People drive business success and are considered the biggest asset of any organization. Yet, having been in HR for a long time, I realized that processes and policies are not people-first or human-first in most companies. Why is that?

The modern workplace has inherited many things from the industrial period, where the focus was on machines, not humans. The work environment and worker profile have shifted significantly, but our processes and policies still suffer a hangover from the industrial era. 

Why do I say this?

It’s because of what we measure. We measure efficiency, quality, and cost, which are very machine-oriented metrics. Yes, they are essential. But in a people-oriented workforce, should we not prioritize man over the machine and focus on human-centric measures and approaches?It is time to break free from the old and come unstuck.

Charting a new course, redefining leadership

For me, human leadership is all about recognizing the “humanness” in others and oneself. It is about valuing each member of the team as a “whole person” with unique abilities, emotions, rights, and needs. In doing so, we leverage the best parts of this humanness – empathy, vulnerability, curiosity, and camaraderie – towards building a better work environment.

It's about asking the right questions

While most firms endorse specific values, the need is to also look at virtues that they need to embody and demonstrate. 

It’s about re-examining:

1. How can we be more compassionate as a firm? 

2. Can we demonstrate compassion in our decisions and in the way we treat each other?

3. Why do we need to do it? 

4. Will we be seen as weak? 

On the contrary, authenticity, vulnerability, and compassion are higher-level actions. They are far more difficult to demonstrate than being direct and unempathetic. Compassion requires courage, and it requires patience. It requires us to care about others as humans and not just as employees. But if we can demonstrate this, we invoke loyalty and make people feel good. And employees want to stay in places where they feel good and are treated well. So, what we typically perceive as soft actually pays a lot of dividends. To top it off, it doesn’t cost much, but it requires a massive change in mindset and behavior, which isn’t necessarily easy to pull off.

It is time we understood the value and power of this approach. If we have the will to change, we can make this happen, and it will transform the workplace.   

Start with a Human Centricity Audit

If there is buy-in at a logical level that this approach can make things better, then we can start with a Human Centricity Audit.

We look at all our existing people-related processes, policies, approaches, and frameworks and review them closely using the “Human” First approach.

For instance, if we take the Talent Acquisition function and look at bringing this in, it would do good to incorporate some “Feeling” metrics. 

1. How did the candidate feel about our process? 

2. How much waiting time did they have – for their interviews, results, etc.?  

3. What was the tone of the interviewers – was it more like, “I am doing a favor by talking to you,” or was it egalitarian?

4. Did we give them feedback on why they didn’t get the role? 

Very few firms focus on such aspects, but if you did – the chances of candidates accepting your offer are higher. Even if people don’t clear your process, they will still be your ambassador because you made them feel good. This is the transformative power of this approach.

This human-centricity audit could be tried with onboarding, engagement, and other HR practices. 

Once you do the audit and realize your gaps, you can invest in these human-first changes that gradually improve the “Feeling” element of your organization. 

Weaving human-centricity into the fabric of an enterprise starts with leadership

As leaders, we need to learn to care more; genuinely care about people, not just the output. The fear is that if I care, will I be taken for a ride? At times, you might be; in most cases though, it will pay rich dividends. 

In one of my organizations, we had a limited sick leave policy, and we decided to trust people and make it unlimited. Yes, unlimited! While there were the occasional misusers, on an average, the sick leave usage came down quite dramatically and stayed that way for many years! 

When we care and trust people, they reciprocate. If we establish too many rules and adhere to the “command and control” model, it doesn’t get the best response. People follow the rules but do just enough, and if there are loopholes, they will use them. 

Trust is the key. When firms trust their people, employees reciprocate. We might need to have a few checks in place, but in my experience, ‘Trust begets Trust.’

If we are more authentic as a leader, own our team members, trust them, allow them to be themselves, nurture them both professionally and personally, focus on their overall wellbeing, give them responsible freedom and respond empathetically, we will be well on our way to implementing a human-centered leadership approach.  

Yesterday’s reliable solutions will not work for today’s new-age business and leadership challenges. It’s time to engineer empathy into leadership strategies, recalibrating to a more human-centric approach. The future needs workplaces to be more human-centered, and the sooner we start this journey, the bigger our benefits.