People-First in Organizations

It's time to get radically self-honest within our organizations.

Disclaimer, the elements of a People-First approach may make you feel some kind of way. We have all been there. We've all been in positions where we logically understand, or at a minimum are curious about a new path, but our conditioning kicks in and the fear of change causes us to go into panic mode. We run away or push away or fight against. As you read, allow yourself to sit in a place of curiosity and exploration.

People-first is an approach to organizational leadership in which business decisions and directives are crafted and considered by first considering the requirements and implications of people. People are the first step on a pathway of discovery to creating optimal business decisions, directives, and outcomes. People are as important of considerations as the interests of the business.

People now expect the organizations they work for to lean into making decisions with their best interests in mind. Organizations that are not doing this or dismissing the capability to lead this way are losing people and producing poorer outcomes.

Let's also clarify what People-first is not: People-first is not anti-business. People-first is not a zero-sum game where only one can exist without the other. There is no prerequisite sacrifice to business interests to take a People-first approach.

The fundamental and unquestioning belief that this People-first approach is not only possible, but a critical imperative, is the first and most critical step in the journey to supporting a People-first organization.

This is hard work! There is no doubt about it. It's always going to be easier to advocate through a lens of 'business-first'. This is a disservice to the people who are actually responsible for doing the work and creating the results. To honor the humanity of those people requires leadership to step up and step in.

Beyond the critical first step of owning the value and importance of a People-First organization position, there are several other reckonings that need to happen within the organization to actualize a People-First environment.

From this place of ownership, leaders have a responsibility to create the conditions that best support People. This requires accepting and allowing for the reality that fulfillment at work means different things to different people. There is no single leadership approach within an organization that will support a People-First approach overall. Some people will want to be very engaged with their work and others will want firmer boundaries and want to be less connected. This is okay! Great work can still happen, and in fact, can be allowed to happen when leaders tailor their approach to the individual and create spaces accordingly.

This means some may want high levels of connectedness, sharing more of themselves, while others may keep it more service level and 'strictly business' in their working relationships. While the leader always has a responsibility to put in the effort, their team does not. Investing in connection as a prerequisite for individual and tailored leadership will help a leader understand what fulfillment is and provide it accordingly.

While on the subject of connectedness, it's important to clarify that connection can happen in many forms; in-person mandates devalue the hard work and intention required for leadership. True People-first organizations not only recognize the imperative to tailor how support of their teams happens but also where it happens. Leaders can support their teams and cultivate connection in person or remote. What matters is how the mechanisms of connection are put into place. Intention in person is required as much as it is remote. Setting up systems of communication and support will ensure people are able to show up in a way that works best for them. This supports the best interest of the organization and the health of its outcomes!

We pay employees for a service, they don’t owe us anything including how they show up or where. It's important to reject this position of people as a 'resource'. Yes, we pay them for their work, but it's better to think of them as a customer rather than a resource to be leveraged. Similarly to how intentional support happens to create a great customer experience, so it goes to create a great People-first experience. In a People-First organization, leaders work for their team, not the other way around. True respect and authority can happen when people recognize that leaders are truly honoring and understand their contributions and value.

People-first organizations create true servant leadership that focuses on growth and support that transcends the bounds of its usefulness to the organization. Great leaders in People-first organizations are often setting their teams up to set sail and take on the next layer of their growth elsewhere. And that too is okay! People who are growing are excelling in their work. That undoubtedly supports stronger outcomes within the organization. Again, in People-first organizations, people are not a resource to be leveraged, which means their talent and productivity are not owned as an exclusive right.

As relationships are cultivated and supported in a People-First organization, we can’t just focus on the positive or advocate leaning in through our similarities. While this is important to do, we also have to take on the hard conversations and dialogue to honor the unique lived experiences of those people on our teams. We have to be willing to invest in working through and processing our differences. Relegating 'differences' to a proverbial back storage cupboard during business hours isn't the conflict-mitigating solution many think it is. That locker only supports the festering of these differences. Partnership happens when differences are celebrated and honored, where people are made visible and seen. This requires leaders to not only be equipped to, but to be brave enough to engage in and support ongoing dialogue.

In significant moments of change or transition, an organization cannot simply rely on the quality of relationships to weather the storm. The best People-First organization can tap into those relationships as a means to channel strength, but that is only the starting line. In order to manage change we have to be willing to face a reality that we might need radical and foundational change when these moments arise. Sometimes the call for change will require radical self-honesty that creates a call to action to the highest power for a leader to be real, set a clear vision, and invite the team to come together. This ask can only be answered in an org where people feel their best interests are not only considered, but are the primary lens through which they're being called to action.

A hard truth of People-first is that sometimes, despite best efforts, people may still have to come last or as a lower priority in the end. There may be moments of change that require decisions and actions that create suffering for people, think layoffs or major and catastrophic business failure. Even when People are the first consideration but may not be able to be taken to the finish line, a People-first approach makes sure no stone is unturned and creates the resilience to support and tackle the storm.

The biggest and most radical ask of cultivating a People-first org is to reject the premise of HR in its entirety. This position of HR as supporting employee interest only until those interests are in conflict with the employer's own will be the achilles heel of an organization every time and its people. While the best support of people is to not have to go into legal considerations, life happens. Sometimes the company is in the wrong. Sometimes a leader is in the wrong. Sometimes bad things happen. How a leader or an organization shows up in those times is the true sign of how People-first an organization is. People-first organizations take ownership and responsibility for their part in these moments, and are not only okay to feel the sting of accountability, they honor that accountability as a fundamental imperative of their continued need for evolution to better support their people.

Not only is it important to accept and honor these tough moments, but People-first organizations also openly and actively invite criticism. People must be heard, and the most important calls to action are when people need better support, more transparency, better pay, better working conditions, new skills, and additional resources. Sure, sometimes these things are not possible, but a People-first organization is able to have those conversations by keeping the lines of communication and support.

For anyone that is to this point and going 'not possible' or 'sure, okay' you are not alone. People-first is a radical paradigm shift for many organizations. With any call to action for great change, it always starts with a single and small step. Taking even the first move to shift your team or organization into a People-first entity can create a shift into gear for future and continued evolution to occur. People-first is possible and will create a stronger organization.

At Flawed Leader, a People-First approach is hard-coded in our values

Curiosity - always seeking how to better support and lead

Growth - as a process not a means to an end

Presence - connected and sensing into what is and isn't

Humanity - honoring the fundamental nature of people

Community - cultivating authentic bonds that allow all types of engagement

Advocacy - amplifying the interest of the people

Resilience - rinse, repeat, and evolve to bigger and better every time

This shift to People-First organizations requires brave leadership. This change requires Flawed Leaders; Leaders who, even with trepidation and uncertainty, recognize their imperative responsibility to face the scary things, to step up to the challenge, and through their own growth process support the growth process of their teams, their organizations, and Grow. Together.