The Secret of Christmas
Published; Newsday December 24, 2001

RICHARD JOSEPH
GENERAL MANAGER,
CARIBBEAN BUSINESS SERVICES LIMITED

"The secret of Christmas is not the things we do on Christmas day, but the Christmas things we do all year through." These words from an old popular Christmas song are well worth keeping in mind as we motivate our employees (colleagues and associates in a more politically correct language) to meet the challenges of the information age.

Many companies tend to do a little extra for their employees in the Christmas season. There are long services awards, parties, lunches, hampers, and Christmas bonuses. Though many employees welcome and enjoy this attention, I have come across those who are cynical and see these activities as an insincere attempt to compensate for wrongs done during the earlier part of the year.

Can a company achieve it's full potential if there is distrust between employees and managers? Hardly likely as the knowledge economy develops. According to Peter Drucker in a survey published in the Economist magazine, "the knowledge workers, collectively, are the new capitalists. Knowledge has become the key resource, and the only scarce one. This means to say that knowledge workers collectively own the means of production." What is a knowledge worker? In my view a knowledge worker is anyone who knows something that is needed for a company's smooth operation. Some companies restrict their definition to managers and technocrats. My view is broader as I previously worked in a company where the tea lady, a long standing and trusted employee, was an important factor in maintaining the Executive Chairman's equilibrium. Her absolutely essential expertise was in knowing the correct temperature for serving his coffee and lunch. Things became unstuck when she was not around.

As companies become more lean and tightly run, all employees become knowledge workers, and essential parts of a team.

According to Drucker, knowledge is in shorter supply than capital, and we have seen the situation develop in the USA where finance has been relatively inexpensive and easy to come by, whereas the cost of brainpower has skyrocketed. Locally, we have a shortage of skills together with a high level of unemployment and high liquidity in the banking sector.

In most cases, the right person for the job is not available on demand, as a company has to go though an expensive recruitment and development process, so that there is a considerable investment made in each employee.

A company that is rich in knowledge soon develops strong systems to use that knowledge effectively. When there is widespread adherence to the requirements of the system, the company would have developed a positive culture. Knowledge employees and a positive culture is an investment that continues to grow and create more and more success.

Should we take the risk of only recognising our employees at Christmas? Doing that is similar to running an expensive machine without maintaining it. No matter how humble the job we must genuinely care for our employees. This should not be just lip service as employees do have a clear understanding of whether they are respected and cared for by their management. If the company pursues its own interests selfishly, the employees will do the same, and the company will never reach its full potential.

So for the New Year, let us take a fresh look at our relationships, and ensure that in our business dealings we treat everyone with dignity and respect as we are all important components of future success.