A Human Approach to Leadership

Amid market disruption, digital transformation, economic turbulence, cyber threats, talent shortages, health and social crises and geopolitics, business leaders are living in an era of ‘polycrisis’—a perfect storm of interconnected difficulties that amplify each other's impact.

In a recent webinar David Altman, Executive Advisor and former COO; David Dinwoodie, Director of Leadership Products; and Emily Hoole, Leadership Solutions Partner, at the global learning organization the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)^©, promote ‘human-centered leadership’ as the most effective antidote to this dire predicament.

Human-centered leadership defined

Human-centered leadership is a leadership style that emphasizes people—employees and other stakeholders—and puts their needs first, being sensitive to individual differences. It prioritizes how employees feel about their work and their relationships with the people they work with and aims to create a culture where individual employee actions and contributions to decision making are valued, and where everyone can thrive, fulfil their personal potential, and ultimately help drive organizational impact.

Key components of human-centered leadership

Purpose. Research has shown that international organizations that are going through change can achieve high levels of performance when people have a clear sense of purpose. Direction and collaborative purpose, aligned with the business model, foster business focus, commitment, and wellbeing.

Emotional intelligence. To be people-centered, leaders need to develop high levels of EQ. The ability to understand and manage your own emotions is key to building strong relationships and being able to support and mentor others. Led by CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft implemented a significant cultural shift, emphasizing emotional intelligence, empathy, and collaboration to promote a growth mindset and stimulate innovation.

Psychological safety. Human-centered leaders create a psychologically safe environment for their employees and other stakeholders, where people feel comfortable expressing their opinions without fear of reprimand and where employees are encouraged to contribute their ideas, however unconventional, knowing they will be supported and able to learn from their mistakes.

Servant leader. The old concept of ‘servant leadership’ is important in this context. Leaders serve their team by removing obstacles that may be stopping individuals from contributing to the best of their ability, encouraging them to be accountable for the work they are doing, and to be continual learners.

Wellbeing. A healthy, happy, workplace is a productive one. While leaders should encourage people to take care of themselves—through diet, sleep, exercise, mindful practices, etc.—it is also important to understand that wellbeing is not only about the individual but also about the workplace culture around them, their relationships, and sense engagement in their work.

Human-centered leadership in practice

Whereas traditional leadership development emphasized building competence in strategic thinking, finance, business model innovation, and achieving competitive edge, the people-first approach places employees at the heart of organizational decisions and requires the development of very different skills.

CCL experts see leadership as “a social process,” and, with the rise of AI, see an increased need to help leaders “maintain their humanness.” Emily Hoole describes two aspects to this: foundational and advanced.

Foundational human-centered leadership. As part of a social process, the basic leadership role is to make sure everyone in the enterprise is clear about its direction, alignment and commitment to the team effort. A prime requirement for this is self-awareness and emotional intelligence. From this, the effective leader occupies a “space of dialogue,” actively listening, encouraging feedback, and dealing with others with empathy and compassion.

Advanced human-centered leadership. To be truly transformational, leaders need to be thinking above and beyond their status quo. While maintaining a firm grip on details and systems, they also need a broad forward-thinking world view. They also need to “understand their own shadow.” The CCL team recommends three stratagems for developing these attributes:

1. i) Heat experiences. Here leaders engage in challenging stretch-assignments, experiences well out of their comfort zone.
2. ii) Colliding perspectives. Leaders should actively seek out different ways of thinking. In an increasingly polarized world, understanding other outlooks and opinions is important.

iii) Elevated sensemaking. The ability to see ahead in an uncertain fast-changing world is a key asset for transformational leadership.

Coaching and mindfulness practices can help leaders realize these three strategies. In fact, mindfulness and attention to all aspects of wellbeing and self-awareness can help both foundation and advanced levels of human-centered leadership.

This article is based on the recent CCL/IEDP webinar: Human-Centered Leadership in Times of Transformation

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While CCL offers programs, coaching, and other learning initiatives to support leaders and would-be leader, at all levels, it has developed these two world-class programs for senior leaders and C-level leaders:

Senior Leadership Training: Leading for Organizational Impact

Dates: Brussels: May 12-16; Dec 1-5. Madrid: Sept 1-5. Also available:  Singapore, Greensboro NC, San Diego CA, St. Petersburg FL

Format: 5 days in-person  

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C-Suite Training: Leadership at the Peak

Dates: Saint-Gervais-les-Bains: Dec 8-12. Also available: Colorado Springs CO, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, Singapore 

Format: 5 days in-person