Are Organisations Getting Better or Worse at Understanding People?

Organisations have always been (and remain) essentially humans serving humans.

But the challenge for every organisation is working out which humans they will serve and in which way. A common approach to this problem is for organisations to categorise people according to the relationship they have with them. For example using labels such as customers, employees, partners, suppliers etc. This relationship-led approach is intended to provide an efficient and effective framework. One that provides both a clear focus as well as boundaries designed to ensure that organisations limit their interest to what are deemed to be the relevant needs, behaviours and desired outcomes of each group.

The time and resources invested in this activity should prove beneficial as there is an established correlation between the ability of an organisation to understand the people they interact with, and how successful they will be. In practical terms the results should be realised through measurable outputs such as reduced costs, higher profits and enhanced resilience.

And in theory, organisations should be better than ever at understanding people. They generate or have access to more data than ever before, whether at an individual or collective level. Alongside this, increasingly sophisticated methods to analyse, visualise and codify the insights are constantly being developed and enabled through technology.

So, given its importance and the enhanced capability available to organisations we should be well into an exciting new era of truly knowing people. But despite the good intentions and significant investments, that is not the case.

About the speaker

David Wales MSc is the Founder of SharedAim Ltd (a behavioural science consultancy) and the not for profit company, Purposefully Human (a global hub for human ways of working).

His work focuses on helping organisations understand people as they truly are. And how they can use this knowledge to create strategies, environments and processes that enhance, and not inhibit, their interaction with people.

His interest in human behaviour began in 2009 when he instigated and led a pioneering study to understand peoples response to a fire in the home. David was fascinated by what it revealed about what he now terms ‘the human-organisation gap’. And so, unexpectedly, his career began this new chapter. One which he is just as intrigued by, and passionate about, as he was then.