Leaders Need to Unlearn Management and Relearn to be Human
Managing people is a 1980s construct. It is no longer applicable or relevant in today’s world. 
The leadership skills needed for the post-pandemic period are not technical; they are behavioral. I call this new approach Humony Leadership™ – a created word combining Human, Humanity, and Harmony to emphasize the leading of people and the need for leaders to create workplaces of wellbeing and harmony.
Humony provides a framework of a dozen specific focus areas and human-centered skills for leaders at all levels within organizations to create sustainable results and businesses. More than a framework, Humony is a new leadership mindset.
Why Humony
Without a doubt, too many companies and organizations are facing a future in which their current business models are obsolete. As are their leadership practices and behaviors. Humony is a unique approach to leadership and organizational culture that will result in greater revenues and reduced costs for businesses worldwide.
Future success means putting people before results. This does not mean a focus on people instead of results. Just a shift in priorities. It’s about putting people first, which can boost (not diminish) the bottom line. The Humony Leadership approach is results plus people.
Additionally, the Humony Leadership approach instills a change in mindset and vocabulary, from seeing employees as staff, assets, or resources to seeing them as human beings (with lives and responsibilities outside work). Part of the Humony message is that leaders need to unlearn management and relearn to be human.
Humony Leadership will change the way organizations are led. It will change the relationships between employees and organizations. Execution of this concept will reduce workplace conflict, enhance personal and professional relationships, and create less divisive, kinder, and more harmonious workplaces.
The third key element of Humony Leadership is focusing on harmony as a cornerstone of workplace wellness. Stress is the leading cause of many major diseases and illnesses, including dementia, stroke, and heart diseases. And workplace stress is the number one stressor in the lives of most adults.
Additionally, the global economy loses about US$1 trillion per year in productivity due to depression and anxiety (WHO, 2021). Likewise, the American Institute of Stress estimates that work stress costs U.S. businesses over $300 billion annually.
The Humony Leadership approach will reduce workplace stress, directly reducing these productivity losses from depression and anxiety. Doing so will positively impact the bottom-line profitability of organizations that implement a Humony Leadership culture.
Even without corporate culture inculcation, leaders who utilize this approach within their departments or teams will reap the rewards for their business units, including lower employee turnover than the rest of their organization.
Plus, there is a societal element to Humony. Across the globe, societies, cultures, organizations, and workplaces are divided, and incivility is climbing at increasing rates. Coming out of the pandemic, there is a growing need for harmony in people’s lives.
We need more positive examples in society. Humony leaders will be such examples outside the workplace. They will show others how to show up in life. And, perhaps best of all, this approach will help leaders become better people, parents, partners, and human beings!
Recent Comments