Human Capital

     It has been too long since my last post to this blog, but it has been a very busy time in my life.  It is amazing how life can take control of our lives if we let it.  The last time I posted something here I discussed a new book I had just read called the Great Workplace by Michael Burchell and Jennifer Robin.  When I really like a book I tend to read it more than once and I am now reading this one for the third time.

     When I think about all of the things going on in my life right now they all seem to point to me trying to become a better leader.  With this being said, it does not take long in reading the Great Workplace (pg. 7 just under the title Trust) to read what makes this book great.  Think about for a minute what the authors say “It is often said that employees tend to join organizations, but leave their managers”.  How true is this statement in your career?  How many times have you left an organization because you just couldn’t deal with the leadership?  When I think about the different positions I have held I left the majority of them because I just couldn’t get on board with my leaders.

     Hopefully if you are reading this blog you are trying to be the best leader you can be.  To me this means you are trying to live your life like a true servant leader.  There is a lot of good information out there about servant leadership, and I won’t expand on it here, but I think many people who view themselves as great leaders often miss the mark.  Many times people are great leaders in certain situations where everyone is watching them, but are totally different individuals when the eyes are off of them.  I think a true leader is a true leader all of the time in every situation.

     I agree with Burchell and Robin when they say “In the best companies, leaders at all levels have a strong commitment to creating strong ties between the employee and the organization.  Indeed, enhancing trust, pride, and camaraderie in the workplace is the central task of effective leadership in today’s organization.”  This my friends is really good stuff.  Too often in industry we get caught up in improving processes.  Organizations spend untold millions each year for the next big process improvement tool.   Don’t get me wrong here I too believe that processes should be improved, but there is nothing in a process you can improve without spending all of the time necessary to improve the employees also.  “World Class” organizations realize how important their Human Capital Management processes are to the life of the company and spend just as much time, maybe more, improving them.

     I challenge each leader who reads this to think about what they are doing personally to improve their human capital.  It will be different for each organization, but spending time fostering trust, pride, and camaraderie will unfold many great things for us.

     Have a great week!