The future of work is human.

For too long, the essence of what makes us human – capacities like emotional agility, values, personality, strengths aligned working, communication and relationship building, have been dismissed as soft skills and relegated to the sidelines, or in some organisations, not invested in or taken seriously at all. But understanding what drives us as humans, and genuine opportunities to better align with our core drivers, is valued by, and impactful for workers, for good reason.

Science has shown that genuine alignment with our psychological and physiological drivers as humans, is key to optimising not only productivity but also the quality (and sustainability) of peak performance. This is important in the good times and essential in the tough times. We saw this firsthand through COVID. Organisations who had genuinely invested in creating cultures, leaders and environments that not only understood but also facilitated these human capacities were the ones that thrived, despite massive amounts of uncertainty and change.

Understanding and embedding human capacities is not about teaching soft skills, human capacities are what drive culture, engagement, leadership, innovation, well-being, peak performance and productivity – everything that matters to thriving individuals and organisations. These human skills are often the tougher to embed in our life (once we’re adults) and are critical to thriving irrespective of situation or circumstance.

Be it a pandemic or a recession, a new team, a growing team or a reduced team, employers need to be genuinely providing people with the information, capabilities and environments (including leaders!) that allow every individual to get their biology working for them instead of against them in the way they work and interact. When this happens – high-performing teams, organisations and cultures of connection are born. Productivity improves. People feel better and they perform better. Long term.

The future of work is human.