The Digital Age

The Faceless World: We are the most connected, but seem to have the least social culture ever

We live in a faceless world of #snapchat #instagram #facebook #tinder #twitter. Our brains get a hit of dopamine and serotonin – the chemicals linked to happiness – when our phones beep or ring.

We are in love with our ‘machines’ and more obsessed with a reaction from a mobile device than we are from each other. We have never been more disconnected from people and true interactions than we are today.

But what happens when we actually look up from our machines and take a good look around.

What do we actually see?

People in love with machines – not people in love with each other – are we becoming the machine?

Technologies make it easy, and who doesn’t love to click some ‘like’ buttons or an ‘emoji’ to represent our feelings or opinions. We ask relentlessly for feedback via ‘Online’ faceless surveys – but where is the emotion in this. Where is the passion? Where is the Human Element? What is the real voice telling us?

The Digital Age is all about high tech, digital growth and speed. Information at our finger tips, data analytics, how many times do we hear, “give me it now, give me it quicker….”

But the digital age is not just about Big Data, but also about the knowledge economy and the importance of intrinsically motivated people.

How do we utilise technology to help our people grow?

Where is the ’human touch’? Have we lost sight of this, and the importance for our natural instinct to work as communities?

Where is the real engagement, the support and commitment to our current people? The people that are inherently loyal, believe & are passionate about the success of the organisation they work within.

We expect immediate results, but often are no longer willing to put in the time and investment that requires.

Consumerisation & Speed

We want it. So we will buy it, where is the opportunity to understand what is really needed?

People are not a commodity, paying premium rates. It’s all about acquiring at speed, not sustainability.

Organisations want it now and want it ready – often leading to short term gain but longer term failure as we are not prepared to invest for the longer term, this takes ‘time’.

We talk about acquiring – we want more and more – does anyone really look at what we already have, how do we develop, how do we grow, how do we engage and inspire?

Where is the time for coaching and developing our people – we would rather pay for external support, external ‘experts’ than offering time to our own people to grow and nuture internal talent.

And that talent has never been more important than now. How are we looking after the well-being of our people?

It’s always what is next? But what about the here and now? What is actually in front of us?

We bring that expectation into the workplace. No wonder consumerisation is a top HR trend and the term Talent Consumerisation becomes a hot topic for HR.

From process-driven HR to individual-centric People Operations

Time for Change:

With our current people approach we are completely missing out on tapping into the real potential of our organisations.

We have been process focused for so long and the digital age is adding fuel to the situation. No wonder our organsations and HR departments are disconnected from people too. Even though we know that people and the way we work is the competitive factor in todays business world. In our mission statements, we are talking about our employees and their importance to our success – but the reality is a different picture. It is time we re-focused on our people and become truly people obsessed…

People Operations challenges the machine It challenges the process driven centralised mindset, it adapts and responds to the needs and requirements of the people.

People operations is not an overnight fix, it takes time.

It is not a movement but an iterative responsive way of working that requires at its core a very different mindset.

We are challenging this right now, we are getting back to basics within a digital tech business by getting to know our people and adapting accordingly.

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Amanda Bellwood is a People Operations Manager at Sky Betting and Gaming. Get in touch with Amanda here.