In order to answer the question of “am I an authentic leader?” I have to ask the question of myself: what does it mean to be an authentic leader? Afterall, don’t I need to know what it is before I can say if I am it or not? Northouse identifies authentic leadership as a newer area of leadership research but also a more complex area that has been defined from different perspectives (Northouse, 2016). Using Walumbwa’s, et al. (2008) theoretical approach, authentic leadership is broken down into four areas of (1) self-awareness, (2) internalized moral perspective, (3) balanced processing and (4) relational transparency (Northouse, 2016). Where do I fall in each out of these buckets?
Beginning with self-awareness, the video in this week’s module on authentic leadership talked about self-awareness but not just being able to understand our strengths and weaknesses but the impact that we have on others (PSWC, 2018). The part about the impact on others is important because is a strength really a strength if it has a negative impact on others? Earlier in this semester when we studied the Trait Approach to leadership we learned that intelligence was a trait of a leader (Northouse, 2016). However, intelligence is one of those areas of strength that can ultimately be a weakness if it is flaunted or overused. For example, when I have thorough knowledge of a topic, I have a tendency to be more outspoken and sometimes I don’t allow other people to demonstrate their knowledge on the topic. When I do this, my intelligence has a negative impact on those around me that are striving to demonstrate their knowledge. It may give off the impression that I feel I am more intelligent that others. I have become self-aware that I do not allow people the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in these instances and therefore I am learning to become more reserved in my approach when I encounter topics that I have more knowledge about. Because I am in a senior leadership role within my organization, I have been given the opportunity to demonstrate my intellect, therefore in order to develop those around me, I need to take a step back and offer them the same opportunity to demonstrate their intellect. This is only one example of self-awareness. Northouse goes on to explain that self-awareness is about being able to have a good understanding of who you are and what you stand for and operating in a way that does not deviate from that (Northouse, 2016).
Internalized moral perspective is using our values to guide us and not allowing external factors to sway us (Northouse, 2016). An internalized moral perspective allows us to be consistent with the beliefs and morals that we have developed over a lifetime and not be influence by the beliefs or actions of others (Northouse, 2016). Our values act as our compass and guide us in our decision-making. For example, my values were developed from the laws of our country, the beliefs derived from my Catholic upbringing, the guidance of my parents and the teachings that I learned in school, among other things. My moral standards help me know right and wrong and be able to apply those standards in my business practices. The golden rule in Catholicism is “do unto others as you would have done unto you.” Simply put, this means treating others as you want to be treated. At times this might be a difficult task because people don’t always live by this rule and therefore it might be easier to treat others as they are treating us. This is what Northouse means when he states that authentic leaders are not influenced by the actions of others; holding firm to the value of treating others as I want to be treated and not how they are treating me (Northouse, 2016).
Northouse states that balanced processing is being able to be objective but also to respect and accept the views of others (Northouse, 2016). This also includes obtaining the viewpoints of those that we may not agree with or strong disagree with. Naturally we would want to align ourselves with people that agree with us or share our views. However, it is in those that disagree with us where we may find a perspective that we haven’t considered and can help us make better, more thought out decisions. One of the organizations that I have worked for conducts an employee survey every couple of years and one of the areas where they tend to score low is in the area of employees feeling valued. One way to improve how valued employees feel is by allowing their voices to be heard and making them feel a part of the decision-making process. I regularly conduct brainstorming sessions with my teams that not only get everyone involved in the decision-making process but these session also allow them to voice concerns that they have and become part of the solution for those concerns. I use these sessions to also train myself in hearing others without giving my own perspective. During these sessions, one of the ground rules is I am not allowed to participate in the discussions; I act as the facilitator only. The perspectives that I get during these sessions always surprise me; I may not otherwise have obtained them if I made decisions in a vacuum.
Finally, Northouse states that relational transparency is the last component in authentic leadership (Northouse, 2016). Northouse describes this as “being open and honest in presenting one’s true self to others” (Northouse, 2016). This component relates to not only the positive attributes of a person but the negative attributes as well. I had the privilege of attending an executive leadership program with one of my former companies. For a week a group of my peers and I were subjected to team activities. At the end of the week, we gathered into smaller groups to discuss how each of us performed and what our teammates thought about our performance during the week of activities. It was during this session that I learned that regardless of what you try to hide from people, someone will always notice. Without going into a lot of details and derailing this blog, let’s leave it as I tried to put on a front that everything was perfect and I didn’t have any flaws. During the feedback session, my teammates told me that they felt I was being inauthentic. What I learned from this is we are human and we are not perfect; that is okay and perfectly acceptable. It is our flaws that make us real and relatable.
These four components of authentic leadership are just one way to define authentic leadership; there are others include more practical approaches to authentic leadership (Northouse, 2016). However, using these components and the examples I have provided, I believe I can say that I am on my way to being an authentic leader. I think there will always be challenges that test my authenticity and ultimately how I respond to those challenges will be a true determination of my authentic leadership ability.
References
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Penn State World Campus (2018). Lesson 12: Authentic Leadership. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1923777/modules/items/23736294