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Rediscover the human

11/2/2023

22 Comments

 
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‘How is that human systems seem so naturally to gravitate away from their humanness, so that we find ourselves constantly needing to pull them back again?’ (Jenny Cave-Jones)

What a profound insight and question. How is that, in organisations, the human so often becomes alien? Images from the Terminator come to mind – an apocalyptic vision of machines that turn violently against the humans that created them. I was invited to meet with the leadership team of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in East Africa that, in its earnest desire to ensure a positive impact in the lives of the poor, had built a bureaucratic infrastructure that, paradoxically, drained its life and resources away from the poor. The challenge and solution were to rediscover the human.

I worked with a global NGO that determined to strengthen its accountability to its funders. It introduced sophisticated log frames and complex reporting mechanisms for its partners in the field, intended to ensure value for its supporters and tangible, measurable evidence of positive impact for people and communities. As an unintended consequence, field staff spent inordinate amounts of time away from their intended beneficiaries, completing forms to satisfy what felt, for them, like the insatiable demands of a machine. The challenge and solution were to rediscover the human.

A high school in the UK invited me to help its leaders manage its new performance process which had run into difficulties. Its primary focus had been on policies, systems and forms – intended positively to ensure fairness and consistency – yet had left staff feeling alienated, frustrated and demoralised. We shifted the focus towards deeper spiritual-existential questions of hopes, values and agency then worked with groups to prioritise high quality and meaningful relationships and conversations over forms, meetings and procedures. The challenge and solution were to rediscover the human.

Academics and managers at a university for the poor in South-East Asia had competing roles and priorities, and this had created significant tensions as well as affected adversely the learning experience of its students. The parties had attempted unsuccessfully to resolve these issues by political-structural means; jostling behind the scenes for positions of hierarchical influence and power. They invited me in and we conducted an appreciative inquiry together, focusing on shared hopes, deep values, fresh vision and a co-created future. The challenge and solution were to rediscover the human.

Where have you seen or experienced a drift away from the human? Curious to discover how I can help? Get in touch!
22 Comments
Clive Walker
11/2/2023 03:09:08 pm

Hey Nick. I get the need for stringent accountability mechanisms. What are you suggesting as an alternative?

Reply
Nick Wright
11/2/2023 03:15:11 pm

Thank you, Clive. I was inspired by a former colleague, Rudo Kwaramba, from Zimbabwe. She once commented that, rather than expecting partners to complete complex project funding proposals, "Walk with us for a few days...and let's discover if we share a common vision and values to work together." She wasn't dismissing the need for stringency. She was advocating a human-relational approach - and, in my experience, that makes all the difference.

Reply
Anna Poulson
11/2/2023 03:23:09 pm

Thanks for sharing Jenny's insight and question, Nick. Very thought provoking. We tend to rely on "bureaucratic processes" to manage programmes because we don't have time to visit and chat things through with everyone directly. It also saves time and expense on travel. The problem is that is all gets very impersonal. That's where things go wrong. So much time gets wasted by communication breakdown and chasing things up.

Reply
Nick Wright
11/2/2023 03:28:44 pm

Hi Anna. Thanks for posting such a thought-provoking response! A Kenyan colleague, Tuesday Chege, once shared a profound cross-cultural insight with me. The systems and approaches we use in the West often reflect our transactional business outlook and task-orientated culture. By contrast, in Africa, people and communities are likely to prioritise relationship. If, in our efforts to be 'efficient' we sacrifice the need for relationship, it could be that we lose our most important transformational value in those contexts.

Reply
Jenny Rayner
11/2/2023 03:29:01 pm

Hi Nick

These are my personal opinions, not those of the charity, and I will be retiring soon (although I might offer myself as a Trustee) but I am concerned that we may be "drifting away from the human". As an Empowerment Worker, I love sitting and listening to our tenants and trying to help them think of solutions, or signpost them to those who can help with their problems. And I am quite happy to write up my field notes afterwards. But I hate having to sit there going through Risk Reduction Plans and Personal Development plans and writing everything down on forms that seem to ask the same question 3 times. I prefer my relationship to be more organic but my line-manager says that I need to observe boundaries and not get so emotionally involved with my clients. She wasn't happy that I invited them round for coffee after church, for example. I'd like to know your thoughts on reaching a helpful balance.

Jenny

Reply
Nick Wright
11/2/2023 03:56:27 pm

Hi Jenny and thank you for posting so honestly from personal experience. You pose some very interesting and important questions! You remind me of some years ago now when I found myself responsible for managing a number of residential and resettlement services for young single homeless people.

My sense as a general principle is that, when we're in-role as part of an organisation and/or a wider professional body, we represent those bodies by consent and are, thereby, bound to uphold the focus, ethics, and boundaries of those bodies unless - for whatever reason - they fundamentally contradict our own.

It can get tricky to know how to handle those boundaries if, as you have described, we meet people for whom we hold a duty of 'care' at work in a different context, such as in or after church. If the people you work with are vulnerable, my sense is that holding the boundary can help protect the person, you, and your organisation/professional body.

Perhaps a way forward, as you may well have done already, would be to discuss the boundary issue sensitively with the person - and to do so with the human-relational care and skill that I know you have! That could mean introducing them to other people in the church to hold the relationship until you retire...unless you do go ahead as a Trustee..?

What do you think?

Reply
Hans Vogel
11/2/2023 03:31:45 pm

You talk in puzzles. What does it mean: rediscover the human? Your writing is annoying.

Reply
Nick Wright
11/2/2023 03:35:29 pm

Hi Hans. One way to think about this is to treat every person as 'sacred' and every interaction with another person as a 'sacred encounter'. Here's a real example of what that can look like in practice: https://www.nick-wright.com/candles.html

Reply
Pete Barlett
11/2/2023 04:25:14 pm

This is a theme in your blogs Nick. What was your worst experience of an organisation, if you don't mind saying?

Reply
Nick Wright
11/2/2023 04:27:49 pm

Hi Pete. That's an interesting question. The one that came immediately to mind was when, as a teenager, I worked in industry as an apprentice. It was the most dehumanising environment I had encountered. That experience certainly influenced my perspective on organisations and organisation development!

Reply
Pete Barlett
11/2/2023 04:37:02 pm

Can I ask what was so dehumanising about it?

Nick Wright
11/2/2023 04:41:08 pm

Hi Pete. That's a good question too. The culture was very task-orientated. Staff felt like powerless pawns on a chess board to be used and discarded. Managers and supervisors often used their structural power to abuse others - although there were some notable individuals who were an admirable exception to the rule.

Veronica Hanson
12/2/2023 09:35:34 am

Nick, I love this idea of rediscovering the human. I’m trying to imagine what that looks like in practice. Do you have any further examples you could share?

Reply
Nick Wright
12/2/2023 09:37:00 am

Thank you, Veronica. Yes, of course. Here’s another example. Let me know if that answers your question? https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/everybodys-weird

Reply
Veronica Hanson
12/2/2023 09:52:25 am

Wow Nick. You were brave to do that. It sounds crazy, inspired and inspiring!

Nick Wright
12/2/2023 12:48:10 pm

Thanks Veronica. The leadership team was very open to new ideas and ways of doing things. They trusted us. This meant that experimenting with and enhancing the human dimensions of leadership and team working took less courage than it might have done in other contexts!

Ian Turvey
12/2/2023 07:22:31 pm

We need to get back to the whole person, and to understand one size really does not fit all. But, I'm a great believer in systems, processes and design, so how can we reinvent things, not loosing the best of what has been, but embracing the holistic person as we journey on together?

Reply
Nick Wright
12/2/2023 10:11:49 pm

Hi Ian. I agree that systems and processes have their place. Problems arise when systems and processes take over and humans they were intended to serve become dehumanised. That's where the challenge and solution is to rediscover the human.

Reply
Jenny Cave-Jones
13/2/2023 12:39:56 pm

Lovely piece – and completely happy and honoured re the quote attribution 😊

Reply
Nick Wright
13/2/2023 12:41:16 pm

Thank you, Jenny - and for inspiring me with that deeply profound insight!

Reply
Alex
14/2/2023 09:58:54 am

Thanks Nick
Sadly, it’s what left me with a love/ relationship with the HR profession. The profession’s journey began in the 19th century as radical welfare, with an instrumental overtone, recognising that the humans in the factory weren’t simply machines but would work better with a little care. Fast forward from welfare to power brokers in the post war years of full employment and powerful trade unions, and organisations were human systems in which the Personnel role included mediation between conflicting stakeholders. Fast forward again to the early 80s and the organisational power balance shifting from employees to employers, trade unions losing influence and unemployment rising. In that context ‘Personnel’ rebranded itself as Human Resources, investing its identity in ‘management’, and humans are back to being factors of performance, and the profession becomes about commodity management. It’s now a polarised profession, with ‘HR with an OD hat on’ at one end, humans centre stage, and HR as ‘commodity management’ at the other. Maybe it will ever be thus, and no shortage of need for the kind of work you do, Nick.

Reply
Nick Wright
15/2/2023 07:28:51 pm

Hi Alex and thank you for sharing such interesting insights and perspectives. I have noticed similar trends over the years. Back in 2012, I wrote this short piece as an attempt to define and distinguish between OD and HR: https://www.nick-wright.com/blog/spot-the-difference. It received some interesting responses!

Reply



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    ​Nick Wright

    ​I'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? ​Get in touch!

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