Inner Work for Authentic Leadership
Authentic
Leadership focuses on whether leadership is genuine and “real”. Northouse
(2016, p. 195). This leadership theory, as Servant Leadership, can be combined with
distinct types of theories and even being blended with one another, since both
of them involves a specific condition from the leader point of view, independent
of situation or followers. And this is not a matter of coincidence. William
George (2003), known as Bill George, found through interviews with 125 successful
leaders that authentic leaders have a genuine desire to serve others.
(Northouse, 2016, p. 197).
George studies about authentic
leadership goes in accordance of Northouse (2016) opinion, when he mentions
that currently people demand for trustworthy leadership, which make the studies
timely and worthwhile. According to George (2012), this was realized even from
the leaders’ point of view since the financial crisis of 2008.
On the subject of Authentic
Leadership, George (2012) says the practice of mindful leadership gives
you tools to measure and manage your life as you’re living it. On an interview
with Daniel Goleman in 2012, George says
that to be an authentic leader we need to do an inner work, to develop our self-awareness,
which for George includes processing internally real world experience, through
self-reflection and honest feedback from people we trust and have an intimate
level and not a superficial relationship.
For me, the real-world experiences
which have been most instructional is my relationship with my fiancée, where I
need to be myself, to share my thoughts, to face challenges, seek for
development and continuous improvement as a human being, as friend, and as woman.
I need to practice daily my communications skills (active and passive), my
forgiveness, and my patience, review my weaknesses, abdicate from my self-interests,
learn how to receive, and practice constantly on how to give. On my other
relationships (professional, personal and social), there are times
where I do not go an extra mile to improve, to listen actively or to be honest
and sincere, since sometimes will take a long way to be understood or it will
bring challenges I do not want to face, however on my conjugal relationship I
need to be my-self which instruct me to be authentic.
Self-reflection it is what I do most
regarding to my relationship, which has its downtimes, as everything we do in
excess. I am in an ultra-long distance relationship for three years now, and I
live alone, apart from being away from my family as well. These factors and my
job conditions give me a long time to think and rethink about everything. I do
not really need to look for time, space or condition. My self-reflection is
constant and more than once daily, which is good since I am always reviewing my
actions, the consequences and the alternatives to a better outcome. What I need
to control is my imagination found on my fears and insecurities. Excess of free
time alone and constant self-reflection can bring negative consequences as well
and this is a variable neglected on this type of studies, since does not affect
majority. As a point to make, for an instance, related to this specific
life-style as air crew (unknown for people outside the field) is the amount of people
diagnosed with depression and alcoholism, plus the ones who hide the symptoms
fearing the consequences. I do not really know if there are studies on that, but
as someone inside the field, in touch with the human beings working out there, observing
behaviors and comments, I can easily say the rate is high. My though in this
illustration is: maybe this is an excess of self-evaluation unaccompanied of
action-plan? Simply a hint to think about.
Honest feedback, in my case,
independent of the sphere of my life, I receive from my fiancée. We constantly talk about ourselves as active
partners inside the relationship, we share our thoughts regarding to our
professional life looking for each other’s counsel, and we touch in points as
family issues and circle of people around us (how they affect and is affected
by us). There are two points to make related to feedback, which is a general
rule in my opinion, but personally, me and him practice constantly. When and
how this feedback is provided is crucial for its effectiveness. The person
giving the feedback needs to considerate several variables while choosing the
words, tone of voice and time to do so. The person receiving needs to open its
mind for listening, since constructive feedback, when necessary, might hurt or
touch in areas inside us where we do not want to be touched. The other point I
would like to make, which is linked with the previous one, is the humility we
need to have to ask for feedback and our self-awareness while doing so. Using
my own example, I usually ask for feedback when I am feeling good from inside
and when I am craving for self-development. I always choose a time when we are
alone, usually while on bed in the end of the day, when we are physically
together (not in phone calls or text message) and first I evaluate myself if I
will be able to handle things I do not want to hear, probably developmental
points I already know, subconsciously, I need to work on and do not want or
know how to face this challenge.
The practice of self-reflecting and
seeking for opinion regarding to myself, helps me so much as a leader, independent
if self-leadership or if leader of others. The outcomes are clearly seen on the
performance of my employees, on the feedback of customers, on the results of my
action and advices given to my family (specially my mom) when I need to
interfere in any issue and on my conjugal relationship, where we overcome obstacles
every time in a better way and avoid making the same mistakes. There is a long
way to go to achieve the best leader I could be, honestly speaking, however
this examples illustrate my way on the long path to authentic leadership.
“As
you take on greater leadership responsibilities, the key is to stay grounded
and authentic, face new challenges with humility, and balance professional
success with personal success.”
Bill
George
REFERENCES
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice. (7th edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
George, B. (2003). Authentic
Leadership: Rediscovering the secrets to creating lasting value. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
George, B. (2012). Inner
Work for Authentic Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPu2LQ84ts
on May 07, 2017.
George, B. (2012). Mindfulness Helps You Become a Better Leader.
Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/10/mindfulness-helps-you-become-a.html on
May 7, 2017.
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