Forum

It’s about the people.

It seems that every few years a small crop of business books and articles spring up to remind us of this fact.  To name a few recent ones:

• “What successful transformations share:  McKinsey Global Survey results,” by McKinsey & Company
• Switch:  How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath
• Strategic Speed:  Mobilize People, Accelerate Execution, by me, Ed Boswell, and Henry Frechette

Each of the above makes the point that an organization’s success hinges on its leaders dealing with people factors—things like alignment, engagement, commitment, accountability, and learning.

Many of us appreciate these reminders of the truth we know but tend to forget as we spend our days wrangling over strategy documents, process maps, systems, and spreadsheets:  that, in the end, it’s people who move business.  Many of us also appreciate having more hard evidence with which to convince our hard-nosed CEOs and CFOs that, yes, the people stuff really can make or break a company.  For more on this topic, see the wonderful article “HR vs. Fear” by Liz Ryan (registration required) or Bassi, Costello, and McMurrer’s new book Good Company.

But some of us can get a tad impatient—even sarcastic—when hearing this message for what might feel like the umpteenth time.  Consider these Facebook comments McKinsey received on its “Transformations” article:

• “News flash … you actually need to respect and talk to your people!”
• “It’s a good idea for managers to consult and include their employees when making sweeping changes to the company?  No kidding!”

Don’t we all know “it’s about the people?”  Do we really need to hear that particular news flash yet again?

Yes, we do.  Because no matter how much lip service is paid to people factors, very few of us are able to believe they’re really as important (or as glamorous, or impactful) as strategy, process, and numbers.  As a global business community, we still lack the common language, frameworks, and methods that would allow us to talk to one another about “the people stuff” with the same degree of practicality and clarity that we can bring to discussions of strategy or finance.  As a result, in business schools, board meetings, project meetings, and every day in organizations everywhere, “the people stuff” gets put on the agenda, we take some swipes at it, it turns out to be hairier than anticipated, and finally—confused and tired—we turn our attention to something more manageable, less hairy.

I think we need twenty times as many books and thinkers out there saying loud and clear, “It’s about the people,” and giving us solid, well-researched tools, tactics, and examples to use and follow.  Strategic Speed is one contribution to the effort; what will you contribute?