Human-Centric Organizations – What they REALLY are and how to build them

Across leadership circles right now – human-centricity is in. Companies as varied as Cisco, PepsiCo and Starbucks are all emphasizing it, at the very highest level.

And it’s not just enterprises – as a startup founder, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard it referenced in startup forums. There is growing recognition that human-centricity is a central part of the Future of Work.

But as I’ve watched and participated in this discussion, I’ve seen something somewhat worrying. As we discuss human-centricity, we are doing very little to truly internalize what it all means and act upon it. Shifting to a human-centric company doesn’t just come from changing marketing materials, buying LinkedIn Learning, starting a volunteer program, and renaming the CHRO to the Chief People Officer. No, it comes from a deep understanding of what the target human-centric organization needs to look like, a gap analysis, and lots of hard work to transform the organization.

As CEO of BillionMinds, I combine work to help humans build durable skills with work to design systems where those humans can thrive. Here’s a picture that shows how we do that:

The great thing about this work is that I get to have meaningful conversations with people at all levels in an organization, from early in career professionals all the way up to the CEO. And what is striking is how EVERYONE in an organization tends to think about it in human terms, focusing on things like relationships, hopes, dreams, and frustrations. Sure, business schools might train leaders to focus on business models, financial models, and strategies, but in the vast majority of situations, these simply become tools to justify the human-driven decisions they already favor.

Whether we like it or not, organizations are messy and unstructured ambiguous entities driven by the human characteristics of the people in them. And they are getting MORE that way, not less.

The New “MESSY” Organization

Old-school organizations were highly structured. Heck, the clue is in the name—organization. In these organizations, there was a place for everything, including humans, and in a well-run company, everything was in its place.

But technology has changed all that. The organization of information happens largely behind the scenes, and we just search for what we need when we need it. Even our people can now be in physical and virtual teams, and work is done by people collaborating across physical and time boundaries.

We do this because it has strong upside. Organizations built on a premise of flexibility can, at least in theory, adapt at lightning speed, as they respond to changing conditions.

But AS we do this, it dramatically changes the nature of our organizations. Our people are acting dynamically, and our information is on-demand. Even our physical products are created just in time. In sum, this means that organizations no longer look like factories. They operate more like rapidly evolving living ecosystems filled with complex humans that can behave unpredictably.

So, in the new world of work, messy isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.

Why Human-Centricity is Essential

In today’s VUCA and BANI world, every organization must be flexible and adaptable enough to adjust to whatever is coming next. The messy organizations we’ve created allow us to do this on paper, but they can only succeed if humans are fully bought in.

Because the difference between an organization that can adjust to change and one that cannot is the humans inside that organization. If your people are ready, willing and able to adapt to and lead change, your organization will thrive. If they are not, it will die.

Which brings me to the central point:

As humans are now the engine of your organization’s adaptability, your entire system needs to be built around how humans actually work.

But to make it real — and make it work — you need to rethink what it actually means to be human-centric.

Human-Centricity Is Not Just “The People” Part

A common simple model for organizations is centered around people, process, and technology. Unfortunately, many companies treat human-centricity as something that only lives in the “people” bucket.

That’s a huge mistake.

Human-centricity isn’t one of the components — it’s the lens through which you need to view all of them. To break that down:

🧠 People

Traditional view: Do we have the right people in the right roles?
Human-centric view: Are we creating conditions where people grow, adapt, and contribute with purpose? Are they supported with the skills they need to thrive in ambiguity and complexity?

🔁 Process

Traditional view: Do our workflows make sense?
Human-centric view: Do our processes feel enabling or inhibiting to the people using them? Do they help or hinder productivity, clarity, and collaboration?

💻 Technology

Traditional view: Is this the most elegant or scalable system?
Human-centric view: Does this system work for the humans who have to use it every day? Is it intuitive, flexible, and emotionally intelligent in its design?

This might seem subtle, but once you truly internalize it, it’s profound. Get this right, and every part of the organization is helping people do their best work, and creating conditions where they can adapt to whatever is coming next. It changes how your organization feels and as a consequence, how well it performs.

Human-Centricity Driven by Leadership

I’ve never seen a shift to human-centricity work without deep, meaningful engagement from the top of the organization, and this goes way beyond a modern reinterpretation of “People are our most important asset.” Leadership must understand that human-centricity is a central component, perhaps THE central component to their ongoing success. And as part of this, they must understand that the people in their own organization, their partners and their customers are all part of an ecosystem that has to be managed AS an ecosystem (if you’d like more on this, check out our whitepaper – From Employee Engagement to Ecosystem Readiness).

Almost no change initiative succeeds without strong executive support, but there are specific reasons why it’s hugely important here. While human-centricity sounds attractive (who wouldn’t want to be part of a system that considers human needs?), the reality is much more complex to manage and measure.

A great place to start is the vision of the organization. Here’s a great article by Karen Ziegler of the Octopus Movement, which shows the difference between a human-centric vision statement (Starbucks) and one that isn’t (Disney).

A key point that Karen raises here is that a human-centric vision gives every person in the organization their own place in the narrative. They see where they fit, and that’s essential when the role is otherwise poorly defined.

Top-down leadership for human centricity creates coherence, aligns decision-making, and builds resilience because people don’t just understand what they’re doing; they know why it matters.

Human-Centricity Fueled By Employees

Executive sponsorship for human-centricity is essential, but so is investing in the people themselves, particularly in their durable skills.

This is because building a human-centric organization isn’t just about giving people more freedom; it’s about betting the organization’s future on them. If you are going to do that, it’s absolutely vital that they have the skills to adjust as the organization does. They need first-class durable skills.

This means investing in the kinds of capabilities that traditional training often overlooks:

The ability to self-direct and manage time intentionally

The ability to communicate clearly across channels and contexts

The ability to collaborate with empathy

The ability to stay grounded in uncertainty

If you don’t intentionally build these skills, you’ll end up with people stuck in a system they don’t understand, trying to fit themselves into roles that don’t make sense anymore.

That’s how disengagement happens. That’s how burnout happens. That’s how even the best systems fall apart.

But when you do build these skills? The humans in your system become your flexibility layer — adapting in ways no process or tool ever could.

How This All Fits Together

Yes, human-centricity is messy, but it can still be tied together in a logical model. Here’s how it works in practical terms.

Your GOAL is to build a resilient, adaptable organization

Your TOOL is a human-centric operating model

This REQUIRES full buy-in from top to bottom of your organization

Your MECHANISM is to apply a human lens across people, process and technology

And it is FUELED by employees with first class durable skills

What To Do Now

I’ll break this down into two components – what to do if you are a CEO or senior leader, and what to do as an individual so you can thrive in this new environment.

Leadership Guidance

It’s time to take a long hard look at your organization’s design, and answer these questions:

Is your vision truly grounded in the humans that power your organization – employees, partners, and customers?

Are your people expected to bend to your systems — or are your systems built to enable your people?

Have you invested in building durable capabilities across your workforce?

Do your employees believe that the organization is human-centric?

Individual Guidance

Even if your organization isn’t human-centric enough yet, your team can be, and you can invest in your own skills to thrive in this type of environment. Ask yourself this:

Do you hone your durable skills through daily learning and practice?

Have you developed enough adaptability and resilience to adjust as your work environment does?

Do you help others thrive in ambiguity?

Can you help your leaders adjust to a more human-centric approach?

If you would like to build a career around these traits, check out my previous piece on the topic – it breaks down the skills you need to build.

Final Thought

This isn’t about making organizations warmer and fuzzier. It’s about making them smarter, faster, and more resilient — by designing around the only thing that’s truly flexible: humans.

Human-centricity isn’t the nice thing to do. It’s the necessary thing to do.

And the sooner we get serious about it, the better our organizations — and the people inside them — will become.

Next Week

I look at how skills and trust are intrinsically linked, and how if you increase your durable skills, trust in you and your team will also increase.

See you next time!