Most of us work with smart phones as dumb users. In fact, we use hardly two to five percent of the features a device offers. Most of us will agree, will you? This is true of most devices we buy at a substantial cost. We end up getting only a small part of the benefits that we could have got. We give up on the value it offers. You will say, not at all right from a business point of view and I fully agree. Do not lose heart though; we are only talking about a thing, not people. The good thing about being a mobile handset is the person handling you gives you his full attention. Notice that any person on his mobile device, focuses on his screen whether he is reading, chatting or talking, he is giving full attention.

How different is it with people we work with? Yes, I am talking about purpose of course. We come together for a purpose, especially at work.

When we come together as different people, we come together for a purpose. We form groups, teams, task-forces, divisions, departments, businesses and so on.

Most of us also operate in this environment much the same way as we operate our devices.

So do we utilize more than five percent of the potential of our fellow beings for the purpose that brings us together? Let me ask you a question…

When you speak to your people, do you give them the same attention and focus on them the same way you when using your mobile phone? Do you look at them the same way you look at your mobile screen?

How many leaders pay attention to their people when they speak to them?

Look, around you when in the field, you find the sales person and manager glued to their respective screens.

We deliver sessions, addresses and people sit in silence, supposedly paying attention.

Many managers say meetings are monologues. Are we getting any inputs from people if they do not have the right to speak their opinions?

A smart phone gets full attention because we look at the screen. A dumb user also looks and responds to changes on the screen. Yet when we operate with other human beings, we do not give them the time and attention to notice what changes occur in their expressions, emotions and thoughts. Thus, we fail to touch their hearts. No surprise then, we hardly get the response we desire. If you want results, touch hearts like you touch screens on your phones gently and with care. Working with a human being is far more complex than working with a hand held smart device. Let us learn to touch hearts and unleash the magic in our people.

Holding hands in tough times will lead to major victories. It is true “Tough times don’t last; tough people do” more important

“People you help in tough times will be with you all the time”