This post originally appeared on LinkedIn in November 2021.
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post on things that make me die inside. Referring to people as “resources” is one of them.
Since that post, this topic keeps entering my life. I attended an excellent talk by Chris Stone called “Humans are not Resources, Change my Mind.” And I was introduced to people being more than “widgets” in a discussion called “Rethinking the Manager Role” from the Central Ohio Agile Association.
Clearly I’m not the only one who thinks people ≠ resources. So why is this mentality pervasive in organizations?
Here’s my take: calling people a “resource” dehumanizes them. And dehumanizing people makes them easier to deal with.
People are messy. They have their own thoughts, feelings, abilities, and motivations. Learning about and then acting in their best interests can be challenging. Not to mention what arises when you put people together as a team.
Instead, if you reduce people to letters and numbers on a spreadsheet – to “resources” – things become much easier.
You don’t have to think about how the resource feels as you assign them to a project. It’s not your responsibility to care if the resource will find growth on the team that needs someone with their title. You just need to make sure the budget lines up at the end of each quarter. And that leadership is feeling comfortable with your risk management plan.
Here’s the thing: it’s not actually about what we call people. It’s about how we treat them.
Calling people a “resource” is just a symptom of a mindset that reduces three-dimensional beings to pawns on a chess board. Getting to know people, allowing them to make their own decisions, letting them make mistakes and learn from them, and fostering a culture of belonging – this takes time.
And it’s so worth it.
Next time you’re faced with making a decision about a person, try to catch yourself performing any distancing behavior and reflect on why that’s happening. Then do the right thing, even if it’s the hard thing. Ask the person how they feel.
What do you think?
Photo by Agni B on Unsplash.