8 Key Human-Centered Leadership Elements In Business

With today’s rapidly changing environment, I see many business leaders reverting to the “command and control” leadership model, in an effort to be more responsive, rather than leading with their heads and heart. Yet I find in my mentoring practice that more and more team members prefer the human-centered approach and respond with more engagement and commitment.

I believe that a fully engaged team is the key to both productivity and agility in the face of change. In my search for guidance on modern business leadership studies, both scientific and actual case studies, I was impressed with a new book, “Head and Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership,” by Dr. Kirstin Ferguson. She brings a strong background in business with her academic credentials.

I agree with her eight key attributes of a head and heart leader, which I paraphrase here, in hopes of challenging your own thinking, In addition, I am providing some of my own practical insights to inspire and help you become the type of business leader I sense the world needs today:

1. Lead with curiosity as a team role model. Showing curiosity means you have an open mind and are willing to hear diverse points of view that may conflict with yours. Seek to understand all perspectives and data, acknowledging and accepting that you do not know everything. This builds real team relationships, and enables better business decisions.

   I’ve found that you can best start by asking for another perspective, whether of yourself or a team member. If you’re asking someone else and wish to build that connection, be actively present during the interaction. Really seek to understand the other person.

2. Accumulate wisdom by listening and questioning. By watching and observing how you acquire knowledge and make decisions, those you lead can be inspired to do the same. Wisdom helps everyone tackle the challenges in business and in life, helping us to understand our limitations, strengths, and weaknesses and make better choices.

   Wisdom is all about the why of any business situation. I recommend the “five whys” approach, where you ask someone why five times, making sure on each step, your next why question directly addresses the previous response, until you get to the root cause.

3. Build perspective by confirming context. Perspective allows you and your team to assign the correct meaning to the complexities and uncertainties you encounter every day in business. You must all learn to “read the room,” collect and interpret signals, even recognize who is missing, to have the maximum impact and influence to move forward.

4. Enhance capability by helping others grow. You must be committed to developing a growth mindset in others around you to help them aspire to new challenges and achievements. You must give them a strong sense of self-efficacy by championing autonomy, encouraging them to think big, and coaching them on areas to improve.

5. Show humility by being honest about mistakes. Start by getting people comfortable with what they don’t know, showing them you are open to new ideas, and don’t demand perfection in all deliverables. Make it clear that you always aim for progress, expect mistakes, and recognize that course-corrections or pivots are normal in business.

6. Develop self-awareness of your triggers. Teach team members by example, monitoring, and feedback, to gain awareness of what motivates them, triggers them, and where their biases lie. This promotes more psychological safety, better relationships, and allows all to work effectively in uncomfortable situations with customers and peers.

7. Demonstrate the courage to take risks. Taking risks can mean standing up to authority figures, confronting peers, or supporting projects with high potential but many unknowns. Courageous actions are often small and subtle, but equally important to high-profile examples. Make your culture psychologically safe for courageous team member actions.

8. Use empathy to lead with people at the center. Emotional empathy involves identifying with the feelings of other team members, while cognitive empathy involves using critical thinking to understand another person’s emotions and thoughts. You need both to create better outcomes and increase job satisfaction. Diversity and inclusion will get you started.

The challenge in integrating all these elements of human-centered leadership, especially in hybrid work environments, is to embrace flexibility, both in mindset and practice. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. With remote workers, you need to learn how to effectively use the new software technologies, such as Zoom and Slack, to get the engagement and commitment you need.

Marty Zwilling

*** First published on Inc.com on 09/27/2023 ***

Martin Zwilling is the Founder and CEO of Startup Professionals, a company that provides services to startup founders around the world. See more details at www.startupprofessionals.com