Building 'human centric' organisations

Every organisation is, by its very nature, the bearer of a plurality of objectives and criss-crossed by different interests; the ability to build organisations that are sustainable over time lies precisely in the ability to govern these balances, transforming trade-offs between interconnected objectives into conscious strategic choices.

Organisations must be able to make explicit and share their purpose, understood as the highest and most generative purpose, and must be able to ensure that all members of the organisation recognise it as their own. A purpose that must be centred on people, on the quality of relationships and on the ability to release and enhance human potential in all its dimensions.

Historically, many organisations have struggled to adopt a higher purpose-driven leadership, favouring a customer-centric view that is predominantly profit-driven. This has resulted in an obvious disconnect between the customer experience and the experience of the team, suppliers and all those on the inside who enable the company to achieve its business goals.

Human Centric Organisations overcome this dichotomy, recognising that people, communities and planet constitute an interdependent system. Truly putting people at the centre means adopting an inclusive vision, in which each individual contributes to creating value for other individuals, while respecting the environment and the relationships that make sustainable development possible.

People-centred organisations do not see any boundaries between what happens inside and outside their organisations; instead, they see only relationships, interconnections and interdependencies. No organisation is isolated from the rest. The success of any organisation is intrinsically dependent on the wider social, economic and environmental context, both on a local and global scale. It is not about theoretical corporate social responsibility, green practices or donations. It is about the full understanding that all systems are interconnected.

Paraphrasing organisation theorist Karl Weick, individual companies collaborate, compete and co-evolve with a multiplicity of private and public actors, demonstrating increasing levels of interdependence and shared interests that enable the creation of new and greater value

Becoming a people-centred organisation entails a fundamental transformation of an organisation's purpose and values. It is more than just a change in ways of working, skills, processes or infrastructure; it is a change in why we come to work. There is no doubt that a Human Centric Organisation is also a Learning Organisation.

But what really is organisational learning and why is it indispensable in a Human Centric Organisation?

Learning means enhancing human capital: encouraging continuous learning, contemplating the possibility of error as part of the learning process and opportunities to value each individual contribution, considering experience a perennial source of learning.

Thinking of an organisation capable of implementing the organisational learning dimension internally means conceiving it as an open and dialoguing system not only between the organisation's internal actors, but also between these and the wider social, economic and environmental context.

The idea of putting people at the centre is not a rhetorical exercise or a passing fad, it is a concrete commitment that redefines the way in which organisations grow and transform and represents, today, an indispensable managerial competence...

In the Observatory's latest issue, presented in January 2026, entitled HUMAN CENTRIC ORGANISATION edited by Vittorio D'Amato and Elena Tosca, data from Gallup's 'State of the Global Workplace 2025' report are analysed, which are discouraging to say the least.

In 2024, only 21 per cent of the world's workers feel engaged regardless of country, sector or company size, and only 33 per cent feel they are doing a relevant job and are confident about the future. At European level, Italia does not shine in terms of positioning. It ranks 28th out of 38 countries, with a percentage of 10% engaged workers. We have to go to Uzbekistan to find the absolute highest level (45%).

In the face of this data, the sense of urgency for change is clear. We have the opportunity or perhaps the need to put people at the centre of organisations and not put people inside organisations as has been done so far.

D'Amato and Tosca, speak of Human Centric Organisation as an almost natural consequence of managerial innovation. Companies must be read and investigated as living organisms in continuous evolution, in which meaning and significance is given to what is done, where people actively participate and influence the creation of value in a sustainable future for all.

Every organisation is, by its very nature, the bearer of a plurality of objectives and criss-crossed by different interests; the ability to build organisations that are sustainable over time lies precisely in the ability to govern these balances, transforming trade-offs between interconnected objectives into conscious strategic choices.

Organisations must be able to make explicit and share their purpose, understood as the highest and most generative purpose, and must be able to ensure that all members of the organisation recognise it as their own. A purpose that must be centred on people, on the quality of relationships and on the ability to release and enhance human potential in all its dimensions.

Historically, many organisations have struggled to adopt a higher purpose-driven leadership, favouring a customer-centric view that is predominantly profit-driven. This has resulted in an obvious disconnect between the customer experience and the experience of the team, suppliers and all those on the inside who enable the company to achieve its business goals.

Human Centric Organisations overcome this dichotomy, recognising that people, communities and planet constitute an interdependent system. Truly putting people at the centre means adopting an inclusive vision, in which each individual contributes to creating value for other individuals, while respecting the environment and the relationships that make sustainable development possible.

People-centred organisations do not see any boundaries between what happens inside and outside their organisations; instead, they see only relationships, interconnections and interdependencies. No organisation is isolated from the rest. The success of any organisation is intrinsically dependent on the wider social, economic and environmental context, both on a local and global scale. It is not about theoretical corporate social responsibility, green practices or donations. It is about the full understanding that all systems are interconnected.

Paraphrasing organisation theorist Karl Weick, individual companies collaborate, compete and co-evolve with a multiplicity of private and public actors, demonstrating increasing levels of interdependence and shared interests that enable the creation of new and greater value

Becoming a people-centred organisation entails a fundamental transformation of an organisation's purpose and values. It is more than just a change in ways of working, skills, processes or infrastructure; it is a change in why we come to work. There is no doubt that a Human Centric Organisation is also a Learning Organisation.

But what really is organisational learning and why is it indispensable in a Human Centric Organisation?

Learning means enhancing human capital: encouraging continuous learning, contemplating the possibility of error as part of the learning process and opportunities to value each individual contribution, considering experience a perennial source of learning.

Thinking of an organisation capable of implementing the organisational learning dimension internally means conceiving it as an open and dialoguing system not only between the organisation's internal actors, but also between these and the wider social, economic and environmental context.

The idea of putting people at the centre is not a rhetorical exercise or a passing fad, it is a concrete commitment that redefines the way organisations grow and transform and represents, today, an indispensable managerial competence.

*CFMT Director