Human Experience At Work: It’s A Mindset
The phrase “pivot your business” has been thrown around like hot potatoes over the past year.
Due to the pandemic, businesses are reevaluating their entire working culture.
And, if there’s a silver lining to COVID19, it comes in the form of recrafting a corporate culture around Human Experience. But, is Human Experience a strategy? An attitude?
No. Human Experience is a mindset. And it’s something every business needs to develop.
What Is The Human Experience?
The Human Experience is a term that embodies the reality of human existence.
That sounds pretty heavy but is more digestible when you break it down into chunks.
Human Experience revolves around somebody’s characteristics of life. These characteristics are divided into four different sections:
- Mental
- Emotional
- Spiritual
- Physical
Why Is The Human Experience Important?
Every human being is imperfect.
It’s the first thing people say when they make mistakes. “I’m human, after all!”
We’re inconsistent and run by emotion. As time goes by, businesses realize that passionate, emotional employees are a fantastic addition to the team. Generally, they work with enthusiasm and are driven by a sense of accomplishment, which, as we all know, feels great.
Suppose a workplace can harvest the benefits of Human Experience through implementing it as a mindset within the corporation. In that case, targets will be met, employees will be happy, and businesses will thrive.
How Can Human Experience Influence The Way We Work?
Whether you’re managing other people, running a company, or working within a team, channeling Human Experience within your mindset can help not only you but also the entire business.
Human Experience is a crucial mindset to produce a better business and products. And it all boils down to the way we connect.
Our world is changing. It’s constantly progressing and evolving. Like a river, it ebbs and flows to the beat of its own social and economic change.
As time goes by, it’s becoming more and more evident that the human side of a business is increasingly important.
Every company has its own culture, which is put in place by the code of conduct, regulations, and infrastructure. Each workplace has a different ‘feel’ about it.
The human experience within the workplace uses the concept of culture and molds it to appeal to the employees.
It’s all about discovering ways to make sure employees can genuinely connect.
Because, as best selling author, Adam Grant, said:
“People are not the most important resource in your company. People are your company.”
How To Implement Human Experience Into A Business
Human Experience revolves around valuing your team and coworkers. It’s about allowing every individual to showcase what they’re best at and allowing their tasks to feel meaningful and fulfilling.
We, as human beings, are designed to interact with others. We’re social creatures.
And, ever since we were children, we’ve sought to gain praise and approval from those around us. It always felt better when we were rewarded by people we felt were ‘superior’ to us as children.
For example, the Principle showing off your work felt far better than a classmate telling us how much they liked our drawing, right?
That mentality doesn’t go away. It sticks with us into adulthood and manifests itself in the way we approach work.
Seeing as we spend roughly ⅓ of our lives in the workplace, it’s no wonder that forward-thinking companies were starting to implement the Human Experience into their company’s ethos.
There are hundreds of ways to craft a workplace culture based on Human Experience, which your employees will all define. But, here are five suggestions:
- Respect – Respect is fundamental to Human Experience. It’s crucial, then, that each employee behaves in a way that’s respectful to one another. Even if there are disagreements, maintaining a high level of respect is the way forward.
- Motivation – Motivation and the Human Experience come hand in hand within the workplace. Every employee needs to feel motivated to succeed. This comes from building a sense of teamwork and the mentality that, without every individual, the company would not be where it is today.
- Mental health awareness – We’re living in an era where mental health is beginning to be considered debilitating when at its worst. However, many people still feel that mental health should not have an impact on the everyday routine. Running mental health sessions and building awareness and empathy is the key.
- Employee wellness – It’s not all about office parties. Gathering the team on a social level outside of work does wonders, but it’s also about listening to each person on a human level. Understand what motivates and drives them. If they feel more comfortable wearing jeans, allow them to. If they’d prefer to work from home and it’s a role that can be done from home, then let them do so.
- No nepotism – Discrimination, whether that be by race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, or any kind of prejudice, goes entirely against the Human Experience.