Though we’re all human, companies can sometimes lose sight of this, prioritizing profit over genuine connection and creating environments where people feel detached from what truly matters to them. Ultimately, this approach is unsustainable; sooner or later, these companies find themselves needing to overhaul their employee or customer experience strategies.
But what does building a truly human-centred company look like in practice? How can we design organizations that not only resonate deeply with the human experience but also drive exceptional business results along the way?
The research for my second book, Human Experience at Work (2021), took me to some incredible companies that have consciously connected to the human experience as a strategic imperative. Though enlightening, I often found these cases to require a level of commitment to human-centricity that is scarcely believable.
We can often judge a company by its highest priorities and my research has uncovered some common themes amongst the most admired, respected and trusted brands I have worked with. One of those themes is the human-being. They are, without any doubt, at the heart of these organizations. Indeed, they are the organization, and it profoundly feels that way.
Here’s a breakdown of what my research revealed, the actions that follow, and what I’d consider to be the highest priorities for intentionally strategizing and developing admired, respected and trusted brands:
1. Cultivating Deep Relationships
Priority: Enabling robust connections that are authentic and meaningful across the company. This means creating relationships rooted in trust, empathy, and vulnerability at all levels of the business structure and outside of it.
Do This: Create spaces and places for employees to spend quality time with family, friends, and colleagues, and be intentional about connecting with others.
2. Pursuing Self-Understanding and Inner Peace
Priority: Taking time to help enable people to get to know themselves within and beyond the context of the organization. This means a much deeper exploration of a person’s Truth – their unique purpose, their mission, and their values. An exceptional life is one where people are at peace with who they are and what they do.
Do This: Reflect regularly on this point: how is your company helping to address internal conflicts that people face in the human experience? Are you helping employees to explore who they really are and creating opportunities for them to experience peace and true alignment with your brand?
3. Prioritizing Health and Well-Being
Priority: Physical, mental, and emotional well-being create the foundation for a life rich with possibilities and resilience.
Do This: Enable a healthy workforce - it's good for the soul of people and business. Is your company committed to helping employees exercise regularly, nourish their body with balanced meals, and encourage practices like mindfulness, meditation or therapy to maintain strong mental health?
4. Embracing Curiosity and Lifelong Learning
Priority: Expanding knowledge, curiosity and skills across the company, as learning stimulates growth and keeps life intriguing for people.
Do This: Co-create opportunities for new hobbies to emerge, reading, and experiences that push boundaries and encourage growth.
5. Living with Purpose and Impact
Priority: Help employees to identify a purpose that feels personally meaningful, whether through career, creative pursuits, or contributions to others.
Do This: Cultivate organizational goals that align people with purpose - this is the employee experience jackpot – a place where companies and people meet to produce remarkable results. As a person or company, the key to this is to make a positive impact on the lives of others.
6. Practicing Gratitude and Positivity
Priority: Adopt a grateful approach to business that allows people to appreciate the beauty of life and maintain optimism during difficult times. Too busy for that? Think again.
Do This: Start, maintain or elevate regular gratitude and appreciation practices across the company, help people to find joy in small things, and make an effort to reframe company challenges as opportunities.
7. Embracing Flexibility and Adaptability
Priority: Life’s uncertainties require the ability to adapt and shift. Embrace change as a way to grow rather than a disruption, and here’s the big thing: nothing stands still, change is a constant, and not a project programme to manage.
Do This: Actively develop co-creation at all levels, stay open to new ideas, and view setbacks as learning experiences.
8. Creating a Legacy of Kindness and Generosity
Priority: An exceptional human experience includes positively impacting others, whether in small acts or grand gestures.
Do This: Give time, support, or resources to causes and people you believe in, and aim to leave the world a little better.
9. Balancing Ambition with Contentment
Priority: Aim high but remember to savour where you are now. Balance striving for future goals with gratitude for the present.
Do This: Recognize achievements, appreciate the present moment, and avoid letting ambitious corporate goals cloud an appreciation of life and company moments that matter.
10. Nurturing a Connection with Nature
Priority: The natural world offers a sense of peace, wonder, and grounding, essential to a holistic human experience.
Do This: Encourage an outdoors routine, an appreciation for nature, and engage in sustainable practices across the business. We’re human, the Earth is our home, and we must protect it at all costs.
Summary
These priorities, as I’ve found from all of my employee experience research to date, resonate deeply with both our hearts and minds, tapping into the essence of genuine human connection. While many companies still focus on traditional approaches like employee engagement and short-term, company-centred initiatives, they overlook the potential of the human experience to foster more meaningful and lasting relationships across the organization. As a result, they miss out on a powerful, sustainable impact on long-term business success.
Companies that disregard the human experience may see short-term gains, but their success will be fleeting. The leading organizations of today and tomorrow have no choice but to put the human experience at the forefront of business if they want to remain scalable, profitable, and truly productive.
Ben Whitter is the author of the ground-breaking book, Employee Experience (2019).
Employee Experience Strategy (2023) and Human Experience at Work (2021) completed his experience trilogy, which was published globally by Kogan Page.
Following the success of his first book, Ben was named one of the top emerging management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50 in 2021, recognized for his "compelling" research on employee experience (EX). He was also a top 8 global finalist for the prestigious Distinguished Achievement Award in Talent, which was won by Reed Hastings of Netflix.
Ben is widely credited for pioneering and popularizing the concept of employee experience worldwide. In 2021 he was named as one of the Most Influential HR Thinkers by HR Magazine and one of the top 30 global keynote speakers for workplace culture by Global Gurus. His work has reached 18 million people, inspired the first EX conferences, and has been featured in publications including The Times, The Telegraph, Forbes, The Financial Times, The Economist, and MIT Sloan.
A prolific global keynote speaker on human and employee experience topics, Ben has introduced his ideas to audiences in more than 40 countries.
KEYNOTE SERVICES: To book Ben for a keynote speech (virtual or in-person) at your company, please contact us for availability.
COACHING & LEARNING: You can join the next public and virtual HEX Practitioner Programme here. 3 months access, live coaching and content on employee experience with Ben Whitter.