Our cry for authentic leadership during transformation
We are experiencing a growing aversion to political and business leadership. Our ability to rapidly share, exchange, and discuss social, systemic, and environmental matters across boarders has revealed problems previously unacknowledged. As problems surface, our suspicions of being misled in general are spreading—to the workplace as well, at all levels. So, how can we take responsibility at work, where we spend the majority of our time, to create changes that we seek? By working on our authenticity and leadership skills. Here’s a look into workplace authenticity and why it’s key to successful transformations.
Authenticity spurs motivation and happiness
Strong, collaborative teams can manage change more successfully than individuals. Team members who show up authentically – being their true selves – contribute to team strength by improving collaboration and creativity. How so? When colleagues perceive us as authentic, we positively impact work-related attitudes and happiness, as indicated in a study in the Leadership and Organization Development Journal. Positive mindsets make change easier. Happy team members experience improved decision-making. Research discussed by Vanessa Buote, PhD in Social Psychology and Director of Research at Plasticity Labs, a startup that measures and trains emotional intelligence (EQ), in this Harvard Business Review (HBR) article reveals that being authentic not only strengthens relationships and increases levels of trust, but it also increases productivity and creates more positive work environments.
Are we holding back our uniqueness and hindering the benefits of diversity?
Do you know if you are embracing your differences? Frances Frei, UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management at Harvard Business School, and Anne Morris, entrepreneur and the executive founder of the Leadership Consortium, state in an HBR article, “Begin with Trust” that positive, trusting work environments encourage us to embrace our differences and unleash the benefits of diversity within teams. They stress that if we hold back our uniqueness, we suppress the most valuable parts of ourselves – our differences. Perhaps we’ve been holding back our differences for good reasons, but the world needs differences. Frei and Morris provide a simple way to check if you are holding back your uniqueness: How different is your professional persona from the one who shows up around family and friends? If you feel there’s a difference, you may be masking those parts that make you unique.
Being authentic means cultivating our uniqueness
Start by knowing yourself (emotional intelligence, “EQ”). Find the courage to be yourself and to seek self-improvement. Daniel Goleman, internationally known psychologist and award-winning author of Emotional Intelligence, asserts that building your self-awareness results in a clear understanding of your strengths, limitations, emotions, values, and motivations. Having a clear sense of yourself allows you to be honest with yourself and others about your ambitions, what excites and what inspires you. Find the courage to be yourself to nourish trustworthy relationships with relational transparency. Nourish your trustworthy relationships through integrity: Commit to bettering yourself by cultivating self-awareness, asking for feedback, setting goals, and exercising discipline to put gained insights into practice. Your authenticity and positivity may spread – and, if honed with your EQ skills, your authenticity will allow you to tap into each team member’s uniqueness, making the most of team diversity.
The alchemy: Managing authenticity amidst political intricacies
Authenticity can seem like a double-edged sword. In “Managing Authenticity: The Paradox of Great Leadership,” an HBR article on managing authenticity, Rob Goffee, professor of organizational behavior at the London Business School, and Gareth Jones, professor at the IE Business School in Madrid, discuss how goal orientation and awareness —of others and self-awareness— help navigate political intricacies. They point out that authenticity is a quality that must be perceived and attributable to you. Build it with proficiency as you move into/through managing positions where straight talk – considering opposing interests – may not always be expedient yet becomes increasingly crucial to reaching the company mission. This application of a mission-driven mindset is key to navigating politics. Authentic leaders balance maintaining their individuality while getting corporate culture buy-in. Goffee and Jones state: “Great, authentic leaders know which personality traits they should reveal to whom and when. They are like chameleons, capable of adapting to the demands of the situations they face and the people they lead, yet do not lose their identities in the process.”
What are your biggest challenges with authentic leadership?
Take care,
Helena
References:
http://athena.ecs.csus.edu/~buckley/CSc233/What-makes-a-Leader-HBR.pdf
https://hbr.org/2016/05/most-employees-feel-authentic-at-work-but-it-can-take-a-while
https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/authentic-leadership
https://hbr.org/2005/12/managing-authenticity-the-paradox-of-great-leadership
Hey everyone, I hope you’re enjoying my series of posts about leadership. Maybe you have some great ideas for topics which you’d like to see covered here? Let me know! I value your feedback and participation.!
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