leveraging Human Nature.
The Gallup Organization has been studying
determinants of human behavior for more than seventy
years, interviewing 10,000,000 professionals about their
preferences, likes, dislikes and workplace conditions.
They uncovered two important facts:
- people are emotional first and rational second
- employees and customers must be "emotionally
engaged" for an organization to succeed.
Forging emotional bonds with staff and customers is
the paradigm of the new Emotional Economy.
The importance of talent isn’t a new idea, but its
immeasurable value compared to experience and knowledge
is. Thinking of humans as emotional/rational beings
isn’t new, but forging a work environment that leverages
that truth is.
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