What is it to be human?  

The word Human generally just refers to Homo sapiens, means ‘wise man’ or ‘knowledgeable  man’. We are the only species with the opposable thumb and hence the progressive ones. Most  important we are the ones with complex emotions, feelings which make us who we are and impact  every area of our existence. Being Human goes beyond gender, sexual orientation race, color etc. 

Krish Shankar in his book Catalyse, talks effusively about the Emotion based approach to  engagement in the chapter Come together . Emotional engagement is the basis of every engaged  workforce . Engagement brings more emotions into play more than any cognitive appraisal of  what the job offers .The biggest paradox is we try to deal with emotions in a very cognitive or  rational manner . 

Chetna Sinha the founder of Mann Deshi Foundation built the built on the emotions of the woman  running the house while she had no say in how her earnings were spend . She built on their  passion , on their need to feed their families , be independent and respected Today Mann Deshi  Foundation is case study in itself with so much to learn from . It is all about the emotion and the  feelings . 

Arundhati Bhattacharya, the first woman to chair the State Bank of India mentions an incident in  her autobiography Indomitable about a case where she went out of the way, used all her human  / woman values to ensure that she sanctioned extra leave to a female colleague who had to visit  her daughter abroad and the only other option was to quit her job . Ms Bhattacharya recounts that  this lady colleague came back from her leave and delivered some of the most challenging projects  of her career. Empathy will only inspire commitment and loyalty 

What is the cost of integrating human ness into our business plan? At best a rounding error in  terms of cost . What is the price of empathy or kindness or consideration in corporate terms.  

Does being human at the work place reduce productivity? Do we need to bring emotionless robots  to work ? Allowing the emotions to come to the workplace with the employee. The happiness ,  the sorrows the failures , have you ever thought of the impact.  

Engagement boosts productivity , ownership and accountability and the commitment of the  employees always leads to higher retention So the factoring of the whole human into the  organization would only give a higher yield to the organization. 

Dr Ram Charan says, your human resource cost is an investment , then cost of human ness  would give a return on investment must more than expected . The accountability the commitment  and the ownership would ensure that . 

And we expect our people to leave the emotions back home. 

Have we forgotten what it is to be human?

Daisaku Ikeda, the Japanese spiritual head of the Soka Gakkai movement says Science and  Technology have given humanity undreamt of power, bringing in valuable benefits to our life . But  this has been accompanied by the tendency to distance ourselves from life , to objectify and  reduce everything to numbers and things . What started as a strong feedback process got reduced  to fitting people into the bell 

Suma Varughese says in her book 50 Life lessons says that technology over a period of time has  alienated people, divided and thrust us into aloneness .This applies in real life as well as work  places . She aptly refers to the Simon and Garfunkel song : I am a rock , I am an island … rock  feels no pain and an island never cries .But humans irrespective of gender feel pain and humans  cry and they need that space and understanding when they come to work every day , to work, to  deliver and to earn a living 

Is work fundamentally different from rest of life or should it be ?Libby Sartain who was the EVP  of Southwest Airline, later the HR Head for Yahoo recounts an incident in her early years where  she was asked to tone down her infectious laughter and sober down. She left that place because  she could not do her best when she was not her original self. How can employees perform their  jobs when we ask them to leave their human ness at home? We need to encourage our people  to be Noisy and nosy – it promotes wisdom ( Sutton and Pfeifer) 

Somewhere in our evolutionary journey , we have lost the essence of being human . A very close  friend had recently posted on Linked on comparative behaviors of Manta Ray . Manta Rays are  marine animals . In the same confined space shared by humans and rays he observed while the  rays were disciplined , considerate , waiting for their turn , the humans pushed and rushed to get  the best shots , the right spot, the perfect selfie , making most of the money they had paid. Humans  were inconsiderate of fellow humans while the less evolved species was far more considerate. 

I am another you… the leadership context 

A colleague would get body mapped by the business head because he would leave at 5 pm  sharp and it would take him 2 hours to reach home . His work was done and he would do the rest  on the way and on reaching home but somewhere the boss forgot that the colleague was a human  , had responsibilities beyond work and needed to full fill them . Its not about the gender , it is about being human. 

As a leader, do you ever think that your team needs family time , vacation time , care leave ,  celebration leave , mourning leave ? But before that , do you think you need it ? because we are  all reflections of each other . If you don’t give yourself the leeway to be human , why will you give  your team the same? 

Do you accept that there is no ”pride” in being burnt out for work and that work is a part of life and  should be treated as such , that your family needs time with you as much as you need with them  to revive , stay fresh to fight another day in the world ..work or otherwise . If you don’t , you will  never extend that human ness to your team irrespective of gender . 

The buzz words like Employee Well being, mental health , employee assistance programs are  superfluous if we get our fundamentals right , if we let the whole human at work and support

him/her through their journey . Developing people care programs after we have perpetrated a  culture of “no care for emotions” “ keep your feelings at home’ is just a band aid on a gaping  wound with no healing value . 

Time to initiate change and start moving on a human journey