A client said something recently that stuck. We were talking about leadership culture, specifically the growing expectation that leaders should be more human with their teams. In other words, more empathetic. More aware of what people might be carrying outside work. More open to conversations that would once have been considered “too personal” for the workplace. She paused for a moment and said: “The people who know how to be human at work already are. The rest of them need someone to explain what that actually looks like.”
She’s a talent leader, and she wasn’t being cynical, just honest. We should talk about that. Partly because the context for leadership is changing fast. Organisations are investing heavily in AI, automation, and new digital capabilities. But at the same time, the expectations placed on leaders are becoming more human, not less.
In the face of disruption, managers are asked to do the emotional labor necessary to carry teams through change and uncertainty. The distinctly human side of leadership—judgment, trust, curiosity, connection—is becoming more valuable.
Yet many organisations are discovering that telling leaders to “be more human” isn’t quite enough.
Human-centered leadership doesn’t just happen
In recent years, many organisations have begun encouraging leaders to show up differently. Conversations about well-being, belonging, psychological safety, and inclusive leadership are far more visible than they once were.
There is a broad recognition that people don’t leave their lives at the door when they arrive at work, and that leadership has a role to play in shaping environments where people can do their best work.
But hidden inside those expectations is a quiet assumption that leaders already know what “being human” at work actually looks like. In reality, many don’t.
Not because they lack good intentions, but because the leadership norms many of them grew up with were built on a very different set of signals. For years, professionalism meant keeping emotions at arm’s length, maintaining composure, and focusing squarely on results. Leaders were expected to be decisive, objective, and controlled. Personal context was, at best, peripheral to the work.
Now the expectations have shifted. Leaders are being asked to show curiosity instead of certainty. To listen more than they speak. To notice when someone is struggling and respond with empathy rather than efficiency. To create space for different perspectives and experiences, even when those conversations feel unfamiliar.
For some leaders, this shift feels natural. These behaviours already align with how they approach people and relationships. For others, the guidance feels frustratingly abstract.
From aspiration to skill
“Be more human” can sound inspiring in principle. But it isn’t a leadership skill. It’s an aspiration. And aspirations rarely change behaviour on their own.
What does curiosity actually look like when someone challenges your idea in a meeting? How does empathy show up when a colleague shares something difficult? What does it mean to acknowledge that someone’s performance may be affected by circumstances outside work, while still supporting them to succeed?
These are the moments where culture becomes real. Not in policies or leadership principles, but in everyday interactions that signal whether people feel understood, supported, and able to contribute fully.
And increasingly, organisations are recognising that these moments have a clear business impact.
Teams where people feel psychologically safe tend to share ideas earlier, surface problems faster, and collaborate more effectively. Leaders who listen well often gain access to information others might hesitate to raise. Employees who feel understood are more likely to stay, contribute discretionary effort, and navigate change with resilience.
In other words, human leadership isn’t simply about being nice. It’s about creating the conditions for better performance. But knowing that in theory doesn’t automatically translate into behaviour in practice.
This is often where coaching enters the conversation. Not because leaders need motivation, but because they need clarity.
The risk of swinging too far
There is another reason organisations are beginning to approach this shift more thoughtfully. The pendulum can swing too far.
In some environments, the message about empathy and openness has unintentionally created confusion about boundaries. Leaders worry that showing empathy means lowering expectations. That difficult performance conversations should be avoided. That supporting someone as a person somehow conflicts with holding them accountable for results.
In reality, effective leadership requires both. Empathy does not replace accountability; done well, it strengthens it.
What do we mean? A leader who understands what someone is navigating outside work is often better positioned to support them in meeting expectations, adjusting priorities when necessary, and ensuring performance conversations remain constructive rather than punitive.
Being “human” does not mean removing standards. It means recognising that people reach those standards through different paths and circumstances.
Coaching makes the abstract actionable
This is why many organisations are moving beyond leadership values statements and investing more deliberately in coaching (both AI and human) for continuous, real-time skill building.
Values like curiosity, empathy, and openness are important signals. But on their own, they rarely translate into behaviour change. Leaders often understand the intention behind them, yet still feel uncertain about how those expectations should show up in real moments at work.
Coaching helps bridge that gap.
A coach might help a leader notice their instinct to jump quickly into problem-solving and experiment with asking one more question before offering a solution. Or help them establish a simple cadence of check-ins with their team and learn how to respond when someone shares that they’re struggling.
Often the work is surprisingly practical. Leaders practice language that acknowledges the human context without losing focus on performance. They learn how to invite perspectives from people who may not naturally speak first. They learn how to be transparent about uncertainty while still providing direction.
Individually, these behaviours can seem minor. Yet together they shape the tone of an entire team. Over time they influence whether people feel comfortable raising concerns, sharing ideas, or challenging assumptions.
And that is where the business impact begins to show.
The leadership capability of the next decade
As AI continues to transform the nature of work, organisations will increasingly rely on capabilities that technology cannot replicate easily: self-awareness, relationship-building, and the ability to bring diverse perspectives together.
These are deeply human skills. But they are also learnable ones.
The talent leader who made that observation was right. Some people already know how to lead this way instinctively. Others simply need clearer guidance.
And when leaders begin to practice these behaviours consistently, something else happens. The signals ripple outward. Teams start to see what good leadership looks like in action. People begin to mirror the same curiosity, openness, and respect with one another.
What once felt unfamiliar gradually becomes normal, and, over time, the culture starts reinforcing itself.
Because “be more human” is a good ambition for leadership. But the organisations that thrive in the years ahead will be the ones that help their leaders understand exactly what that looks like in practice.
Understand what leadership looks like in practice in your organisation
If “being more human” is part of the expectation, the next step is understanding how that’s actually experienced day to day.
Our Connection Audit helps you explore how leadership behaviours are showing up across your organisation—and what that means for performance, trust and retention.
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