Adding Value in the best way

Adding value is a goodwill gesture, where the supplier of a product or service provides a bonus to the customer or client. It is a concept that works well in the economic world by giving a person or organisation the edge in the marketing and business worlds. It is an important criteria for end users when considering a particular product. Business owners and work employers are often looking for ways to add value to their business so that they will attract more clients.

From an end users perspective, the question is often asked: Where will I get the best value for money? This may be in relation to choosing a product, a service, a school or a sporting or some other group. Invariably, people will choose the place where they can get the best value for money.

Value adding is seen generally in terms of products: if you sign up now, you will get the extra set of steak knives! And it works. People (especially me) don’t want to miss out on a bargain. We like to think that we are able to acquire the most with our money.

Adding value is also viewed as important by many employees in their workplaces – they want to do the best job, and perhaps work through lunch breaks and beyond knock-off time in order to get through more work or perhaps to gain the approval of the bosses or to place themselves in a better position to get that promotion. Value adding has become commonplace in the work force where workers feel obliged to work beyond the terms of their work contract and employers want to employ people whom they believe will give more – add value – to the business.

We have come to apply the Value Adding concept to products and services but what if value adding was all about valuing people rather than products? What would it be like if a workplace valued its staff more than the outcomes of a particular day, week or month?

For many people, if a person is not particularly useful to them, they are no longer interested in the person. We have moved in the general direction of “What’s in it for me?” in our world, and this is often contained within the notion of value adding. There is nothing wrong with this, and we obviously need to achieve outcomes and get the best deals that we can. The problem, as I see it, is when the person is viewed as secondary to the product, and the question: “What’s in it for you?” is omitted.

What would it be like to value people more for who they are and not for what they can do for you? What would it be like to go to work and have your boss genuinely interested in you, and valuing you because you chose to work at this particular workplace?

If value adding is more than achieving a higher number of outcomes or offering more products for the dollar value, what is it?

What does valuing others look like?

We value others when we pay attention to them; when we give them our full attention when they are talking, rather than keeping an eye on the phone at the same time, or continuing to read the paper or send emails. It is pretty hollow to say that we value our relationships or our colleagues when we continue to focus on our own agendas and when we fail to take time to listen to the people we claim to value. We value others when we notice them, and pay attention to the highs and lows in their lives as they may become known to us. We value others when we ask “What about them?” ahead of “What about me?”

When people feel valued, they want to produce their best, and it follows that there is value adding in the output of their work. In summary, when we value people first, value adding to the industry follows.

Valuing others and paying attention to them is the greatest gift we can offer them, and is the very best way to add value to a business, school or workplace.

Margaret welcomes your comments. You may have your own healing story and some insights to share, or some questions or responses to this article.

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