Too often, leadership and staff development initiatives focused on self-awareness and interpersonal skills have been dismissed as “soft” and “feel good activities” unrelated to a business’ primary objectives of producing good and services for profit. This is changing, of course, with increased attention to “soft skills” and “culture” in a range of companies, but when it comes time for hard budgeting decisions to be made, these programs often get the axe. A shout-out to my former Case Western colleagues, Richard Boyatzis and Melvin Smith, and their coworker and coauthor Ellen van Oosten for making the case for how “coaching with compassion” contributes directly to the bottom line and to change readiness.
For those of you who have seen my “Unleashing Intrinsic Motivation” or “Building a Human Firewall” presentations, they are based on the same underlying principles being championed by Richard, Melvin, and Ellen , namely, that attending to the workforce as humans, not just “resources,” IS attending to the business and to the bottom line.
If you are an HR leader, team leader, department head, or product manager frustrated that one or more teams aren’t producing the results you anticipated, contact us for a free 30-min consultation about how relatively small changes can, over time, produce significant – and sustainable – results.
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