Our Leadership Models And Mindsets Are Obsolete
Written by: Steven Howard, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The business environment was changing before COVID, but now these changes are on steroids. We are in the throes of a pivotal moment, facing the greatest transformation in how we work since the early days of word processing and the desktop computer.
We cannot go back to the pre-pandemic methods of leadership and decision-making. The world has changed too drastically in the last three years. Hybrid working and working-from-home (WFH) are now acceptable (and for many desirable) alternatives to the five-day, show-up-at-the-workplace workweek. And the need for more inclusive decision-making and people-centric leadership has never been greater. Compounding this New Abnormal workplace environment, we have a broken mindset about leadership, one focused primarily on outputs and results. These leadership models are designed to thrive in times of consistency and predictability. They worked when organizational power smothered workforce choices and people’s attitudes on the importance of work dictated perceptions of self-worth and self-image. Those days are history. Without a doubt, too many companies and organizations face a future in which their current business models are obsolete. As are their leadership practices and behaviors. As Steve Cadigan, LinkedIn’s first Chief Human Resource Officer, wrote in the Foreword to my book Humony Leadership: Mindsets, Skills, and Behaviors for Being a Successful People-Centric Leader, “Most legacy leadership models strive to achieve control, consistency, and reliable outcomes. As we all have come to realize in recent years, in a world where so much is unknown, and the pace of change is relentless, what we really need is a model to help us expect change and instability.”
Welcome to your new organization
The pre-pandemic model of the organization-employee relationship was that organizations bought your time (usually 9 to 5) and mandated that this daily time slot would be devoted solely to them five times a week. And the organization told you where you would physically be placed to spend this time you had sold to your employer. The new model for the employee-organization relationship (note that now the employee comes first) is that organizations buy people’s skill sets and purpose (short-term or long-term). The employees and their organizations must now decide together where individual
and collective work is best performed. They must also agree on how each employee can best deliver upon their responsibilities to the rest of the organization and its customers. Best outcomes are produced when the employee has work/life harmony and integration rather than when managers employ tight oversight and micromanaging tactics. Leaders and managers need to forget about the idea of control. That is an old-school leadership mentality. Control went out the window in 2020 with the lockdown-mandated work-from-home environment. This means leaders have to change how they trust and lead people. It also requires a mindset and verbiage change from seeing employees as staff, assets, or resources to seeing and understanding them as human beings. It also means respecting that these humans have responsibilities and commitments (not just lives) outside work. Responsibilities and commitments that leaders and organizations should help them fulfill. Doing so requires increasing respect and trust in the workplace. Leaders need to understand that they must start first by trusting and respecting their team members (and not expecting automatic trust or respect based on titles or a position on the organization chart). Will this be easy? No. But it need not be difficult or expensive either. As John Keynes wrote, “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from the old ones.” Yes, the old mindsets and leadership models will continue to work – but with costs and harmful ramifications for organizations, leaders, employees, and society that are not necessary. Organizations, societies, and – most importantly – our human workforces will benefit significantly from having working environments of respect, dignity, well-being, and harmony.
A new model of leadership
Managing people is a 1980s construct. It is why people leave bosses, not organizations. It is no longer acceptable or relevant in today’s world. Research shows up to 65% of people leave companies because of their leader or manager. After all, no one wakes up and says, “I cannot wait to be managed today.” And certainly, no one says, “I cannot wait to be micromanaged by my boss today.” People do not want to be managed. They want to be led. To be motivated. Trusted. Given
opportunities to grow their skillsets and decision-making capabilities. They want (and need) to be coached, mentored, empowered, unshackled from directives, and freed from being told how to accomplish their work. Leaders now need to excel at the coaching and people development aspects of leadership. I call this new leadership model Humony Leadership. I created the word Humony as a combination of human, humanity, and harmony to emphasize the leading of people and the need for leaders to create workplaces of well-being and harmony. There is a growing need for harmony in people’s lives. Forget about work/life balance. People need work/life harmony. And they need harmony within their workplaces as well as their personal lives. Harmony makes people feel good when working (note: work is no longer a place one goes to, but the tasks one does). People also want – and – need four things to feel good and be successful when working:
To be respected and trusted
To be accepted for who they authentically are
To be included in discussions and decisions (particularly about implementing decisions made by senior leaders)
To have responsibilities and assignments that lead to personal and professional growth
This essentially boils down to treating them as human beings and ensuring they feel they belong on your team, department, organization, or company. People need to feel good to be successful. If you make them feel good, and they have a sense of belonging, they are more likely to take pride in their work. They are also more likely to contribute, collaborate, go the extra mile, and be innovative and creative. Basically, leaders need to unlearn management, relearn to be human, and learn to be people-centric. The core foundation of Humony Leadership is understanding that you manage things, processes, procedures, policies, and projects; you LEAD PEOPLE. The most important role of a leader today is to be a people developer. This is why Humony Leaders know the importance of minimizing micromanaging and escalating micro-coaching. And building employee engagement and loyalty.
The future is now
This approach to leadership results in greater revenues and reduced costs (such as absenteeism, workplace conflict, course corrections, and workplace-related medical
expenses). Perhaps the biggest benefit will be a reduction in employee turnover. After all, it is very difficult to attain your goals or build your business when replacing lost employees and onboarding their replacements are major priorities. This can translate into more operating and investment capital, or profits, depending on how leaders utilize these increased cash assets. If you do not implement this leadership approach, and continue to employ outdated, old-school leadership models and mindsets, your very survival is at stake. This applies equally at the individual manager and leader level, as well as at the organization-wide level. The Humony Leadership approach is needed at every level of all organizations. Having Humony Leaders at the top and dictatorial managers in the first-line and second-line leadership ranks is no good. Hence, this approach becomes a corporate culture and workplace climate issue, requiring new thinking, behaviors, and best-practice actions to cascade throughout the organization. In many ways, all leaders need to “unlearn what they have learned and practiced” to be successful in these New Abnormal times. However, even without this corporate culture inculcation, leaders who utilize the Humony Leadership approach within their departments or teams will reap the rewards for their business units, including lower employee turnover than the rest of the organization. They will also personally benefit by being seen as successful and top leaders by others within their organizations, including senior management.
Why become a humony leader?
Why should you become a Humony Leader? There are a multitude of reasons:
It is time to change how people are treated at work by management, bosses, peers, and colleagues.
The world and our workplaces need more harmony. There is more to life than work and business results.
The world needs more kindness and understanding.
The world needs less divisiveness, anger, and separation.
Humony is not exclusively for the workplace. These are life skills and usable in personal lives as well as within the workplace.
Creating a better world for our children and grandchildren to inherit. We need more positive examples in society. Humony Leaders will be such examples, both inside and outside the workplace.
To create a better world, we must be better leaders, better people, and better people leaders. This starts with Humony Leadership.
This is a better way to lead. To be a better people leader. To make a difference at any level of any organization you lead, now and in the future.
And it will make you a better human being while attaining the results you desire. The greater you understand this, the greater will be your impact on the organizations and people you lead today and well into the future – while simultaneously creating and building your personal leadership legacy.
Steven Howard, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Steven Howard is the award-winning author of 22 leadership, business, and professional development books. His latest book is Humony Leadership: Mindsets, Skills and Behaviors for Being a Successful People-Centric Leader. In awarding the book a Gold Medal, the Nonfiction Authors Association called Humony Leadership, “a significant work with an important mission.” Steven was named one of the 2023 Top 200 Global Biggest Voices in Leadership by the LeadersHum network in recognition of his thought-provoking and leading-edge thinking on leadership. He was named to the 2023 CREA List of top entrepreneurs, influential leaders, and innovators for his thought leadership and writing.
