How to Be More Authentic: Tips for Leaders
Authenticity is a big, bold, ambitious word and goal for leaders. It’s also a destination without a clear path to get there. There is no roadmap that can be “copy and pasted” as it’s unique for each one of us. Or at least it should be. Authenticity means staying true to your values, playing to your strengths, being vulnerable, blazing your own path, and also allowing others to be authentic.
In our executive coaching work, we help leaders understand what it means to be an authentic leader, why it’s important, and then help them become more authentic. Here, we’ll provide the process we use in helping building authentic leaders from the inside out.
How Leaders Can Be More Authentic
I was interviewed recently on the How We Solve Podcast with Sean Li and he asked me for a 3-step process to be more authentic. I thought I would share those 3 steps here along with a bonus step to help you become more authentic.
STEP #1: HAVE A WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE
Becoming a more authentic leader, like becoming a better leader overall, starts with a willingness to change. Changing the way we think. Changing the way we act. Changing the way we lead.
But change is hard. It’s hard because we tend to fall into behaviors that become engrained over time. Through repetition, those behaviors become habits that are challenging to change. Compounding our natural propensity to stick to habits is the fact that successful people become more successful through a reliance on these same habits.
Further, we may have self-limiting beliefs that build yet more resistance to change. Beliefs that hold us back and maintain a view ourselves that doesn’t serve us. Beliefs that prevent us from breaking out of an old personal “brand” to one that reflects our new values and experiences as well as the life we are living NOW. Overcoming self-limiting beliefs is a topic to be addressed separately, but it is important to acknowledge their role as a roadblock to change.
Over time, the best leaders learn to hold onto those behaviors that support growth and change while shedding those which are holding them back. They embrace a willingness to change as the first step to authenticity and growth as a leader.
To help spark a greater willingness to change, look to the future and think about the leader you seek to become or could become if you can drop those nagging self-limiting beliefs. A leader that is confidently authentic and able to connect, engage, and inspire the team. If you are stuck, try journaling and write down one big, future goal and list the changes required to help you achieve it. Identifying gaps (and actions to close those gaps) to achieve your future success can help get you on your way. It’s hard, but remember, growth is impossible without change.
STEP #2: FOSTER GREATER SELF AWARENESS
The next step to becoming more authentic is to cultivate greater self-awareness. Awareness of what matters most crystalized in a set of core values, beliefs, and strengths.
While this step alone warrants a separate series of blogs, I’ll provide a high-level roadmap here to help foster greater self-awareness.
Start by using reflection and journaling to identify your core values. Even if you already have a good handle on your values, journaling can still sharpen your focus to those with greatest resonance and support your ongoing success as a leader. Take time to answer questions such as, “What is my greatest professional accomplishment?”, “What is a challenge that I have overcome?”, or “What is a story that my family/friends tell about me?” After answering one or more of these prompts, look for words or themes that capture the essence of these stories. Words like growth, faith, purpose, family, achievement, and independence. Those are your core values.
Next, identify or confirm your personal strengths or the things you do well. Take time to write down your strengths, but focus on those that help you achieve results as a leader. Strengths such as communication, analysis, competitive, strategic, futuristic, connector, and others. Also, ask your colleagues, friends, and family for your strengths or words they would use to describe you. Take both data points and create a list of your top strengths. As you do, be sure avoid “strength envy” and focus on those that are true to you. Remember this is about becoming more authentic and not trying to be a version of yourself you think you should be.
One way to short-cut this process is to take Gallup’s CliftonStrengths assessment or Core Strengths’ Strengths Deployment Inventory 2.0. Gallup’s focus is on our natural talents or skills, while Core Strengths is more focused on improving communications by better understanding your motives (why you do what you do) and strengths (how you get work done). We use both tools to support the success of our clients.
In our coaching work, we take this a step further to help our clients develop a Personal Purpose Statement and a Personal Leadership Brand to help ensure alignment between their goals and actions with their values, beliefs, and strengths while ensuring they maximize their individual success and that of their teams. Even without those two tools, you can still proceed to step 3 by using the values and strengths uncovered above. Narrow your core values to a set of 3 and do the same for your strengths. Lean into and apply your values and strengths to help you become confidently authentic.
STEP #3: EXPRESS YOUR VALUES AND STRENGTHS AS PART OF YOUR AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP STYLE
Now, it’s time to apply your values and strengths as part of your authentic leadership style. Below are several methods to express greater authenticity as a leader.
Align Goals with Your Values
One way to be more authentic is to set goals that are aligned with your values. For example, if you identified “growth” as a goal above, consider setting goals around personal development (e.g. become a better public speaker) as well as team learning goals (e.g. start a book club or have each person become a subject matter expert on a key growth industry). Setting goals aligned with your values will demonstrate authenticity while enabling greater success and impact.
Anchor Decisions in Your Values
Another way to be more authentic is to make decisions based on your values. As you face key decisions, ask yourself, “How do each of these options align with my values?” or “Will this cause me to violate my own values if I proceed in this direction?” Doing so will help you stay in alignment and allow others to see how you anchor to and truly live out your values.
Play to Your Strengths
Playing to your strengths is another way to be more authentic. As a leader, take on roles that allow you to utilize your strengths while hiring or partnering to fill-in for your weaknesses (better called “development opportunities” or “growth areas”). For example, if you are detail oriented and analytical, take the lead to assess a new market opportunity, including the evaluation of revenue upside and risk factors. But partner with a colleague who excels at areas you don’t - inspiring an audience to communicate the plan to capitalize on the new opportunity and gain budget commitment. Avoiding the trap of “strengths envy” shows confidence and authenticity. It also allows you to focus on what you do well and ask for help in areas you don’t do as well. Authentic leaders also look to hire people who excel in areas they don’t. Bringing people on who are “better” in key areas takes confidence while demonstrating humility and authenticity.
Communicate in Your Own Style
Authenticity is also demonstrated through communication. Authentic leaders aren’t trying to mimic leaders they read about or watch from the outside. Rather, they develop a communication style and use words that feel natural, connect with their values, and leverage their strengths. Consider two leaders. One struts in the room, puffs up his chest, and uses buzz word after buzz word to explain a new strategy and why it is guaranteed to be successful. His style comes from emulating leaders he has read about. Compare that with a leader who walks in the room, greets each team member in a genuine manner, and then explains a new strategy, reasons it will succeed based on data, acknowledges areas of concerns, and then engages the team in a collaborative discussion to identify any risks while finding solutions to address them. The first leader looks and sounds like a two-dimensional mosaic of leadership tips. The second leader will come across as more authentic and better engage the team. To become more authentic, develop a communication style that connects back to your values and strengths.
Express Vulnerability to Your Team
You can also practice greater authenticity by expressing vulnerability to your team. The key is to practice vulnerability to show a greater part of yourself while connecting with your team members. There are several ways to be more vulnerable with your team, but it’s important to ensure it feels comfortable and authentic. Leaders who value privacy yet use vulnerability as a ploy to engage their teams will appear largely inauthentic. Share stories from your past, how you overcame key challenges, and other parts of your story to connect with your team and to show more of who you are. Doing so will help you to be more authentic.
Make Best Practices Your Own
We live in a world of best practices overload. TED Talks that tell us how to lead, be a better parent and person, and change the world. Books that provide a blueprint to become a world-changing leader. Courses that promise to change the way we think and act. Best practices are great, but it’s important to do more than simply “copy and paste” them if we want to be successful. And authentic. Adapt best practices to reflect your values and strengths. As I discuss in my book, The Savage Leader: 13 Principles to Become a Better Leader from the Inside Out, don’t blindly apply Elon Musk’s practice of “always multi-tasking” if you struggle from cognitive overload while doing two tasks at once. Rather, pair a task requiring limited brainpower like organizing your office with a low cognition task such as listening to a podcast. The point is to tailor best practices and make them “Authentic Practices.”
BONUS STEP: REVISIT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AUTHENTIC
People change over time. New experiences and challenges yield greater self-awareness. It’s important to revisit your values and strengths to ensure that you are staying true to who are authentically. Revisit step 2 above to consider how your values and strengths may have shifted. Most importantly, express them in each of the ways identified in step 3.
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Photo by Rupert Britton on Unsplash