Yesterday evening I gave a talk to a Facebook Group of about 11 thousand people.
No pressure, hey! ha.
Talks like that is still something that gets the butterflies in my stomach buzzing, but equally, they are things I love to do, for a number of reasons...
1) I get to help a big group of people. So that in itself is enough!
2) It helps to validate, to myself, that what I am doing is valued and helpful to others. Which is also great, for me and them!
3) And this is the bit that sometimes surprises me... It really kicks my brain into overdrive when it comes to thinking about content and how I can better serve others.
The talk I gave last night was one of those times...!
My brain was racing so much for quite a few hours afterwards, I had to get out of bed to write down my thoughts, if only so I could get some sleep, haha.
My mini revelation from yesterday was this:
I've spoken for years about how de-humanising systems and process is a bad thing to do.
But the depth of that problem is clearer now than it ever has been.
And the reason for that is this...
People create systems and process to replace humans. Be it giving themselves back their time, or creating an environment where a human can be replaced. The purpose doesn't matter as much as the negative impact that it creates.
Why?
Because creating a process or implementing a system, to replace a human... there is inevitably still interaction with a human. Be it you or someone else, that interaction is still there.
And when that process or system is de-humanised (or de-humanising), using it feels unnatural, alien and damn-right weird!
On the most basic physiological level, we are designed and have evolved to move away from unnatural, unknown or unfamiliar.
So it is any wonder why so many people leave organisations for reasons like, "I can't handle all of these processes... I'm not a robot!".
Or they get stressed out, because "these systems will send me to an early grave".
Like I said, this point has never been clearer to me than it is right now.
Systems and process serve, they don't replace. An important and highly critical distinction to make!
When you have a process or a system that is unnatural to interact with, people won't interact with it in the way that serves them best.
And in-turn, the organisation as a whole will suffer, just as those within it suffer by using that process or system.
The answer, humanise, or re-humanise the process. Humanise or re-humanise the system. It's not rocket science.
The 'how' will differ greatly, of course.
The point, however, is that a process and/or a system, is there to 'serve'. When it becomes a lifeless object, going through the motions, forcing its users to become a little less lifeless, each and every day. That is not serving. That is destroying.
And when a person becomes tired of a thing... What do we do?
We move away from it, towards something else.
So it created, silo's, closed-groups, negative cultural...
Make sense?
If you've any burning systems or processes that annoy you, that you hate, or that you simply want to burn with napalm until ash, i'd love to hear about them,
Drop a comment about them below, share this post to anyone that you feel might agree.
If nothing else, let me know that i'm not barking up an entirely off-the-mark tree 😉 👍
Have an awesome day,
Dan
