Nancy Killefer’s great insight – business is a ‘contact sport’
Last week I attended a networking event for HR professionals in London. The general consensus was that most companies are cutting back on expenses and are not actively investing in activities to motivate, attract and engage their people. Many companies are viewing this type of spending as a luxury which should be cut back during the downturn. If any money is being spent on people, it tends to be around redundancies. The event was full of doom and gloom and I even felt a bit depressed afterwards.
Why are companies cutting back on spending money that will build and maintain positive relationships with their staff?
Authors Gary Neilson and Bruce Pasternak said that, ‘Organisations are not monolithic entities. They are collections of individuals who usually act on their own self-interest. Organisations must unlock potential of employees by aligning individual actions of others and the interests of the firm as a whole, every day, at every level.’ Why don’t companies understand that in turbulent times, people matter more than ever?
2009 will be an uncertain and unpredictable year and relationships and connections with people – staff, customers and suppliers – will matter more than ever. Competitive advantage comes from the mind’s of people and that is why they need to be nurtured and invested in, especially in the current economic climate.
Barack Obama has just announced that Nancy Killefer will be his Chief Performance Officer. She is currently a senior director at McKinsey. In 2004, she gave a lecture to students at Harvard Business School. She told them that, after all her years in the business word, she has realized that business is a ‘contact sport’ and it is all about relationships with people. It is about establishing meaningful connections with employers, employees, clients, suppliers, subordinates, superiors and peers. She believes that if you connect with people and establish strategic relationships, then you are more likely to move up the corporate ladder and win the business game.
She said she had an epiphany when she realized that business was about people and not companies.
What a pity that many companies have not had the same insight as Nancy Killefer! In turbulent times, people still matter.
You can read the article here.
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