Most businesses make goods, sell products, or provide concrete services, like legal advice, tax preparation, or medical care. These organizations are judged by how well they make their products or whether their services accomplish measurable goals.

Other organizations, like schools, human services agencies, and not-for-profits are in the people business. Their goal is to make human lives better, but it’s not always easy to define what that looks like.

In addition to facing nebulous goals, they see the best and worst of human nature. Change happens at a maddeningly slow rate, and stress is high.

Being a leader when you’re in the people business means persevering in the face of many tough challenges. The reward is the knowledge that your professional life makes a big difference to your clients. Let’s take a look at some of the unique problems that leaders in the people business face. With the right mindset and communication, you and your team can truly change the world.

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Limited Resources

In the U.S., people businesses face increasing demand for services while simultaneously grappling with decreasing funds. Funding also varies from year to year, according to the political and economic climates, even though demographic trends, like the aging population, mean that more people need assistance.

In the people business, it’s tough to come up with ways to increase your revenue. You can’t dig a new oil well, invest in a real estate development, or invent an amazing new product. That’s why so much training for education, NGO, and human services leadership focuses on how to get the most out an ever-decreasing set of resources. It’s not easy, but innovative leaders figure out a way. They inspire their workers to make the most of what the organization has.

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Lack of Obvious Metrics

What does it mean to make human lives better? How do you define concepts like health, education, happiness, and well-being?

It’s easy to tell whether or not you’ve manufactured a good car.

It’s a lot tougher to tell whether you’re making better humans or whether your hard work is paying off.

Using concepts like social ROI and cost-benefit analysis, real leaders are doing the tough work of defining what success looks like in the people business. They’re becoming more knowledgeable about which programs actually make a difference and those that don’t really improve people’s lives. Also, they’re holding their teams accountable for achieving results.

When you have a vision for what you want to accomplish, you can guide your team toward achieving it.

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Big, Big Problems

People businesses tackle some of the human race’s biggest philosophical and social problems.

Human services leaders, educators, and NGO leaders take on poverty, inequality, disease, and other huge challenges. Even the strongest, most seasoned leaders look into the faces of these problems and feel very, very small.

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Tough Clients

If you ran a snow-cone stand, you’d sell delicious shaved ice to people who were grateful for your product. Your customers wouldn’t be difficult, and they’d usually appreciate both you and your product. In the people business, people aren’t always grateful for your help. They make progress one day, and then return to old, self-destructive behaviors the next day.

In the people business, clients often lack skills for self-sufficiency, for parenting, or for sticking to a work schedule. They might come very close to the finish line and decide that making changes is too tough. They battle not only themselves but also people around them who don’t want what’s best for them. As a leader, you have to equip your people to see the best in people while sometimes facing the worst of human nature.

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Psychological Stress

Working in the people business is incredibly rewarding, but it can also take a toll on workers’ health. As a leader, it’s your job to help others manage stress while also taking care of yourself.

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You Can Do It

As a leader in the people business, you have the chance to make the world a better place. Remember that you and your team won’t solve all the big, big problems, but you’ll change many lives while you try.

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