I am all for a human approach in leadership. And I strongly believe that great results, trust, good communication all play a role in this.

Human leadership doesn’t imply a lenient style or an absence of direction. Rather, it encompasses authenticity, empathy and adaptiveness.

According to a 2022 study by Gartner, only 29% of employees believe their leader to be a human leader.

What makes human leadership

The Gartner article identifies three components:

• Authenticity
• Empathy
• Adaptiveness

Research shows that a human leadership approach will results in less turnover, more wellbeing and higher engagement of employees.

In recent years, we’ve faced significant uncertainty. The pandemic forced us to question how we work and the value we create.

It also had an effect on how we deal with colleagues and peers. In uncertain times employees look to their leader to find inspiration, direction and even answers.

Leaders that lacked empathy struggled to fulfil these roles. How can you understand the challenges of your team working from home without the social fabric of an office?

Even pre-Covid people felt isolated.

Also – long gone are the days of long tenures at the same organisation, knowing your job was safe. Today, increasingly, there are re-organisations, lay-offs, situations that prevent certainty.

I remember many years ago one of or senior staff was about to retire. At his farewell speech he reminded us all of the 45 years he had spent at the company, and how you didn’t need to change employers necessarily.

Well, today’s employers may have a different view on this.

The case of UBS buying Credit Suisse is an example of a business deal, that none of us would have believed possible just a few months ago.

Business needs vs. human leadership

I acknowledge that as a leader you have to take decisions that aren’t in line with your values. That aren’t what you believe in. Because business demands it.

And that’s ok. This is not a contradiction to being a human leader. Key to this approach is transparency, honest communication, and admitting when you don’t have all the answers

In my own role as a leader, I was sometimes questioned over whether I was assertive enough.

I often thought of such feedback as an interesting observation. But not more than that. I have never believed that you needed to be a loud or strict leader to get your point across or to get results. My approach had always been one of trusting my team, knowing they did their best and empowering them to find their own solutions and ways. And this has worked for me.

The result was high levels of trust, great performance and very low turnover of staff (the latter was always an achievement I was proud of).

Of course, there can be situations where you have to up the ante. But even then, the human aspect is key. There’s either a way of explaining someone why they are receiving a warning and how they can improve or there is a telling someone off. Two ways, two results.

It’s a choice. If this is what you want to work on, contact me.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.