Powering up with People-Centrism

People-centrism is an aspect of socio-emotional competence. Something expert agree makes success more predictable than just having talent. There is a reason for this; a high level of talent could be rendered useless (possibly even self-destructive) without the navigation system provided by socio-emotional competence. The idea is to think in terms of what you have that makes others happy and allow yourself to be occupied by it in your entire life. There is such a thing as the right job and the right spouse. It might sound a bit strange for those who have come to believe that your life is about you and that you must do only what you want and that what others want does not count.  Working only for yourself is unsustainable; it represents defect. Beyond the religious opinions, we have also seen form the work of scientist like the Richard Dawkins that altruism is the best means of ensuring the continuous existence (not that I like the guy).

Life itself is what you say it is and there are no real right ways of doing anything unless we have a clear and specific objective in mind. That is when the road to point x cannot be the same as the road to point y. All philosophies work except; there is such a things as fruits of your seed. You cannot possibly plant guava and reap mangoes. So what you put in must return its corresponding result- that’s among the most constant of all rules and it does not change for anybody. So rest assured the philosophy you choose to live will bring its attendant results without exception. Perhaps this is what informed ideas like “love thy neighbor as thyself”. In the final analysis, it is in your best interest.

People-centrism is to be sure that you are meeting the needs of others by being more of yourself. The last component; the being more of yourself bit is of extreme importance simply because; it is the only way to give the best of you, which happens to be what people want. In fact its true power is demonstrated by modern business theories. Products and services are created for the creator’s own benefit of course- to make profit. But this is only possible when the customer is happy as you probably already know. An unhappy customer is bad business and bad business collapses business. At the same time to give your best, you have to concentrate on what you do best. So there is a clear balance required between the two in order to generate the two way happiness that awaits you.

But if you think this applies to business alone, think again. In fact business might be several thousands of years behind as the authors of scripture had already figured this out earlier. And if we had been paying attention we might have gone a lot further in our civilization skipping several crude ages. I guess in a way, it explains why the likes of Daniel Goleman think that emotional intelligence (which is an aspect of socio-emotional competence) makes success more predictable. Those whose job directly makes people happy are usually very successful. Take comedians and musicians for example. What about writers and filmmakers. When they are good at what they do then they are guaranteed patronage from almost everyone. Why? Happiness- good feeling.

Your output generates a feeling within people whether you want to accept it or not. You have a choice to decide whether this feeling is a positive one or the opposite. To set out to deliberately create a product that generates a good feeling for people is people-centeredness. It is deciding that people are the reason why you do what you do and hence you are going to make sure that they are happy with what you give them.

This idea makes your life better because it is only when people are happy with you that they tend to want to make you happy in return. They give you what they have; their attention, their money and their most treasured assets.

A father who is happy with the potential son-in-law is happy to bless the marriage. Simply because he is happy. He likes the son-in-law enough to give away his precious daughter with a blessing. He might be happy because he is sure that the son in-law will make his daughter happy. So before straying too far, let’s get a grip on the idea. The happiness that you think you are looking for depends on other people’s happiness. If you can give happiness then you are bound to receive it back in plenty. It is kind of like willing to forego your grain of corn and putting it in the soil. You can only reap thousands in return.

So you are wondering by now, what influence does people-centrism have on your performance. I have already said that being competent in the social environment makes your success more predictable than just having a skill or talent. I have also pointed out that it is how people are feeling about what you do that counts. What they really buy is the happiness or good feeling you create. In a team your work might be the raw material for another person’s work. If it is bad, it makes their work harder and vice versa. People- centrism means that you consider the effect of what you are doing or not doing on others in order to ensure a good feeling. Such behavior represents quality as people are always the end users of what we do.

It cuts through communication as well as what we say have a way of stirring up the emotions of others. Considering the fact that the run of people are largely emotionally unintelligent, it may rest with you to find people-centric ways of delivering a message or making a point. You are probably already aware of the important role communication plays in any environment. When staff is people-centric it is a double win for the organization as they will respond to both internal and external needs the right way. The marketing concept of understanding the needs of the customer and creating the perfect product for a targeted group is therefore a powerful one. But so is the economic idea of firing from a competitive edge. Your goal is to combine bother both for a powerful outcome. Not surprising that marketing is rumored to be a wayward child of Economics.

People are not the same and hence their needs differ. People-centrism is therefore begins when we identify that group that has a need for the advantage we have. The lesson here is that, regardless of what you are; there is a group that needs you as much as there is group that does not. To force yourself on the wrong target is to create friction and discomfort for others and yourself—not a very people-centric approach to things. This can affect performance or output in countless number of ways. People-centrism ensures great management and great staff. It develops great products and guarantees success. As people we are micro-businesses in our own rights and we can consciously apply some of these principles in our lives for better relationships and better performance.

Friction in all its forms negatively affects performance which is supposed to be an effortless venture.  People must be the central focus of what we do and that will help ensure that the maximum output is obtained out of people, systems and equipment. The most valuable assets of any organization or nation are its human resources. People are the key ingredient. What we do is by people and for people and about people—maybe that sounds familiar. The most advanced theories of business and even the survival of mankind are people-centric in nature. This article is just a scratch on the surface of a much bigger idea that is captured in the uptimetricse® system available at the CSD®. Please feel free to share your comments with us. It will be highly appreciated.

Some questions you can play with in your mind.

How people-centric are you on a scale of 0 to 10?

Identify someone you are unhappy with and state clearly, reasons why they generate this feeling within you?

Identify ways in which this situation can be turned around?

Is it possible to treat all your communications and actions with doses of people-centrism or or do you find this difficult?

What is the real reason why you do what you do?