Put People Before Profits for Success

Every business must focus on the bottom line. No company survives without profits, of course. But if the bottom line or some other performance becomes the only priority, the consequences can be damaging over time, with the stage set for everything from internal resistance to lying and other behavior that can end up damaging the bottom line. 

The backbone of any organization is it’s people, if you want to succeed your people have to be happy, motivated, engaged, etc… People have needs and wants and other people serve those needs and wants. Once you have grasped this concept, the rest is easy to follow. If you want to meet and exceed the needs of your customers, create a working environment that is conducive to delivering that service. 

The logic runs like this: if you focus on your people and create a business culture in which everyone is aligned to the reason for being; a culture in which people have a sense of belonging and a common purpose; a culture in which people are treated with dignity, equality, respect, and fairness, then they will be inspired to motivate themselves to serve their customers with a positive attitude. 

If these past couple of years have taught businesses anything, it’s been the importance of a healthy and authentic company culture. After all, it’s what has kept teams together as they worked from their kitchen tables and zoomed in to every meeting. 

Workplace culture is the character and personality of your organization, made up of your people’s values, beliefs and traditions. It’s ultimately what brings your company to life, and together. Culture is reflected in just about everything at work: be that the office setup, employee benefits, hiring decisions, leadership or even working hours. 

Aligned, capable and engaged people will be your ultimate enablers. Your team comprised of aligned people who know what to do, capable people that can do and engaged people that want to do will enable success. 

Successful leaders know that people are their ultimate enablers and prioritize building a specific picture around what success looks like for their people firstly, knowing that this is fundamental in optimizing and maximizing the business. 

Companies win because its leaders know the difference between what they do and what business they’re in. It is said that Toyota is a people business that happens to make cars. 

Put people before profits.  People stick with companies who want them to be successful from the inside out.  When it’s all said and done, companies profit from healthy-minded people who feel valued within their organization.