The Ethiconomics approach here is simple; your people ARE your business.
In some cases the product and/or service, the brand or the market influence can make it appear that people are not needed for business success. This is quite simply both naïve and untrue.
It is your people that deliver your business. At some point you will be interacting with customers and they are people too! It is your staff that answer the phone, go to the meetings, answer the queries, deliver the brand, come up with innovations. If you require efficiency and productivity, it is engagement of all your people that will produce it.
A brand and unique product will only last for so long and go so far. A brand will not go the extra mile, your people will. The values of your business are ultimately what differentiates you.
Investment in people is critical to Ethiconomics. Ideas and solutions come from people. Profits are the results. If you want better results, look to your people. You cannot know or do everything yourself. A good leader listens and a successful one acts upon this.
Only by ensuring that your values are truly understood and integrated into every possible activity of your business will you guide and encourage your people to follow and to grow. In far too many cases we see training and personal development as the first items cut from the budget; this is short-sighted and unproductive in the long term.
See your people as an asset and not an expense and you will soon see the difference in performance and returns.
Ethiconomics 