{"id":3167,"date":"2017-09-26T12:11:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T17:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=3167"},"modified":"2017-08-01T13:27:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T18:27:51","slug":"the-journey-from-the-age-of-the-tool-to-the-present-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/the-journey-from-the-age-of-the-tool-to-the-present-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"The Journey from the Age of the Tool to the Present (Part 5)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: \u00a0The\u00a0Journey from the Age of the Tool to the Present is a 7-part series, tracing the journey humanity has taken from 2500 BC to\u00a0modern times\u00a0on\u00a0the progress of\u00a0Human Resources. \u00a0This is a very comprehensive narrative that touches upon numerous management philosophies and concepts. \u00a0To read the full series, take a look at the\u00a0author\u2019s profile page found here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

Continued from part 4\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

However, you must understand that even when employees are empowered, they may not use it. \u00a0<\/b>In organisations with too much control \u2013 micromanagement or where there is a lack of trust, empowerment can never take root. Empowerment is one area where senior management often has to shift a major paradigm \u2013 namely that \u2018if, management, empower our people, they will give away the farm!\u2019\u00a0 They couldn\u2019t be more incorrect. In empowerment programmes Dr. Marra has run at Xerox for example, it was senior management that gave away the farm because when problems reached their desks, the response was \u2018make it go away whatever you have to do!\u2019 whereas frontline personnel, closest to the customer, took a much more logical and thoughtful approach and got it right!<\/p>\n

Every employee has ideas. The problem is usually management not giving them the time or right environment in which to foster those ideas. Dr. Marra has uses successfully a technique called Creativity Labs where he has taken an organisation\u2019s worst performing employees and turned them into superstars that blew the mind of senior management with their great ideas!<\/p>\n

Before you can have innovations of commercial or practical value, you have to have the ideas. Focusing and inspiring employees collective creativity working in collaboration can accomplish almost anything which is truly worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Lastly you need to reach \u2018passion\u2019. To me, passion is a measure of the level of engagement an employee has with an organisation \u2013 the degree of emotional attachment they have to the organisation. It\u2019s that \u2018feel good feeling\u2019 \u2013 that feeling of \u2018Boy am I glad I work here\u2019. It that boost of energy that comes in the morning as you get ready for work looking forward to making a difference, doing meaningful work and doing it with people you really enjoy working with. having the right vision and purpose in your organisation is like adding frosting to the cake and gets that extra passion from everyone, ensuring that they are all the best they can be \u2013 first time, every time.<\/p>\n

The above discussion has taken us on a long journey of nearly 5000 years to where we are today. Unfortunately, as you know, it seems that we haven\u2019t learned as much as we should have about the vital importance of \u2018people\u2019 to an organisation \u2013 their incredible value to an organisation\u2019s success \u2013 truly its most important strategic asset. What seems so obvious seems to elude so many members of an organisation\u2019s leadership team placing even more responsibility on the HR Professionals and their function in trying to make a difference moving forward into an uncertain future often when they do not have the full support or understanding of the leadership team or CEO.<\/p>\n

So in nearly 5000 years, the plight of the workforce changed little until the last 35 years and, indeed, when viewing the number of organisations in existence today it is highly likely that far less that 2.5% of organisations have gotten things right where the workforce is concerned. The challenge is obviating that old paradigm that \u2018employees are tools\u2019 to get a job done \u2013 a paradigm which even in this modern day still persists in the minds of far too many senior managers in organisations around the world. Sad but true that people, who are an organisation\u2019s greatest strategic advantage, have, over thousands of years, been under-valued, underutilised, disengaged and disappointed. A breath of fresh air is long overdue.<\/p>\n

An Uncertain Future for HR?<\/h2>\n

Allow me to offer a different perspective for a moment. As I read comments about art, listen to artists \u2013 whether they are painters, sculptors, those in the performing arts including music, theatre and more, the issues I believe begin to stand out and are a key to an understanding of the word \u2018art\u2019 can be summarized in the following:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Art can be thought of as a form of focused and intense creative communication which results in stimulating the mind and emotions<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n