Social representations of civil servants on the qualities of a human-centric leader and their role in unlocking employee potential

Context and relevance. In the context of global transformation, public administration faces the challenge of unlocking employee potential, making the role of a human-centric approach to leadership particularly significant.
Objective. To identify civil servants' social representations of the qualities that are key for a human-centric leader and positively influence the unlocking of employees' potential.
Hypothesis. Social representations of a human-centric leader in public administration and of a leader who facilitates the unlocking of employees' potential are closely aligned and exhibit a stable structure.
Methods and materials. The study was conducted in two stages: the interview stage involved semi-structured interviews with 54 top-level managers of public authorities, followed by thematic analysis and coding of leader qualities. The online survey stage included 16095 mid-level civil servants from federal and regional authorities, who formulated their representations of the qualities of a leader that contribute to unlocking employees' potential.
Results. Based on the interviews, respondents' representations of a wide range of characteristics of a human-centric leader were identified, grouped into thematic blocks. Two key groups were highlighted — warmth and competence. The survey stage revealed that participants' opinions on the qualities necessary for unlocking employees' potential also reflect these key groups.
Conclusions. According to civil servants' social representations, a human-centric leader in public administration simultaneously creates a warm, respectful environment and demonstrates high professionalism and effectiveness. Representations of a human-centric leader and the qualities necessary for unlocking employees' potential correlate with each other and include a synthesis of warmth and competence.

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