“The more you understand human beings, the better you do at business”

Understanding Humans

Running a senior leader client event this week, I’m reminded yet again of the importance of understanding that we are all humans. And crucially that we are all driven by emotions.

It’s so tempting to race to logic, to plans, to ideas and to action. To put the emotions into bucket of “thats’ interesting, that’s a bit too touchy feely” and to get straight back into the comforting world of logic.

It is perhaps central to my belief system that:

“The more you understand human beings, the better you do at business”

Why is this?

Because our emotional patterns are the default setting we revert to. Especially when under pressure, when tired, when stretched.

Unless we take the time with our teams (home and work) to understand these default settings, we’re setting ourselves up for a fall.

Here’s one simple way to approach this.

In your team, create space to have a conversation around your personal values. Reflect individually and then share them with each other.

Note where your values align. These are the areas to build on and where you can create strength.

Note where the values diverge. Think about how those will impact on how you work together. 

Forewarned means you get to plan ahead and build how you work together. 

Going blind into this means you’ll bump into challenges and be blindsided when they occur and you’ll keep trying to resolve emotional (human) differences with logic without really understanding why they are happening (and why they will likely keep repeating).

As humans we aren’t thinking machines who feel, we are feeling machines who think. 

It’s perhaps the most widespread issue in dysfunctional teams.

Understanding humans and the “human operating system” is perhaps the best business investment you can event make.

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