As philosophies of human-centered leadership arise, what are they replacing? What is “traditional” leadership and how is it business-centered, sometimes at the cost of human experience? We’ll look closely at the difference in these leadership philosophies and the values that underpin them.

Traditional leaders are driven by personal growth, financial success, job titles, and promotions, while HCLs focus on inspiration, skills, empowerment, connections, and culture. In this Field Manual, we’ll examine the core behaviors of a HCL and question what it takes to be a HCL.

People are our most valuable asset and the main priority of a HCL in any function, and especially in HR. But we are in a prolonged period of stress, uncertainty, and elevated demands on people’s time, energy, and finances. In this Field Manual, we’ll investigate how leading from a human-centered mindset helps decrease stress levels and increase motivation and productivity among our teams.

Human-centered leadership doesn’t stop at the individual. To create real change, we need to build a culture of human-centeredness that brings greater humanity in the way we lead, manage, and grow employees across the organization. As culture leaders, we in HR are especially critical to this shift. This Field Manual offers some key actions that can help develop a HCL culture in your organization.

No one will become a HCL overnight. It’s a continuous, ongoing process. But in order to know how we’re doing—both as individuals and as organizations—we need to measure our progress. In this Field Manual, we’ll look at the skills of the HCL and how we can measure progress toward them. We’ll identify some KPIs of human-centered organizations and remember that a human-centered culture is not a destination, it is a journey.