We work in a world of complexity and velocity, but the essential instrument we use to achieve progress people has not advanced in terms of its productive capacity like the computers and other electronic tools we leverage. We can, though, optimize the conditions people work in and under to improve productivity and also personal fulfillment. Those two, to be sustainably optimized, go hand-in-hand.

The 19th and 20th centuries saw extraordinary advances in technology. The lifestyle of someone from 1850 to 1950 was unbelievably different with electric lights and running hot water becoming normal in homes, motor cars, televisions, and air travel becoming accessible for all in the developed world; these were unimaginable at the beginning of those hundred years and became ubiquitous by the end of it. Since then, the speed of technological progress has only increased, helped by Moore’s law and electronic advancement.

The essential instrument we use to achieve progress people has not advanced in terms of its productive capacity like the computers and other electronic tools we leverage

What has remained unchanged throughout this period though is our abilities as humans. While we have more understanding of technology’s possibilities and capacities, humans as agents of change are no different from our ancestors in 1850 or for that matter 1850 BC. More importantly, we respond to the same stimuli and are worn down by the same exertions as our forebears. The Taj Mahal is as stunningly beautiful to us today as it was when Ustad Ahmed Lahouri designed it in the 1630s, the music of Mozart as compelling as it was in the 1770s, the feats of Hannibal’s army crossing the Alps still as astonishing now as they were in 218 BC.

It is therefore surprising that we, as humans, continue to struggle to create conditions where people can work happily, fulfilling, and productively consistently. The root cause probably lies in the Taylorist thinking of the early twentieth century, when productivity gains were achieved by time-and-motion studies, and workers were considered as just units of resources to be deployed like machinery. As noted above, this achieved astonishing advances then, but today we require something more nuanced from our workers. The majority work in service industries where output is less easily measured, it is rarely a question of widgets per hour these days. Added value comes in the form of better customer service, innovative solutions, and designs, better insights, and slicker, and more efficient processes. These are rarely achieved by cracking the whip and making people focus for longer (though that can work in the short term).

Our sense of attachment to others, or our fear of not being attached, is critical to our sense of self and ability to perform.

These gains in achieving added value come from people working together more collaboratively, sometimes more experimentally, and as we have seen so clearly this year, do not require the close supervision that the office environment brought.

Through several projects I have been involved in this year, it has become ever clearer to me that several common themes keep coalescing to point towards some core concepts which enable both greater value-adding productivity and happier workforces.

Last year I spent time in Kenya with the Maasai learning how they have sustained a cohesive culture over centuries; my guide was Anthony Willoughby, a veteran traveler, and thinker, who has lived with nomads in Mongolia and Papua New Guinea amongst other places. Through countless conversations with traditional peoples, Anthony has identified that a common thread amongst them is their clarity and humility. Anthony tells of Sir Joseph Nombri, who became Papua New Guinea’s ambassador to Japan in the 1980s, and started his life in a remote, jungle village cut off from the rest of the world. He was clear that the route to his tribe’s success was their absolute understanding of their territory, it was learned from the earliest days of childhood and grew as they grew. It gave everyone within the tribe a sense of their place, their role, and what needed to be done to keep the tribe functioning effectively. That is the clarity that they all held, and it made everyone from the topman down, realise they individually were of less importance than the tribe itself. And so, a deep sense of purpose and humility was alive within every member. This was also very clear in the Maasai people I met last year it is an endemic characteristic in all traditional societies, and it is part of what has allowed them to continue to exist over the centuries.

 People work better, more productively, and more happily, when they have clarity, structure, and discipline, in equal measure with fairness, nurture, and care

It is something that is so often missing in many workplaces; it thrives and pulses in small start-ups but as they grow in size and complexity, little-by-little people become more detached from the whole, as their role diminishes in size about that whole. This is ultimately dispiriting and prevents people from achieving the best for the organization. If you do not see the organizational goals and objectives clearly, it is unlikely you will be able to direct your work toward achieving them.

I have also been working with Prof Paul Brown, who has written many times for this publication, on a new online neuroscience program. The core idea of this program is to allow managers to better understand how all our thinking, as rational and logical as we like to think it may be, comes with emotions attached. Paul explains it in more detail, but put very simply, all inputs to the brain come through the reptilian and mammalian parts of our brain, before being processed by our executive brain. The reptilian brain reacts within 85 milliseconds, some 155 milliseconds before the executive brain is consciously aware of these thoughts. During this time emotions, drawn from the 8 primary ones: fear, anger, disgust, sadness, shame, and surprise, joy, and trust, become attached and we respond accordingly. Attached is the critical word, as our sense of attachment to others, or our fear of not being attached, is critical to our sense of self and ability to perform. This is why organizations are so focused on building trust, it is an essential precondition for performance and yet remains tantalizingly difficult to foster.

The main reason for this is that trust, as is well noted, is an outcome, not an input. You cannot ‘do’ trust, you have to ‘do’ other behaviors that allow people to then trust you. This is part of the underpinning of the Scottish Leadership Institute, a new organization looking to help organizations become more aware of the benefits of good leadership practice, and what that looks like and assist them in finding the best people to partner with to enable that. In February this year, Bob Chapman, the CEO of Barry-Wehmiller Industries, and ranked 3rd best CEO in the world by Inc magazine, came to Scotland to share his experiences and insights on leading a people-centered organization. Chapman and his approach have attracted the likes of Simon Sinek, Raj Sisodia, and droves of Harvard professors to analyze and eulogize his methods. In February he shared with the Scottish Leadership Institute his Truly Human Leadership philosophy to a receptive audience of students and business leaders alike.

The common theme through all these different engagements is that people work better, more productively, and more happily when they have clarity, structure, and discipline, in equal measure with fairness, nurture, and care which just happens to be the Scottish Leadership Institute’s watchwords Ensuring that your organization is people-centered, is not sufficient in itself you need to have the right strategy and good execution amongst other things. But if you treat your people right, from the Maasai to Barry-Wehmiller Inc the proof is there that you can prosper and be resilient in good