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Who here has heard the
term human resources?
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Who here has used the
term human resources?
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Who here thinks they know what
the term human resources means?
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Yeah.
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Many times when we talk
about human resources,
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we're talking about that
function in an organization that
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handles the people stuff.
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And what I'm here to
talk to you about today
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in putting the human back
into human resources,
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I'm here to talk to you about
infusing more humanity back
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into the workplace for
those human beings who
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happen to be employees.
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You're going to hear me today
use the word humanly a lot.
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And when I have conversations
with people about this subject,
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that word often gets fed
back to me as humanely.
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And so let me be really
clear on what I mean
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by humanly versus humanely.
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To me, when employers are
treating employees humanely,
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they're providing them bathroom
breaks and water fountains.
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To me, for employers to
treat employees humanly,
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it's to address the very
human needs, such as the need
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to be appreciated,
the need to belong,
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and the need to feel
like you're making
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a meaningful contribution.
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Now, what does that look like?
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20 years ago, I worked at a
chemical plant in West Virginia.
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And I was a project
team leader implementing
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a module of SAP software.
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Some of you may
have heard of it,
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and it was the raw
materials module.
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And many of the people on my
team were shop floor employees.
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That means they were the people
on the shop floor handling
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the chemicals.
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And one of them came
to me and asked me
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if I would help him develop
so he could advance.
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He wanted to get promoted.
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And I was thrilled to hear this.
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Now, this is interesting
because, at the same time,
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at this point in time, shop
floor employees were not
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viewed as people who
had hopes and dreams
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and who wanted to
learn and grow.
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And so I was more
than glad to help him.
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I talked with his supervisor.
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He didn't report
directly to me, and I got
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his supervisor's permission.
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And at the same time, I made
the same offer to anyone else
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on my team who was interested
in developing and growing
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in order to advance.
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And three more people
took me up on that.
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Now, let's fast
forward a few years.
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Three out of those
four people got
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promoted into exempt positions.
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One started traveling the
world as an SAP consultant,
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another became a
supervisor, and a third
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became a highly valued SAP
resource within his division.
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That third one is
particularly close to my heart
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because, when I started
at that chemical plant,
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he was sweeping the
floors in my building.
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Now, you might be wondering,
Mary, what did you do?
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I didn't really
do anything fancy
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that you couldn't find
in any management book.
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I think what I might have done
a little differently was I
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believed in these people.
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And when human beings
are treated in a way
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that they are capable of more,
they rise to the occasion.
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So that was a nice story.
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And is there a really--
there's a problem here, Mary,
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that needs a remedy?
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Yes, there is.
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The Gallup organization--
among other things,
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the Gallup organization studies
corporations, employment,
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and employee engagement.
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And in their 2013 report on the
state of the American workforce,
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they tell us that 70% of
the American workforce
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is disengaged,
with 20% described
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as actively disengaged.
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That's a whole lot
of human beings
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who are not getting their
needs met, such as the need
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to be appreciated,
the need to belong,
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and the need to be making
a meaningful contribution.
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I've been in business
for years now.
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And when it comes to
putting meeting human needs,
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as I'm describing them
to you as a priority,
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it tends to take a back seat.
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And I find that curious
because when any of us
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are stewards of an
asset like a car,
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we wouldn't think of not
giving a car what it needs,
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denying a car what
it needs in order
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to work at peak performance.
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Why would we treat our human
resources any other way?
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Again, this isn't
just a nice story
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that I'm telling
you and a nice idea,
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treating more people humanely.
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It has bottom line
business impact.
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Researchers have shown
that when human needs are
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met for employees at work,
the more they are met,
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the higher the engagement.
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Engagement, meaning that
people want to be there
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and they are willing to
go the extra mile even
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when nobody is looking.
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Higher engagement has
been positively correlated
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to increased profitability.
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What's that worth to us?
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Well, here's one thing I know.
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Again, that Gallup
study I was describing,
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they also tell us that through
unskilled and unqualified
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managers at work, they're
impacting their organizations
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by $450 billion to $550
billion worth of productivity
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annually by undermining
employee engagement.
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Yes, that was billion with a B.
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But I'm not here to spout
statistics to you today.
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I want to talk to you about
what Any of you here listening
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to me today can do about this.
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And I understand if
you may be having
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a reaction something like this.
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Mary, if you think
that I'm going
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to impact some big organization,
that is way over my head.
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That's got to come
from the top-down.
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Or you might simply
be thinking, Mary, you
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can't make people who don't
already value people suddenly
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value people.
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And you know what, I get that.
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What I want to ask
you today is to let
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your own experience guide you.
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And I want you to take a moment
to think about a time at work
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when you were made
to feel good, or you
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made someone else feel good.
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I have a friend who told
me he had a manager who
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used to check in with him every
day, and he really meant it.
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This man remembers
this from 20 years ago.
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You can have that kind
of impact on people.
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I have a friend who has a
colleague who brings her coffee
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to her desk occasionally.
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He tells her it's because
she looks like she needs it.
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She says it makes her
feel someone noticed me.
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I belong.
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I'm seen.
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And you can do this even if
you're not in the workforce.
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I stood in a grocery
line one time,
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and as a disgruntled customer
in front of me moved away.
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I told the cashier she had
handled him really well.
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And by the expression
on her face,
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I saw that she felt
seen and appreciated.
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And that's all we really want,
as human beings, is to be seen.
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We are feeling beings.
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We want to feel
appreciated, like we belong
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and like we can
make a difference.
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You don't have to be a project
manager like I was in order
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to believe in someone.
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So what I want to ask you today
is to make a commitment with me
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to take the responsibility to
honor someone's worth at work.
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And I know this is not just a
commitment that I'm suggesting.
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This doesn't happen suddenly,
but it's also a journey.
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And through your
journey, I hope you
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come to see this
vision in action
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and see it bring its
power to reality.
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Thank you.
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[APPLAUSE]
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