What Happens When You Start Treating Your Team Like Humans
Why Your Team Deserve Better Than Being Called 'Resources'
After 30 years in business, I've learned something the hard way: the spreadsheet view of people will kill your company faster than any market downturn.
I see it everywhere: in board meetings, strategy documents even in my own earlier choice of words. "We need more resources for Q3." "Our utilisation is down." "Let's optimise our capacity." Blimey, we sound like we're running a factory floor, not leading smart minds.
I learned from one of the brilliant leaders I have worked with: behind every deliverable, every late night, every "yes, we can make that deadline" is a real person. Someone with a mortgage, kids who ask why Dad or Mum is always on their laptop, dreams that extend far beyond your quarterly targets.
The Penny Dropped for Me
A few years ago, Coralie from our development team stayed until 11 PM fixing a critical bug that could have cost us a major client. The next morning, I caught up with her and said some bullshit corporate jargon to thank her.
She looked at me rather like I had just called her pet goldfish an 'aquatic asset.'
That moment still makes me wince. Here is someone who had given up her evening, probably missed putting her daughter to bed, solved a problem that saved our bacon and I reduced her to a resource. I felt like a right ass hole.
We've Got This All Wrong
I get it. Numbers matter. Utilisation charts help with planning. But somewhere along the way, we've started managing people like we manage office supplies.
The truth is messier and far more interesting: your team are not interchangeable units. Jacks's ability to spot user experience problems isn't the same as Lisa's. Jenny's knack for calming anxious clients isn't something you can just hire another "resource" to replicate.
When we strip away their humanity, we lose what makes them brilliant. That instinct to go the extra mile isn't in their job description, it comes from caring. The innovation that keeps us competitive? That emerges from people who feel trusted enough to take risks.
What Actually Drives Results
I have have run teams where everyone did exactly what was asked and nothing more. Productivity looked good on paper. Projects got delivered on time, on budget and on spec. Sadly, they were utterly forgettable.
Then I hae worked with teams where people felt genuinely valued. Where their opinion mattered. Where they knew I saw them as whole humans not just the bit that turns up from 9 to 5.30.
Guess which teams delivered work that clients still rave about five years later?
The difference is not talent though we have got plenty of that. It is whether people feel like partners in something meaningful or just cogs keeping the machine turning.
The Small Stuff That Makes All the Difference
These days, I try to remember:
Ask about their weekend before asking about their workload. Be human! Just because you have pressures, speak to them as fellow humans. Turns out people rather appreciate being seen as humans with lives outside our office.
When someone does excellent work, tell them why it mattered. Not just "well done", but "that solution you found saved us three weeks and really impressed the client."
Include them in decisions that affect their work. They are closer to the problems than I am. Their insights usually beat my assumptions.
Own up when I've made a fooking mistake. It's remarkable how much respect you earn by being human rather than pretending to be the infallible managing director.
Remember they have ambitions beyond making me look good. Career conversations should not only happen during annual reviews. In fact, have an open door policy at all times so they can approach you on their terms.
A Message to Other Managing Directors, CEO's or whatever we want to call ourselves
If you are reading this and thinking "sounds lovely, but we've got targets to hit", I understand completely. I've been there and I still am. The pressure from above is real. The competition is fierce. The margins are tight.
But here is what I have learned: treating people as humans isn't the fluffy alternative to driving results. It's how you drive better results.
The teams that go above and beyond, that spot opportunities you missed, that clients specifically ask to work with again, they are not following a process manual. They're people who give a damn because they feel part of something worthwhile.
To My Team (and Anyone Thinking of Joining Us)
If you are reading this, you know who you are. You're the reason clients trust us with projects that matter to them. You're why we can promise quality and actually deliver it. You're why I sleep well at night knowing we've got tomorrows challenges covered.
You're not resources. You're not capacity. You're not utilisation metrics.
You are the people who turn my half-baked crazy ideas into solutions that work. Who spot the problems I miss. Who care about getting it right, not just getting it done.
And frankly, you deserve better than being called a resource.
The Bottom Line
Thirty years in, I'm still learning. But this much I know: businesses do not succeed because of fab marketing, clever strategies or efficient processes. They succeed because real people choose to do their best work together.
Treat your team like the remarkable humans they are and they will help you build something remarkable.
Treat them like resources, and you'll get exactly that, a resource. Nothing more, nothing less.
I know which one builds a company worth being proud of.
If you're a founder or leadership team who could use some experienced technical guidance – whether that's sorting out your architecture, getting compliant with regulations, or just building things properly from the start – look me up at Go Tripod for a chat