What is an authentic leader?
Authentic leaders have a healthy alignment between values, beliefs and behaviours. This alignment motivates and energises leaders in their life at work and at home.
Authentic leaders
- Do their job without compromising their values or personality
- Are energised by their work and less likely to become depleted or burnt out
- Perform better, score more highly on employee engagement, job satisfaction and overall wellbeing
Some negative and toxic behaviours are often wrongly branded as authenticity. These include:
- Acting without filters, political savvy or good judgement
- Creating a false image of yourself
- Being rigid and unwilling to change your personal style and self-image
- Sticking with what feels safe
How to become a more authentic leader
If you’d like to become a more authentic leader, here are five steps you can take.
- Get clear on what’s important to you, your values, likes and dislikes
- Compare your values with your behaviours: how aligned are they?
- Make changes to realign your values and behaviours, getting help if you need to
- Work on how people see you as a leader: ask opinions and make adjustments
- Flex your leadership style based on how the world actually is as well as how you want it to be
How to hire more authentic leaders
To build a strong company you need authentic leaders with similar values to your organisation. Here’s how to find them:
- Talk about shared company values in your job descriptions
- Describe behaviours and results you’d like to see in the ideal candidate
- Ask values-based interview questions
To talk to us about developing authentic leadership in your organisation, get in touch.
