What Is It to be Human?

“Human connection is our single greatest source of energy and when lacking, energy is depleted.” – unknown

How To Succeed as A Human Manager begs a rather large question:

What Is It To Be Human?

I’m not going to get into a debate about the theories of Creation and Evolution here. They are for another time and place. This question of being Human has many answers that come from far and wide.

My purpose here is to focus on what distinguishes a human being and what prohibits a human being from doing what comes natural to them in a workplace.

At the World Science Festival in New York City in 2008 three questions were put forward re the above:

1. What is unique to humanity now?
2. What will be unique about humanity in the future?
3. What is important about humanity?

Great questions all of them to further explore and ponder on how to use the rich source of information to your benefit. Far too often in the work environment we work against our “human-ness” (is that a word?) that results in outcomes that we are at odds with.

My point here is that the three questions could be answered simply by saying that what is unique and important about humanity today, tomorrow and into the future won’t change very much if at all. In fact it hasn’t changed much if at all for tens of thousands of years.

Of course we could debate this given the manic rate of changes in many areas such as technology, medical breakthroughs, accessibility to information etc. etc. The point about all of these things is they have come about as part of what it is the be human – our desire to innovate, experiment, be curious, better connect with others and improve our chances of not only surviving but thriving as a species.

What I'm proposing is that what it is to be human has not changed since our species first started its journey on the planet. We wanted to socially belong, to be part of a tribe that provided a sense of safety and security from the dangers faced (usually in the form of some other creature that we needed to be able to outrun), invent things that were of benefit to ourselves and our tribes (think of fire) , know our place, our role and rank within a family and tribal system. We also wanted to survive and pass on the key genetic ingredients (DNA) through the generations so that man and woman could thrive in the future.

It is only in the last 250 years since the Industrial Revolution that we have witnessed a shift in our ability to actually be human. The struggle that envelopes us when faced with the challenge of being given the responsibility of caring for others in the workplace. If you like the "fork in the road" where a decision needs to be made on how to approach this new role. A role that we are hardwired to do so very well as a human being; but sadly one that many fail at due to the pressures that the organisational system burdens them with.

The movement into offices, poorly thought out organizational design principles, the unwavering thirst for success which is usually related just to the profits generated and needs to satisfy the stakeholders, the relentless need to outperform and climb over those both within and outside of an organization, labeling human beings as a headcount or employee number rather than an actual person, performance management systems that are related to squeezing people into a bell curve and holding onto resources through a selfish attitude towards career development are all examples of this.

We are in effect dehumanizing workplaces and at the same time dehumanizing those who come in every day with good intent to work together to produce a better outcome than they could on their own.

By doing this we are sucking the energy out of the very lifeblood of an organization. We move humans from their vibrant curiosity and yearning to be innovative and work with others for the cause to individual “knuckle draggers” whose view of a successful day is to merely survive and make it back for more the following day.

There’s a fair amount of “Groundhog Day” happening in many organisations around the world today. If you’re not aware of this then here’s a challenge I set for you.

Go and stand in the ground floor foyer of any large organization for 5-10 minutes at anytime during the day (if you’re not too busy caught in back to back meetings) and just observe the looks on the faces of most people as they enter and leave the building. Also pay particular attention to their body language and look out for a few tell tale signs that things aren’t going that well.

These include:

• Wandering aimlessly with all attention on their mobile device and no attention on what or who they are about to collide with.
• A very quick shuffling motion followed up with an apology – something along the lines of “I’m so sorry I’m late I’ve been in back to back meeting all morning.”
• Shoulders slumped, torsos stooped and knuckles only slightly above the shiny tiled floor (the "knuckle draggers" I mentioned a little earlier).
• Facial expressions that range from the “faraway look” to the “I’m thinking really strategically at the moment so others think I’m down about to solve the big organizational problem”. In between these looks there is the “oh no I’m about to meet the boss and I haven’t completed my WIP”, “my heads about to explode from the migraine I’ve has for two days”, “thank god I’m away from my desk” or the “just look busy and you will fool everyone”.

What you are observing is the result of the organisational process of dehumanizing the human being; in an environment where being human has so much potential for success.

Be Human..............

Be You.