In the wake of the financial scandals and disasters of the early 2000’s, people were anxious and looking for trustworthy leaders. This created a demand for an authentic leadership style. Unsurprisingly, authentic leadership emphasizes trust, transparency, values, purposefulness, and responsiveness to team members' needs. Genuine and principled, authentic leaders seek to develop and empower their employees.
Research has shown that authentic leadership has four important aspects.
Authentic leaders are self-aware. They understand their strengths and weaknesses and the impact they have on others.
Authentic leaders do what is right and lead from their core values instead of being controlled by pressure from others.
Authentic leaders are fair and unbiased. They can consider others’ opinions, even if they disagree.
Authentic leaders are appropriately transparent and real in their relationships.
Authentic leaders' genuineness can cultivate trust and create a positive work environment for their teams. As trust is built, team members often respond by increasing their engagement and contributions at work. An authentic leader develops and empowers their team members, leading to higher engagement, job satisfaction, and commitment to their company.
While authentic leadership can be used in many leadership situations, it will not be helpful if a leader is unscrupulous. For example, some leaders believe that being authentic means that they are free to behave in hurtful or wrong ways, as long as they are being true to themselves. By contrast, good authentic leaders seek to be real and genuine in a way that builds up their team and organization.
Consider these principles that you can use to grow in authentic leadership:
Make a practice of evaluating your strengths, weaknesses, and values.
Make sure you are clear about your own values and always follow company ethics.
Look at where your behavior aligns with or differs from your ideals, and think about how you can act in ways that are true to your values.
Think about past life experiences that shaped you and how you can apply the lessons you learned.
Chew On This:
Where do your actions most line up with your values? Where do you struggle to act in line with your values?