Why We Need Human-Centered Leadership

In one of my recent LinkedIn Newsletter posts I asked the community for feedback on why you might read a book about Design Thinking for HR. [Note: If you haven’t had the chance, you can still complete the brief survey here .]

The responses were insightful.

One especially stuck with me: The main reply to the question “What draws you in to consider Design Thinking for HR?” was that leaders in the organization don't make human-centered decisions. Bam!

I must admit, I did not expect that one would bubble to the top, so I figured I would dedicate today’s post to the concept of human-centered leadership.

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What is Human-Centered Leadership?

I believe we need to approach the new world of work and leadership with a designer’s mindset. Human-centered leadership embraces design thinking principles which enable us to navigate the ambiguity of leading in our modern work environments.

It all starts with empathy. According to Gartner research , employees at organizations with high levels of empathy-based management are more than twice as likely to agree that their work environment is inclusive. Empathy requires developing high levels of trust and care. Trust is built on the belief that you as a leader care about the people on your team. You can establish trust by showing your own vulnerability and authenticity and by acting on your word.

At Microsoft , leaders follow a framework to — Model, Coach, Care. The company has seen measurable positive impact for distributed employees when managers model well-being, coach employees on setting priorities and show care and support for each individual member of their team.

And here is an example of how design thinking can be applied when leaders want to co-create new work habits with their teams:

Fresh Start Moments: Let’s begin with what behavioral scientist and Wharton professor Katy Milkman calls fresh start moments: The first day back at the office marks a fresh start on how we work differently at the company in a hybrid environment. Make it a celebration!

Analyze old and new practices: Jointly assess and prioritize practices and tasks. First, identify which new practices were successful, why they were successful, and under which circumstances they’re expected to continue to succeed. Second, analyze whether old practices still serve. Third, openly discuss and resolve disagreements and misconceptions about the new procedures. Finally, turn the new practices into habits.

Co-create new ways of working with team: Co-create hybrid work guiding principles and rituals (e.g., around decision making, inclusion , alignment, connection, and collaboration).

Experiment with a few practices: Be transparent with the team and say that there is no playbook for this; we will try a few new things and tweak along the way.

Assess impact of new work practices: As a team, reflect monthly on how new work practices need to be adjusted.

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Are Leaders Ready for the Future of Work?

Judging by your responses to the survey question mentioned at the beginning of this post, you might have had similar observations to mine: Leaders use data to determine business strategy and assess risk. They use agile methods to accelerate product development. Yet, when the same methods and principles are applied to people strategy, many leaders seem to dismiss the data or consider a human-centric approach as “rigid”. Case in point: We see this currently play out in the varied leadership responses regarding virtual versus in office work.

I have pondered this seeming disconnect. One (unsubstantiated) hypothesis I have is that this way of leading and interpreting people data for human-centric insight gathering is a new skill for many leaders. Being in unfamiliar territory and not feeling competent result in reverting to what’s known and familiar.

The root causes for this are probably more complex than that and I would love to hear the community’s insights.

As you are digging into “the why” within your own organization, here are a few tips that you might find helpful in guiding leadership conversations:

• ?Take a page from Adam Grant’s Think Again by asking “What evidence would change your mind?”
• Share examples of other leaders (internally and externally) who have used people insights to make human-centric leadership decisions. Example: Yelp’s CEO Jeremy Stoppelman shared his approach on Twitter .
• Provide tips and prompts for how to lead through the future of work. You can use my Medium article as a primer.

From there, you can start identifying the human-centered leadership skills you need to build and an approach for how to get there.

My Conclusion

I was recently invited to keynote an organization’s supply chain leadership conference with two hundred leaders in the audience. I was not quite sure how the concept of human-centered leadership was going to resonate with an audience that has experienced such complexities over the last two years, including the need to manage both, a location-dependent workforce as well as knowledge workers, in a hybrid work environment. Turns out those concerns were unfounded: I was blown away by the leaders’ thoughtful questions and their openness to embrace human-centered leadership principles.

I choose to believe that most leaders want to be human-centric, they just don’t know how. It’s on us to help them get there. Taking an empathy-focused, co-creative approach works here as well.

I understand that’s not always easy. I get frustrated too. But when I do, I try to take off my HR hat and put on my leader hat (many of us are leaders too after all). I then ask myself: “What are the challenges I experience as a leader in today’s work environment?” “What are the feelings I have in those moments?”

That’s a good starting point.

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What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with this post? Why? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Design Thinking for HR is a biweekly LinkedIn newsletter that aims to inspire HR professionals to experiment with the human-centered design framework. The newsletter is curated by?Nicole Dessain who is an employee experience consultant, design thinking workshop facilitator, and Northwestern University instructor. Nicole is currently writing her first book about Design Thinking for HR. Join the Early Readers’ Community here .