By Marty Martin
The term “human resources management” is essential in business. But have you noticed that the majority of literature about the topic focuses on “resources” and “management” without any discussion of the “human” element? As a result, most managers see their employees simply as resources performing specific tasks and not as whole people who can contribute so much more.
Managing the whole person means acknowledging that everyone is multidimensional and has numerous roles to balance in life—all of which affect job performance. However, this mindset goes much deeper than work-life balance. It’s also about recognizing all aspects of an employee to ensure a work-life “fit” that benefits the company and each individual. When you focus on the whole person rather than just on an employee’s work performance, you build more meaningful connections with employees, which leads to greater loyalty and productivity. Here are three suggestions for better managing the whole employee:
1See the input, not just the output. When managing the whole person, you need to look beyond the person’s job description and her daily output—duties, deadlines and expectations. Start looking at the input factors as well, since these determine the quality of the output.
Input factors are the “drivers” (motivators) and “drainers” (distractions or frustrations) in employees’ lives that affect job performance. Some typical input factors include:
- The employee’s best time of day to get work done
- What’s going on in the employee’s family
- The employee’s physical, mental and emotional health
- Other stressors the employee has, such as being a caregiver to aging parents, being pregnant or being the only income-earner in the home
- Community or other outside activities in which the employee is involved.
Managing the whole person requires paying attention to all the different drivers and drainers that motivate employees to perform at the level of acceptable performance, to go above and beyond an acceptable level of performance or to underperform to expectations. Because the various inputs affect output, being aware of these factors makes good business sense.
2. Recognize everyone is multidimensional. Many managers believe that it’s none of their business what employees do outside the work setting. They don’t want to ask personal questions for fear of appearing nosey. The good news is that you don’t have to ask questions to find out about people. You simply have to acknowledge the clues that are all around you.
For example, if you see photos of children in someone’s office, you don’t have to ask, “Are those your kids?” You can simply comment, “Those are beautiful children.” With that one acknowledgment, most people will open up, tell you who the children are and offer lots more personal information. Likewise, if you see sports gear stashed away in a corner of someone’s cubicle, you don’t have to ask, “Do you play tennis?” Instead, you might say, “I’ve always been interested in tennis.” Again, the person will naturally start talking about the sport, the team or league she’s on, her accomplishments and so much more. While it’s true that most people don’t want to sit through a session of 20 questions with their manager, they do enjoy being acknowledged—not just for their work, but also for their other interests.
3. Look at the big picture. The average full-time employee works 2,080 hours a year in the office. That doesn’t include time put in at night and on weekends. With all of today’s technological innovations, more and more people are connected to work 24/7, even while on vacation. As the separation between work and the rest of life becomes narrowed—what many people refer to as a “blurring” of roles—a person’s ability to focus on any one activity becomes more difficult, resulting in errors and burnout.
In many companies, managers set the expectation for this blur because they don’t take a comprehensive view of what its employees accomplish. Instead, they focus on the day-to-day stressors, the errors, the requests for time off or the employee’s lunch hour that was really an hour-and-a-half. By keeping an eye only on these day-to-day details, managers miss the big picture of what people really contribute. This places undue stress on everyone. Of course, details are important, but it’s also vital to take a step back and get a broad perspective, seeing employees as people and not as parts of a machine to be fixed.
Taking management to a new level
When you put the “human” element back into human resources management, you acknowledge the needs of the employees so they can perform better. When employees feel recognized as more than just a number on a monthly report, they tend to exhibit more “citizenship behavior,” where they’re supportive of other employees and of the organization as a whole. As an added benefit, when employees are more supportive of managers, the managers’ workload becomes less stressful, too. Ultimately, the sooner you recognize all the drivers and drainers that impact people and strive to manage them, the sooner you’ll create a high-performing team.
Marty Martin, known for state-of-the-art content presented in an engaging, dynamic fashion, has been speaking and training nationally and internationally for many years, His second book, Taming Disruptive Behavior, is being published by the American College of Physician Executives this year. For more information, visit his website at www.drmartymartin.com.
Next, read the October cover story by Phillip Perry and answer 10 questions to find out, “Are you a great manager?”
