Always Human: The True Meaning of Human-Centred Business, with David Wales
In today’s fast-moving world, the connection between organisations and the people they serve is more strained than ever. David Wales, Founder of SharedAim Ltd and a leader in human experience, challenges many outdated beliefs about human behaviour in the workplace. These misconceptions drive a widening gap between organisational goals and fundamental human needs—creating costly and disruptive misalignments.
In his latest session, David shared invaluable insights on closing the "Human Organisation Gap" and how we can redefine business to foster more resilient, human-centred communities. Dive into the key takeaways from his talk and discover how embracing a more human approach in business is the path forward.
A Human-Centred Business Approach
There is a growing need to incorporate humanity into the way organisations operate. With so much noise in the world, vital human elements are being overlooked. The current approaches fail to align with people's needs, creating a disconnect between individuals and the systems designed to serve them.
The concept of ‘human’ is central to business. However, a misunderstanding exists about what being human truly entails. Traditional human-centred design is too narrow, and application requires a broader perspective.
In simple terms, the way we understand people is fundamentally wrong. Organisations have failed to understand the human element, and this blind spot has resulted in systemic issues. The disconnection between organisational solutions and human needs is deepening, causing risks to both business and society.
“Society works on connection, the opportunity for people to engage and talk to each other. When you take that away…there's a loneliness epidemic. That's a huge cost and… an unintended consequence of… the self-service alienating…the most vulnerable people.”
We need to go beyond just modifying these solutions and deep dive into what being human means. Organisations must intentionally focus on understanding this and how it relates to their business.
Bridging the Human-Organisation Gap
A fundamental gap exists between human traits and organisational structures because they value different things and see the world differently. The bigger the gap, the more significant the impact on people’s well-being.
The disconnect between human needs and organisational priorities leads to decreased well-being and performance, and you may see this exhibited in staff being unhappy or a rise in complaints.
Historically, organisations have held more power, and the gap has been bridged by dictating terms to employees and customers and controlling resources. In today’s evolving world, especially after COVID, this imbalance is becoming even more pronounced as people seek purpose and flexibility in their professional lives.
We still need to solve these issues.
The Complexity of Human Behaviour
Humans are complex, and organisations often try to simplify them into narrow categories such as ‘customer’ or ‘employee.’ Whilst, naturally, organisations would want to try and take away the things they are uninterested in, individuals bring their whole selves into every interaction, influenced by various external factors.
“That's the reality of humans. We are the sum. We are always whole, and we can dial down certain bits in certain situations, but if there's something worrying, you will take that into anything, and it will influence how you show up and how you behave.”
We cannot build knowledge of people by adding different things together. If this is the wrong approach, everything we're building on top of that assumption will get further away from the reality of what people are. Organisations need to acknowledge this complexity to serve people better rather than relying on rigid labels that do not fully capture the human experience.
Also, the term ‘human’ is challenging to apply in practice. When we describe being human, we talk about being a ‘human citizen’, and as a generic term, it may work at a high level, but it becomes problematic when designing interventions. Being ‘human’ involves choosing who to prioritise, which can lead to unintentional harm to others. Decision-making becomes fraught with risk without a clear organisational perspective on what being human means.
Human behaviour is influenced by various factors, including context, lived experience, and mood. These variables are unpredictable, and organisations should not strive to know everything about their employees or customers. Instead, they should accept that some aspects of human behaviour will always remain unknowable, and design processes should account for this uncertainty.
Technological Disconnect and Its Failure in Solving Human Problems
While technology is reshaping society and affecting how people interact, it also presents an opportunity for organisations to rethink how they engage with their customers and employees—especially the most vulnerable—on a deeper, more human level.
Despite advancements, technology has yet to address human challenges successfully. For example, in identification validation techniques, the progression from physical signatures to biometric data has created more significant risks and repercussions for identity theft. Organisations often find themselves in "firefighting" mode, trying to fix issues caused by a fundamental misunderstanding of human needs.
Moreover, as technology takes over more tasks traditionally performed by humans, it is changing the nature of the workforce. Humans like agency and to develop, explore and socialise. While automation can improve efficiency, it often diminishes the aspects of work that people find most fulfilling, such as decision-making, creativity, and social interaction. It will also affect human employees' capability - the more you offload to technology, the more you create dependencies and diminish skillsets. Technology can become a functional replacement for something that humans ‘used to do’.
Organisations need to consider the long-term impact of technology on their workforce and the potential risks of over-reliance on external systems.
Marketing, Branding and the Human Differentiator
With the rise of digitalisation and automation, some companies emphasise their human side as a point of differentiation in their marketing. However, this approach can feel disingenuous without clearly understanding what being human means for the organisation and its customers. It can create an almost undefinable expectation, resulting in an initial service that is off the mark and difficult to fix.
“People are putting ‘human’ in (to their marketing) because they recognise they need to differentiate. But in doing that… create an expectation and promise to your customer, your employees, and your other stakeholders that they will have a view of what that means to them. And…without defining that…creates a problem.”
Human-centred business strategies are similar to organisational culture. Organisations risk creating vague or misaligned expectations without defining what "human" means. Businesses must define and align their human values with their overall strategy to deliver meaningful experiences.
How to Reconnect Business with Humanity
Auditing language
Does the language feel human, or is it creating the opposite effect? By evaluating how we communicate, organisations can shift from merely firefighting problems caused by misunderstanding people, to a more proactive approach. This means accepting people as they are, respecting their privacy, and embedding human behaviours and needs into the design of products and services.
Align business design models with human values
This requires pushing the conversation to the forefront, as the distance between businesses and what it truly means to be human is growing. If this gap worsens, it will affect individuals and be costly for large organisations. This means creating environments where employees feel supported holistically, enabling them to focus fully on their work. When employees feel valued and supported, they bring their best selves to the table. This creates a ripple effect—better outcomes for individuals, teams, and the wider community.
Build resilient communities
Organisations are reshaping society and doing it in ways that do not fully appreciate or take responsibility for, social isolation. We want to build resilient communities where connections, trust, and resources are strong because these skills are essential in crisis management. However, many sectors are removing opportunities for human contact, eroding the skills needed to face these future challenges. Organisations must improve cross-sector communication and nurture the skills required to build resilience.
Learning from the technology sector
The technology sector has grown extraordinarily over the past 30 years, evolving from a niche product to a dominant force in nearly every aspect of life. In contrast, focusing on human needs has been around much longer, yet it hasn’t achieved the same impact. This is due mainly to a lack of amplification and collaboration. By taking a more unified approach, organisations can ensure that humanity becomes a central part of their business model, making it a fundamental aspect of their success.
As we move into the future, the organisations that will truly thrive are those that understand the importance of human connection. Let’s embrace this shift together and create a world where business and humanity coexist and flourish.
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