207: How Coaching Can Transform Managers into Human-Centric Leaders
Sep 9, 2024
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Liz Rider, an organizational psychologist and thought leader in human-centric leadership, joins Simone Sweeney for an enlightening discussion. They dive into the importance of empathy, self-awareness, and trust in transforming managers into impactful leaders. Liz emphasizes how coaching can enhance team engagement and highlights the role of AI in fostering human connections. The conversation underscores the necessity of psychological safety, feedback, and genuine relationships in creating a thriving workplace culture.
Human-centric leadership fosters essential soft skills like empathy and self-awareness, crucial for enhancing team dynamics and performance.
Coaches play a vital role in transforming managers into human-centric leaders by bridging style gaps and promoting understanding in teams.
Deep dives
The Evolution of Human-Centric Leadership
Human-centric leadership prioritizes empathy and support, distinguishing itself from traditional results-focused leadership. Effective leaders not only set the direction but also understand and nurture their team members to help them overcome obstacles. This approach emphasizes relationships over mere performance metrics, suggesting that leaders who engage and empower their teams drive better results. By examining leaders like Elon Musk and Herbert Joly, one can see the contrast between result-driven and human-focused methods, highlighting that fostering a people-centric culture is crucial for modern leadership.
Soft Skills Are Essential for Leadership Success
Key soft skills such as self-awareness, trust, and empathy are vital for effective leadership, allowing leaders to foster better team dynamics. While some argue these attributes cannot be taught, evidence shows that they can be developed through training and coaching. As organizations move towards embracing AI and automation, the importance of these human skills only heightens, with executives acknowledging that soft skills are critical to future success. The call for leaders to cultivate these competencies underlines the need for integrity and connection in leadership roles.
The Impact of Leadership on Team Dynamics
Leadership styles can greatly affect team morale and effectiveness, where a mismatch between a human-centric leader and a results-driven manager may create friction. For instance, a human-focused leader may initially achieve outstanding results, but if their manager imposes a harsh results-oriented approach, it can undermine team cohesion. To bridge these leadership style divides, coaches can help identify self-awareness gaps and facilitate conversations that promote understanding and collaboration. The overarching message is that effective leadership requires alignment between people-focused and results-driven strategies to achieve lasting success.
Embracing Feedback and Continuous Improvement
The ability to listen and adjust based on feedback from team members is crucial for leaders aiming to create a positive workplace culture. Regular engagement surveys can provide insights into leadership effectiveness, and it is essential for organizations to act on this feedback rather than overlook it. Coaches play a vital role in helping leaders understand and recognize their own impacts on team dynamics while fostering environments of psychological safety. By encouraging leaders to reflect on feedback and encouraging a culture of openness, organizations can create a more effective and engaged workforce.
Liz Rider, organizational psychologist and thought leader in the area of human-centric leadership, joins our host, Simone Sweeney, in the first episode of a wonderful new podcast series. Together they unpack what leadership and human-centric leadership is and why shifting to this type of leadership is so important and impactful for organizations and people.
Liz brings her passion, energy and experience, with real-life examples of how qualities such as empathy, listening, trust and self-awareness can transform the workplace. She encourages leaders to learn how to really connect with their people and why she believes that leaders as coaches is the way to a better future for us all. An honest and vibrant conversation for all coaches, leaders and organizations.
You will learn:
· The vital soft skills required for human-centric leadership
· The role of coaches in transforming managers into leaders
· What part AI plays in creating more human-focused leaders
“We are starting to get more role models that are human-centric, and I think that the more we get in different organizations, the more we will believe in human-centric leadership and the more human-centric leaders we will get.”
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