Introduction
All organisations have a leader who operates with a degree of consistency. Their teams don’t have to work out what they’re really thinking or what kind of mood they’ll be in on Monday. This trait, often referred to as authenticity, has become a key tool in organisations. As workplaces become increasingly remote and fast paced, with increasingly cynical staff, people will follow leaders they truly believe in. Authentic leadership is not purely about personality, but is a structured approach to leadership that drives leadership to align with who they are. A few core principles are recognised.
Start With Self Awareness
Authenticity begins with you. If you don’t know your strengths, weaknesses, triggers and motivations, you cannot be an authentic leader. Self awareness is knowing what you stand for, how you behave under pressure and how you come across to others. This can be developed through reflection, however, it can also be developed through feedback. Leaders who ask their team ‘how is it working with me?’ and actively listen (without being defensive) will gain some really useful insight. The idea is not to be critical, but to be accurate.
Use Core Values
Having core values only matters if you’re willing to pay the price. Whilst many organisations have posters on the wall saying how they value integrity, respect and excellence, when trying to achieve profitability through short cuts, it will be tested. Authentic leaders will identify upfront what they will not compromise on and will practice this. This makes them predictable in the best way possible! Even if employees don’t always agree with a decision, they will generally be happy to accept it as it can be linked back to known values. Over time this builds trust.
Be Honest And Transparent
Honest communication builds trust. Be as open as possible with your communications. This includes sharing negative information. If the organisation is going through a tough time (layoffs, missing targets, changing strategy) and you don’t communicate, people will start to rumour. Almost always the rumours will be worse than the truth. Transparent leaders will explain why things are happening. They will also be honest about what they don’t know. By stating ‘I don’t know the answer to that yet, I will however provide you with an answer by…’ you will gain more credibility than if you confidently state something only for it to fall apart. People can handle tough truths, however they really struggle to forgive feeling like they’ve been ‘played’.
Be Vulnerable
Leadership used to be about being certain and never making mistakes. However, authentic leaders see admitting mistakes, asking for help and recognising limitations as a sign of strength. It allows others to do the same. Research has constantly shown that building psychological safety (feeling safe to speak up) within teams will improve learning and performance. An authentic leader will model openness. Being vulnerable doesn’t mean oversharing or creating a confessional style workplace. It means being human in a relevant and meaningful way. This will help your team to see you as a person.
Be Empathetic And Listen
Authentic leaders are curious about the people they lead. They will recognise when someone is struggling and ask questions. They will also listen to truly understand what the issue is. Being empathetic doesn’t mean lowering standards. In fact the best leaders will be high standards but still be caring. This makes it easier to give challenging feedback. When people feel they’re being seen, they will put more of themselves into their work. Listening will also keep you grounded. Often those closest to the customers and day to day will have the insight that senior leaders don’t.
Take Ownership, Particularly In Tough Times
Nothing will hurt trust more than a leader who takes all the credit for successes and blames others for failures. Taking ownership is a discipline to take responsibility for outcomes. An authentic leader will ask what they could have done differently before blaming others for project failure. This will create a culture shift within your team. They will be less defensive, issues will be brought up early and learning will happen. Taking ownership can also be applied to commitments. By keeping your word on smaller commitments (being on time, delivering on requests etc.) you will build up a reputation without having to make any big gestures.
Results From Trust
There’s no magic link between authenticity and results. Building trust will reduce the cost of doing business within your organisation. If people trust their leader they will spend less time being defensive and more time problem solving, collaborating and making sensible risks. Retention will improve as people rarely leave leaders they respect. Reputation will improve as customers and partners can feel the honest culture. Whilst authenticity will not guarantee you success, it cannot be used as a replacement for competence or good strategy. Without it however, even the best strategy will struggle to get the commitment it needs.
Conclusion
Authentic leadership is more of a practice than a style. It is something that one does on a daily basis through little actions requiring honesty, fairness, and caring. To begin with, one needs to know who they are; to do this, they must have a particular set of values and practice behaving in a manner true to those values.I am quite sure that none of these principles are either very novel or easy, but they will allow leaders to become distinguished from those who can only command obedience and competence. Park is a strong believer in these principles that will help people create a positive corporate culture and achieve success.
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