Transcript – Marshall Henley of Beza Performance interviews Randal Weidenaar of VP Culture

Randal Weidenaar, organizational psychologist and the founder of VP Culture, was interviewed by performance consultant, Marshall Henley, President of Beza Performance in 2022. The discussion led to a question regarding the potential for disruption when the primary focus is on valuing people vs. lagging indicators of performance, like financial results.

Click here for to start the interview at 13:34 where this question is asked.

The transcript of this excerpted portion appears below.

Gartner: Employees Seek Personal Value and Purpose at Work. Be Prepared to Deliver.

“Bottom line: People seek purpose in their lives — and that includes work. The more an employer limits those things that create this sense of purpose, the less likely employees will stay at their positions. The era of the employment contract, where a worker provided services purely in exchange for monetary compensation, is over. Now, employees expect deeper relationships, a strong sense of community and purpose-driven work.”

People or Profits?

“I like to point to Southwest Airlines who’s had this philosophy for a long time… always had this “people first” kind of mentality… valuing people first. [Southwest] entered into a mature industry 60 years ago… such a tight margin of financial success…[that the industry has] posted a net loss in [the last] 50 years… But in that 60 years [Southwest]… has thrived… with that philosophy of valuing people first. “

Harvard Business Review: The Value of Belonging at Work

“Bottom line: People seek purpose in their lives — and that includes work. The more an employer limits those things that create this sense of purpose, the less likely employees will stay at their positions. The era of the employment contract, where a worker provided services purely in exchange for monetary compensation, is over. Now, employees expect deeper relationships, a strong sense of community and purpose-driven work.”