Scott McInnesFounder and Director, Inspiring Change · 20+ Years Helping Leaders Build Stronger Cultures, More Human Communication and Embed Lasting Change | Founder | Keynote Speaker | Podcast Host

The One Thing Employees Actually Want From Leaders #leadership #engagement

24 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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Leaders should have genuine, ongoing conversations with employees instead of relying on formal reviews. Employees want honesty, transparency about decisions, and to understand the reasoning behind changes. Treating staff as human beings, not just workers, builds trust and real engagement.

Chapters

How can organizations connect with their people in a way that's a bit more human? I think connecting on things that matter to them, really. So, you know, it's about, you know, we talked again about the performance management thing. It's not about sort of end-of-year conversation or like a monthly update meeting. It's actually, how are you doing? Do you need any kind of support? It's about being honest and transparent. Recognizing that as leaders as well, we're all flawed, you know, we're not perfect and we don't have all the answers, so let's not pretend that we do. And I think as well, when we're talking about, you know, we're trying to engage people and bring them on the journey with us in an organization in terms of making it more human, it's not just about broadcasting and announcing decisions, explaining them so people understand the rationale for what we're doing. Much like, you know, I've spent many years doing change programs and trying to bring people on the journey with you, not just telling what you're going to do, but explain to them why and what it means for them. So explain the rationale for what we're doing and treating people like human beings.