The act of leading implies guiding, steering and orientation. A leader not only charts the way forward, but also optimizes the use of available resources. Imagine an orchestra without a conductor: it will struggle to achieve harmony. This principle is applicable to any organization, whether it be a school, company or even a city.

The theme of leadership, both at the personal and collective level, is becoming more important than ever before. More and more people recognize the need for a roadmap in order to progress. Although we dispose of a vast trove of academic literature that invites us to learn and reflect upon leadership, the real challenge is not to lose ourselves among the multitude of books, courses, workshops and training programs.

This article does not seek to solve the dilemma in its totality, but offer a detailed analysis of a style that has demonstrated its effectiveness in the corporate world and been recommended by top academics: leadership oriented towards others, or to service. This approach does not only benefit leaders in their personal development, but also strengthens organizations, fostering in them, and their people, the need to bring about positive and lasting impacts.

What will I learn from this article?

 

When the leader fosters growth in others

People-centric leadership is a holistic approach in which the main objective of the leader is to empower people in their team so they can fully develop themselves. It is a leadership of maximums: without ignoring performance, it is oriented toward the personal development of the people who surround the leader. The main role is to facilitate each person in reaching their maximum potential.

Robert Greenleaf, considered the father of people-centric leadership, says that it was borne out of people’s natural inclination to help others. In one way, a leader thinking of others is similar to a flight assistant whose objective is to offer the best service so that the passenger has the best possible travel experience.

This approach forms part of the basic philosophy of great leadership thinkers such as Tom Peters, who said: “Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders live to serve. Period.” And Peter Drucker: “The key to greatness is to look for people’s potential and spend time developing it.”

 

Peter Drucker: “The key to greatness is to look for people’s potential and spend time developing it.”

 

People-centric leadership vs. other styles: academic and corporate world perspectives

Driven by corporate and academic interest, a team of researchers led by Nathan Eva of Monash Business School carried out an exhaustive review of articles published on people-centric leadership over a 20-year period (1998-2018).

The main aim of the review was to be able to offer better conceptual clarity on the subject, identifying a way of measuring it, exploring its antecedents and consequences, and highlighting possible future research.

One of the first tasks of the team was to present the difference between people-centric leadership and other similar leadership types: transformational, ethical and authentic leadership. Here, we summarize their differences:

* Transformational vs. people-centric leadership. While transformational leadership centers on supporting the needs of the people who form the team so that they can achieve their fixed targets (a means to an end), people-centric leadership seeks the multi-dimensional development of people surrounding the leader (an end in itself).

* Ethical vs. people-centric leadership. Meanwhile, where ethical leadership focuses on the need to follow ethical rules and norms that consider a minimum compliance with (regulatory leadership), people-centric leadership is more flexible and emphasizes the development of other people. While ethical is based on standards, people-centric leadership deals with people.

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* Authentic vs. people-centric leadership. Finally, the difference between authentic leadership and people-centric leadership lies in that authentic leadership is based on honesty, sincerity and authenticity (being true to oneself), whereas people-centric leadership focuses on interactions with others, seeking their growth. Authentic leadership is concerned with and aspires to being oneself, while people-centric looks at the other person with a view to improving them.

In the review itself, Eva and his team proposed that people-centric leadership is about motivation (helping others), a way of acting (considering each person as unique and having potential), and a mentality (centered on the other and not oneself). It is similar to Adam Grant’s theory of giving, which we discussed in another article. In essence, people-centric leadership is about making a positive difference to others.

 

The impact of people-centric leadership on an organization’s results

Another aim of the review by Eva and his team was understanding the real impact of people-centric leadership on organizations. Some comparative studies suggest that it could have a greater impact than transformational leadership.

An empirical study, for example, revealed that people-centric leadership could increase the productivity of the team by an additional 10% compared to transformational leadership. Although this study is preliminary and based on a small sample, the initial results are promising and point to the need for additional research to confirm the discovery.

 

The impact of people-centric leadership on team members

There are also a considerable number of studies that analyze the consequences of people-centric leadership, both on individuals and on the team as a whole, and on the overall organization. The impact on team members is well documented and can be classified at three levels:

  • Attitudes: improvements in work satisfaction, commitment and confidence among employees were observed.
  • Behaviors: participants exhibited greater creativity, adopting pro-social behaviors while increasing their productivity.
  • Well-being: significant benefits in terms of employees’ psychological well-being were reported, as well as a reduction in stress levels.

The impact of people-centric leaders also had an impact on their teams, strengthening group cohesion, fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose, and improving productivity. They also had repercussions on the organization as a whole, demonstrating increases in customer satisfaction and loyalty, a lower turnover of personnel, and a workplace environment characterized by ethics and social commitment.

 

Sources:

  • Greenleaf, R. K. (2002). People-centric leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Paulist Press.
  • Eva, N., Robin, M., Sendjaya, S., Van Dierendonck, D., & Liden, R. C. (2019). People-centric leadership: A systematic review and call for future research. The Leadership Quarterly, 30(1), 111-132.