What’s Your People Philosophy?
Thinking back on several first-days at new companies, “vision”, “mission”, “values”, “strategy,” “goals,” “roadmaps,” and/or “blueprints” were often highlighted as part of the employee orientation and onboarding experience. This was useful information as a new team member (and helpful in ranking potential employers in a job search). As an individual, however, what was most useful and significant was how the organization proposed to treat their people — whether it was an environment one could thrive in.
More often than not, the organization’s commitment to their people got muddled in the message(s). The assortment of identity statements could be vague and confusing. Muddying things further were additional department statements/charters/missions/blueprints. These sometimes aligned — and sometimes didn’t — with the company’s overall position. Add in mergers and acquisitions of other organizations (and their version of the above word salad) and you’ve got a lot of information for an individual to keep straight. In hindsight, how useful were all those words?
Commit to a Single People Philosophy
In the interest of creating a more streamlined experience — for prospective employees, current team members, volunteers, board members, or even prospective customers and donors — what if organizations commit to a single people philosophy?
What is a People Philosophy?
A people philosophy is a statement in which the organization lays out its commitment to how its people will treat one another. These expectations need to be crystal clear. Whether in recruiting, fundraising, PR, board meetings, employee communications, prospecting, or what have you, an organization should commit to (and hold individuals accountable for) the manner in which they treat others as their group goes about its purpose.
The term “people philosophy” comes closest to the concept of values —although there are plenty of organizational values out there that have little to do with people, so it’s not interchangeable. More precisely, a people philosophy is a standard that a leader, Executive Director, people manager, board member or volunteer coordinator should refer to when determining how any course of action will affect people.
What Elements Should be Considered When Designing a People Philosophy?
Empowerment
Accountability
Inclusion
Dignity
Fairness
Communication
Opportunity to learn
Opportunity to give and get feedback
Who's Responsible for Upholding the People Philosophy?
An organization's people philosophy (and adherence to it) should be communicated clearly and often, its tenets made part of individual evaluations, and incorporated into formal and informal feedback. The philosophy applies to:
Executives
Board members
Volunteer leaders
People managers
Individual team members
Volunteers
—in short, everyone.
What Should a People Philosophy Look Like?
Long, detailed people philosophies are great when it come to painting a clear picture of intent. However, shorter, more concise statements are easier to remember and apply consistently. Written people policies, as well as spoken and written communications from leadership, provide opportunities for adding more details and examples.
Here’s a Sample People Philosophy:
Fictitious Foreign Films commits to building a safe work environment where each person can:
Be their best and true self
Listen to and help each other
Act with empathy and fairness
We will demonstrate our people philosophy in our decisions and actions.
How Do I Build a People Philosophy?
We’ll address this in next week’s post.