🤔 Have you noticed how casually we refer to humans in our organizations as 'resources'?
😱 In the last few years, I notice myself getting increasingly bothered by it. I know it does for many others as well.
💥 The word 'resource' means a stock or supply of an asset that can be drawn on in order to function effectively.
👉 It is an effective term when used for time, energy, wealth, information, expertise, minerals, water, crude oil etc. etc.
👉 A resource has limits.
👉 It can be depleted, used up, run dry, or fizzle out.
👉 So far, when a resource is depleted, we just find a way to replace it with another resource.
So what happens when we refer to a human in our organizations as a 'resource'❓
How do we see them❓
What do we value in them❓
How do we treat them❓
💫 What if, instead, we thought of the humans in our organizations as a "source"?
👉 A place from which something originates and flows.
👉 A regenerative reservoir of imagination, creativity, connection, empathy, and wisdom.
📍 What becomes possible when a 'resource' is reframed as a 'source'❓
📍 What do you see now❓
📍 What do you value in them now❓
📍 How would you treat them now❓
🤔 Perhaps it is time to reframe all resources as sources?
🫶 I invite you to a generative exchange on this topic.