| "Our most important asset is our people". So say a | | | | but now applies this more to business strategy. He |
| thousand or more mission statements for companies | | | | chooses a few simple but very important areas |
| all over the world (maybe not China or if they do | | | | where our assumptions about human behaviour are |
| they may not mean it in exactly the same way). | | | | wrong based on the latest findings from behavioural |
| "We treat our customers as people" say almost as | | | | sciences such as psychology. We believe we think |
| many slogans. Surely people are already the focus of | | | | and then we act - wrong. It turns out that is very |
| business? Well if they are then business management | | | | rare. Far more often we act then we think. We |
| science has taken very little account of the social | | | | believe we adopt new attitudes and behaviours |
| sciences of people behaviour. True many of the | | | | through the influence of a few opinion leaders. Wrong |
| great business leaders possess the ability to | | | | - it turns out to be a much more simple process of |
| understand, motivate and communicate with people | | | | copying for which human beings are uniquely well |
| but when it comes to business development | | | | designed. We think we make individual choices. |
| strategies and change management programmes the | | | | Wrong - we are far more influenced by our sense of |
| McKinsey approach rules and, excellent as they may | | | | what others around us are doing in the same way |
| be at some things, they are not known for their | | | | that a flock of birds or shoal of fish move together |
| people skills. Strategic business planning involves hard | | | | in smooth elegant patterns. We are in fact super |
| analysis of everything except the most important | | | | social apes attracted to a sense of momentum and |
| thing of all - what makes people tick. | | | | our understanding of human behaviour must start |
| The function in business that should be the thought | | | | with that in mind. |
| leaders in this field is of course HR. But HR stands for | | | | This sounds as if it should be of interest to people |
| Human Resources not human behaviour and the | | | | like Sir David Attenborough and social anthropologists |
| work of HR seems to take only a very narrow cut | | | | not captains of industry but Mark Earls explains "If |
| on people's behaviour. They do recruitment, | | | | you accept these findings then it shows that much |
| employee benefits, industrial relations, talent | | | | of what we do in developing business strategy or |
| management and succession planning. All very | | | | planning change in an organization is wrong, very |
| important but it does feel resource oriented rather | | | | wrong". |
| than truly people focused. | | | | We are still a long way off understanding how the |
| Richard Mosley, from the fittingly named People in | | | | brain works but we are a lot closer than we used to |
| Business consultancy, has cleverly imported a number | | | | be. A lot about how memory works, how information |
| of marketing disciplines into HR. Marketing does spend | | | | gets stored in, and retrieved from, the brain is now |
| a lot of its time trying to understand human | | | | understood. But very little of this has filtered through |
| behaviour and applying that to brands that build | | | | to business management strategies or strategic |
| relationships with its customers. He talks about the | | | | planning. Most of what we try to do in business is |
| 'employer brand' and the way it must be based on | | | | based on creating a change of mind that acts in our |
| values that people relate to, and managed in such a | | | | favour, whether it is getting the work force to adopt |
| way as to build loyalty and attract the best and | | | | new manufacturing practices or getting customers to |
| most relevant talent. His thinking puts people much | | | | switch allegiance to our products and services. It is in |
| more at the centre of business endeavour. People | | | | effect about trying to create new memories and |
| really are the most important asset in a business but | | | | associations in the mind. |
| they are not like any other asset - they are sentient, | | | | People are the focus of business but understanding |
| feeling, emotional, intuitive and individualistic with | | | | how people change their behaviour, adopt new ideas |
| shared characteristics but unique personalities. | | | | and make decisions is not the focus of business. This |
| If people are to be the focus of business, whether it | | | | is changing. Google and other search engines - |
| is the people who work for the business, people who | | | | themselves the engines of the new economy - are |
| supply the business or people to whom the business | | | | working hard to build in understanding of people's |
| sells then understanding people and their behaviour is | | | | behaviour into the algorithms that lie at the heart of |
| essential. There needs to be a move towards | | | | their business model and their way of running their |
| behavioural management strategy not business | | | | business feels much more in touch with true human |
| management strategy. And to have a strategy you | | | | motivations. Perhaps an increased merging of |
| have to start with the right assumptions. Mark Earls | | | | business management and behavioural science to |
| thinks we start with the wrong assumptions. Mark is | | | | form behavioural management science will be the |
| a bit like Richard Mosley in as much as he started out | | | | single biggest development in business over the next |
| in advertising as a planner trying to understand human | | | | few decades. In which case the focus on people in |
| behaviour in order to help build great ad campaigns | | | | business is not old hat, it is very much new wave. |