Do people matter?

by Jacob JosephApril 1st, 2008 | Editorial, Issue 6 April 2008

Three ways you can hang on to your most valued resource.

Many organisations tell their employees how important they are. Why did I stress on tell? Because it seems to be the only thing they do.

In our environment, with rising inflation resulting in a higher cost of living – hanging on to your most valued resource can be challenging, as Robin Lyndhurst and Darryl Judd tell us in this issue.

Here are three principles I gathered on how to value and be valued by your most important resource.

RESPECT Treat your employees, peers and superiors with respect, from the lowest janitor to the CEO of the company. In Kathryn Semcow’s feature Better than the Boys, for example, you will see how women in the supply chain take notice when they are treated with respect. Basic humaneness pays, acknowledge that your employees are human beings first and your employees only next.
TRUST It’s not a good idea to monitor every aspect and moment of their
working day. The realisation that you trust them to do their jobs effectively without supervision will drive them to justify that faith. As Dan DeSoto with Kuehne + Nagel shares with us, managing relationships is key to the industry.
ALLOW MISTAKES It happens. Allow your employees room to make mistakes and you’ll find that they do a perfect job. Running a tight ship will only make them nervous and lead to a lot of errors. Experience is the best teacher but also the costliest one. Accepting that mistakes happen also requires having a good lawyer. Check out Jasamin Fichte’s guest column on page 60 for advice on liability. If all this sounds too preachy for one issue, please bear in mind, none of these will work if you are paying people peanuts. Find out if you’re making enough in our salary survey. In keeping with our people theme, I’m sure most of our regular readers will be delighted to know that this is the last time you will see me. From next issue on Kathryn Semcow will be sharing her thoughts on the editorial for LOG.Middle East.

Until next time,