And yet we spend money on 4 wheel drive instead of snow tires. And yet we upgrade our coffee maker instead of buying from a local roaster (or roasting our own). And mostly, we run classified ads to find the cheapest common denominator employee and spend all our time building systems to protect our customers from people who don't care...”
So true. Finding great people and then really investing in them is critical to the success of an organization. We all know this and yet it is often this part of an organization’s budget that gets cut first because it’s a “soft” cost. That may be, but you pay a big price when you cut there. In fact I would say that if you do, you will pay big time in other ways. But a large part of this people-care does not need to cost money. It’s about attending to those you lead in real and human ways; getting to know them beyond their workplace life, knowing their families, knowing about their passions and their hurts, and letting them into your life as a leader.
You will know very quickly upon meeting people in their workplaces if they are indeed cared for. It always shows. You will also know if they are not cared for. It always shows.