We Need Chief Decent Human Behavior Officers

There’s a wave of nuanced attention in modern organizations (especially in tech) for the people officer — positions that focus on issues of employee engagement, growth, development, and well-being.

Pre-pandemic, companies were no longer places where simply showing up and doing the work was enough.

This shifting landscape took longer than necessary.

Companies are waking up to the human elements that lead their mission and vision, because people create value, not businesses. Eighty percent of an organization’s budget is tethered to talent (people), so human beings are a great place to target energy and attention.

Especially over these 21+ months, ideas like proximity to the office, PTO, break room snacks, and other “benefits” no longer cut it.

I’m not sure they ever did.

One for all and all for one

The spaces between people, projects, and processes have become more pronounced. They extend well beyond organizational hierarchy, which we most routinely understand as reporting structures and workflow.

That’s not a full picture of organizational life. There are crossover projects, inter-departmental communications, organization-wide strategic plans — and it’s even more substantial than that.

In most companies, even against the backdrop of a formal structure, there are informal, unseen, and often under-utilized exchanges between many tiers of the hierarchy. Those things appear as core values or organizational culture, like the CEO who acknowledges when a worker completes a big project, has a new baby, or finishes grad school — all those between spaces that exist even (and especially) when we don’t see them.

Little energy is spent in those spaces, sometimes none at all. Organizations are systems, and to truly see those spaces we must zoom out and examine the whole.

Zooming out is a task for Chief Decent Human Behavior Officers

Chief Decent Human Behavior Officers (CDHBO) focus on those often-overlooked spaces, because organizational life is difficult when there isn’t anyone thinking about everyone.

From a practical perspective, focusing on the between spaces can profoundly impact the work we do. Research shows that employee engagement can bolster business outcomes — over 70% of leaders agree.

Some things about CDHBOs warrant clarifying before addressing the traits that make them great:

• It doesn’t matter what you call them — people officers, employee engagement directors, managers of people and growth, etc. — as long as you have someone focused on the right things.
• While a CDHBO may be one, singular role, it can be profoundly impactful for different teams and departments to identify their own CDHBO to keep track of, and encourage, those between spaces.
• Wherever and however you plant CDHBOs, it should be formally acknowledged so entire the organization — or individual teams — know where to turn when, or if, they need to.

There are four traits that make for exceptional CDHBOs:

They have passion. CDHBOs love people and seeing them perform at their best. There are 100+ things on which you can train an employee, but passion is not one of them. The idea of building a better organization from the inside-out is mission critical to them, and it’s personal.

They listen. Listening is a metaphysical act, compared to hearing which is physiological. CDHBOs tune out the noise and practice active, empathetic, generative listening. “Listening is more than waiting patiently for one’s turn to speak,” suggests Bradley Baurain, and that type of listening comes from a place of deep understanding and care.

They are jovial. CDHBOs usually have a smile on their face. They don’t take themselves too seriously, because work is hard enough by itself. The between spaces at work are sometimes even harder, so a light spirit is a perfect ingredient to encourage organizations’ people to be exceptional.

They are consistent. You get the same version of CDHBOs every day. They are emotionally tuned in and have a unique sense of depth, and they are steadfast in how they work within and around an organization. That steadiness exudes competence, which is organizational currency at its finest.

Last words

When bringing on new colleagues, we often talk about hiring first for culture, then for skill. Sage advice, and difficult to practice in real life, but you can start at the beginning by crafting a list of values.

Though that list might be miles long, what we really value is our most important assets: our people.

People are the foundation of the space between the work we do. As modern organizations continue to evolve beyond the pandemic and other contemporary challenges, CDHBOs will be a transformative utility to help us see those spaces more clearly.