As the world of work contends with ongoing change, taking a human-centred approach to leadership has never been more important. Transparency, accountability and integrity – all previously viewed as buzzwords, are now considered key ingredients of good leadership. An autocratic, top-down approach is being phased out, as leading in today’s world of work isn’t just about generating results, it’s about putting people first. In fact, a Gartner survey found that 90% of HR professionals believe leaders must focus on the human aspects of leadership to succeed in today’s work environment, and yet only 29% of employees believe their leader exhibits these characteristics.
The disparity between reality and expectation often arises when leaders are only rewarded for achieving financial results, while the value of leading in a particular way is left unrecognised. The exact criteria for how leaders should lead will be entirely unique for each organisation, but what remains true in every case is that employees want leadership with humanity at its core.
With the cost-of-living crisis still raging on, it’s no surprise business owners are focused on their bottom lines. But the reality of the situation is that a business cannot achieve its financial targets without the ongoing input and effort of its workforce, and the most effective way of engaging and motivating employees to put in this effort is to have leaders connect with them on a human level.
Leading humans, as a human
Advocate vulnerability: Create an environment that fosters feedback and continuous learning to enable the safe testing of new ideas. Employees want the opportunity to learn and improve their skills in an environment where they aren’t judged for not getting it right the first time. Mistakes should be viewed as opportunities to improve, and leaders should share their own experiences of learning through failure to demonstrate that it’s safe to expose vulnerabilities in the pursuit of knowledge. A LinkedIn report found that creating a learning culture improves performance, with 39% of employees feeling more productive and successful and 23% saying they were more able to take on additional responsibilities.
Facilitate connection: Encourage collaboration and unite a diverse pool of voices around a shared goal or outcome to help employees achieve a sense of connection in their working lives. Our research found that 70% of people believe they work better as a team when working together in person, while another survey found that 40% of employees say their colleagues help them to be at their best. In this increasingly hybrid world, employees want to feel connected, and leaders who facilitate this sense of connection by removing siloed working practices and encouraging cross-function collaboration will see much higher levels of employee engagement, and a potential increase in profitability of up to 21%.
Be empathetic: In today’s world of work, emotional intelligence and empathy is crucial. Research from HiBob found that 20% of UK employees are burnt out and 29% are stressed, leaving just 1 in 7 feeling mentally supported at work. On top of this, 74% of HR professionals are concerned about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on employee performance, as 1 in 3 leaders have noticed a drop in productivity due to employees being preoccupied with financial concerns. In light of all this, employees will want to know their leaders empathise with them as human beings – that they understand their challenges, value their wellbeing and are there to support them. Leaders who demonstrate this empathy will build greater trust and loyalty among their workforce, as research found 93% of employees would stay with an empathetic employer.
Create a coaching culture: Integrate coaching into daily working practices. Utilising coaching skills in conversations with employees can help leaders establish a more human connection with their teams – garnering an in-depth insight into who they are as people, what they value and where they want to take their career. Not only will this help employees reach their full potential – with 67% of employees who have benefitted from skills coaching saying it has improved their overall job performance – but relationships between leaders and direct reports will also be strengthened.
Communicate with openness on key topics: Employees want transparency when it comes to key topics such as business performance – both financial and against wider societal issues – as well as career development decisions. ManpowerGroup research found that people are now increasingly critical of organisations falling short of meeting ESG goals; while our own survey found that employees are skeptical about how development decisions are made – doubting the argument that they’re based solely on scientific data about people’s skills and capabilities, and instead are influenced by other factors such as who you know (21%) and the length of tenure (15%). Leaders must demonstrate a willingness to be open and transparent when communicating updates on these important topics in order to foster satisfaction, motivation and productivity within their workforce.
There are clear signals that the way leaders are being incentivised and measured in terms of performance is slowly shifting. Meeting financial targets will understandably remain a focal point, but there is growing recognition around the business benefits of placing humanity at the heart of leadership. How leaders lead is just as important as the end result – and is undoubtedly the driving force behind getting there in the first place.