From Skills To Connection How HumanPower Is Reshaping Leadership And Growth At Work

Lyndy van den Baarselaar, Managing Director at Manpower SA

It’s a shift in how we lead, grow, and show up for one another. At the heart of it all is something deeply human: the power to connect, adapt, and lead with purpose. This is HumanPower, and it’s fast becoming the most critical currency in the workplace.

In South Africa, where our workforce is as complex and resilient as our history, HumanPower isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s the key to building inclusive, future-fit organisations that can thrive in uncertainty.

Here are three trends that will define the next chapter of work, and how HumanPower can help us steer them with intention and impact.

Leadership reimagined: The rise of the human-centred leader

The era of command-and-control leadership is over. Today’s most effective leaders aren’t the ones with all the answers. They’re the ones asking better questions. They’re creating space for others to lead, listening with intent, and building cultures where people feel safe to speak up, take risks, and grow.

This shift is especially urgent in South Africa, where teams are navigating hybrid work, generational divides, and the lingering effects of burnout. Human-centred leadership isn’t just about being “nice”, it’s about being real. It’s about showing up with empathy, leading with integrity, and making decisions that reflect both business goals and human needs.

We’re seeing this shift reflected across South African organisations that are rethinking leadership development to include well-being, resilience, and mental fitness as core competencies.

When leaders actively prioritise balance and model vulnerability, they send a powerful signal to their teams: that humanity and performance are not opposites but partners. The ripple effect is a culture where people feel supported, trusted, and empowered to bring their best selves to work.

AI-enhanced human potential: Designing tech that elevates, not replaces

AI is no longer a futuristic concept. It’s already reshaping how we hire, onboard, and manage talent. But the real opportunity lies in how we use it. When designed with intention, AI can amplify human strengths: freeing up time for deeper conversations, surfacing hidden potential, and personalising learning in ways we’ve never seen before.

The risk, of course, is that we use AI to cut corners rather than build capacity. That we automate empathy out of the process. But HumanPower reminds us that technology should serve people, not the other way around.

In South Africa, where access to opportunity remains deeply unequal, AI can be a powerful leveller if used wisely.

Some local companies are already leading the way, using AI-powered tools to reduce bias in hiring and identify candidates based on skills and potential rather than pedigree. But the human touch remains essential.

Final decisions, especially those that shape someone’s career, must be grounded in values, not just data.

Skills-first hiring and lifelong learning: Building a workforce that can evolve

In a world where job titles are evolving faster than university curricula, the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn is becoming the most valuable skill of all. We’re seeing a global shift toward skills-first hiring, where what you can do matters more than where you studied or what your CV says.

This is a game-changer for South Africa. It opens doors for more inclusive talent pipelines and gives people the chance to grow into roles they may never have imagined for themselves. But it also challenges organisations to rethink how they support learning, not as a one-off intervention, but as a continuous, embedded part of work.

Forward-thinking companies are already investing in this shift. They’re offering micro-credentials, mentorship programmes, and project-based learning that meet people where they are.

They’re recognising that growth doesn’t always happen in a classroom; it happens in the flow of work, in moments of feedback, in stretch assignments, and in second chances.

Final thought: HumanPower is the strategy

The future of work isn’t just about adapting to change; it’s about shaping it. And that requires more than digital tools or agile frameworks. It requires HumanPower.

When we lead with empathy, design with inclusion, and invest in people’s growth, we don’t just build better workplaces, we build more resilient, innovative, and humane organisations. In a world of algorithms and automation, it’s our humanity that will set us apart.