Authenticity and self-expression are two terms that I use quite a bit as a transformational leadership coach. What they essentially mean is bringing one’s full self to their role in managing people and engage in frank conversations that reveal personal stories as a way of building trust, deepening relationships and improving group performance. There are three areas where this approach manifests itself.
The first is being self-aware in terms of how leaders perceive themselves and how others perceive them. Oftentimes, oblivious leaders don’t have a realistic view of themselves and will reveal information in a way that seems phony or almost clueless. Some of them are driven by ego, talking endlessly about themselves or others. On the other side are leaders who have difficulty sharing anything about themselves in the workplace and like to be strictly business, which means they come off as inaccessible.
With this type of leadership, they don’t encourage others to self-disclose and can’t create long-term relationships. The second, which is really important, involves an ability to read the room, which, is understanding the mood within meetings and honoring boundaries. That means not oversharing or getting too personal. A failure to read the room could alienate people and disconnect leaders from employees. The third part is to share from the heart, which is all about authenticity. While many people prefer to have canned experiences, they don’t allow for building meaningful connections or collaboration. If these three steps are taken, the result will be a much happier and healthier work environment.
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