Growth & Jobs | Balance people with profits – Thompson

Organisations, that survive for the long run have priorities beyond simply making more profit, says workplace wellness consultant Dr Ijah Thompson.

He pointed out that only 71 of the original Fortune 500 list of largest companies in the United States of America in 1955 remained on the list in 1995. He said that the firms that remained on the list were the ones that were most adaptable.

“The companies remain viable as long as they are adaptable and realise that it is not simply about the bottom line,” he said. Beyond seeking improved financial performance, he suggested that company leaders should ask themselves, “Is my organisation built for a higher calling?”

Addressing the Workplace Health & Wellness Summit at the Knutsford Court Hotel recently, Thompson said that organisations that endure have a vision of where they want to go and how to get there.

“If my bottom line is not only performance, then what other bottom lines can lead the actions of my team?” he asked, suggesting a shift in focus from executing wellness programmes to the creation of “a well workplace.”

A well workplace

An example of a “well workplace” is one where “it is no longer about building your best exercise class, but about how my exercise class makes resilient people appear in my organisation,” he said. “It is not about giving them the best work programme ... . It is about developing it with them.”

Thompson referred to the example made by an earlier presenter, Chris Hind, general manager of JN General Insurance, who had also pointed to the need for team adaptability in dealing with the complex challenges of today’s competitive environment and internal organisational stresses.

“Adaptability is the modern key to success,” Hind said in agreement, adding that an adaptable team “is knowledgeable and empowered to seize the moment and act in the best interests of the organisation without referring every decision to a higher authority.”

Outlining the concepts of retired US Army General Stanley McChrystal, who had addressed audiences in Jamaica earlier this year, Hind explained that “an adaptable team has to understand the mission and have access to relevant knowledge in order to be confident enough to take action. They also need to be secure in the knowledge that they will not be scapegoated if mistakes are made”.

People first

Hind added that the previously popular concept propounded by celebrated American business leader Jack Welch that the lowest-performing managers should be dismissed each year, is now losing ground. He pointed to the view of Simon Sinek, an American organisational consultant, who believes that organisations should, “never put short-term profit before the long-term interests of your people”.

“Suboptimal performance should be corrected, and those who act against the interests of the organisation in an egregious way should be removed from the team, but staff should not be the first target when times are troubled,” Hind declared.

“The group will only prevail in the long run if it protects its members and makes them feel secure,” Hind said. “That is the baseline requirement for a team that can focus all of its effort on adapting to the complex challenges that threaten from the outside ... without wasting time and energy looking over its internal shoulder.”