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?