Leading when you don’t have all the answers

Leadership has never been just about expertise, experience or having the right plan. When change is constant and uncertainty is part of everyday working life, how you lead people matters just as much as the decisions you make.

Human-centric leadership shifts the focus from the leader to the people they lead. It doesn’t mean avoiding difficult decisions or lowering expectations. It means thinking about how you communicate, listen and build trust so people can continue to move forward, even when the path ahead isn’t completely clear.

So, what does that look like in practice?

1. You don’t need to have all the answers

Leaders can feel pressure to know what comes next. But creating certainty where there isn’t any can have the opposite effect, particularly if circumstances later change.

As Industrial Psychologist and Career Coach Pippa Rauch discussed in our Leading through change: Human-centric leadership webinar, there is an important difference between certainty and clarity.

“I might not know. But this is what I do know. This is what we do know. And this is what we’re working towards.” — Pippa Rauch

You might not know exactly what will happen next, but you can be clear about what you know today, what you are working towards and when people can expect to hear more.

Being able to say “I don’t know” doesn’t undermine your leadership. What matters is what comes next.

2. Ask before you assume

Being human-centric means understanding what your people are actually experiencing, rather than assuming you already know.

Robert Walters Chief People Officer Indy Lachhar describes this simply as “asking the right questions rather than assuming.”

That requires leaders to listen properly, invite different perspectives and make it easier for people to raise questions or concerns early.

Listening isn’t about having a response ready. Sometimes, the most useful thing a leader can do is ask the question and give someone the space to answer.

3. Let people see the person behind the role

Authenticity doesn’t mean sharing everything about yourself. It means being comfortable acknowledging that you won’t always know, get everything right or have complete control over what happens next.

Laurent Sylvestre, CEO & Founder at The Human Perspectives makes the point that “none of us are superheroes.”

For leaders, that means moving away from the expectation that credibility comes from always appearing certain or invulnerable. Being open about what you know and what you don’t, while remaining consistent in how you show up, will help build trust.

4. Remember that leadership isn’t about you

Perhaps the simplest principle of human-centric leadership is also one of the easiest to lose sight of.

Leadership is ultimately about the impact you have on other people.

Behind every target, transformation or business decision are people trying to understand what it means for them. Human-centric leaders consider that impact without losing sight of what the organisation needs to achieve.

“We as leaders, as people leaders, are leading people. We’re leading humans and not headcount.” — Indy Lachhar.

The strongest leaders can still make difficult decisions, set ambitious expectations and drive performance. The difference is in how they do it: with clarity, curiosity, authenticity and consistency.

That is what makes leadership human.