News

“Deciding to take part in the Authenticity 1 – Authentic Leadership Course was a decision to make a change in my life. I had grown my role in the International Community Development Sector into leadership with a small team reporting to me. Engineers Without Borders grew from zero to thirteen staff in my time working there, and as I decided to leave my role and tackle a new role in a new sector, I was seeking support and tools to enable me to perform better.


This course has encouraged me to face my leadership challenges, and enhance my strengths through a course framework which emphasises that to understand how to lead others, you need to know yourself. For me this was all about leading myself first, then using the tools of the course to translate that into my leadership of others.


I think this is very reflective course that provides a lot more than leadership training, rather it provides you with a window to yourself - it empowers you in life.”

- Stewart Davies, Development Venture for Small Giants

"The authenticity Bray showed towards us throughout the program is instrumental to its success.

I am a true believer that open and honest communication from one person breeds the same from another and reflecting on the considerable life changes that most of us underwent over the last 8 months, our leadership journey could easily have fallen by the way-side if not for your enthusiasm and commitment"

- Maria Del Giudice, Analytics Optimisation Manager for ANZ

The Authentic Leader
Authentic leaders genuinely desire to serve others through their leadership.  They are more interested in empowering the people they lead to make a difference than they are in power, money, or prestige for themselves.  They are as guided by qualities of the heart, by passion and compassion, as they are by qualities of the mind.

Authentic leaders are not born that way.  Many people have natural leadership gifts, but they have to develop them fully to become outstanding leaders.  Authentic leaders use their natural abilities, but they also recognize their shortcomings and work hard to overcome them.  They lead with purpose, meaning, and values.  They build enduring relationships with people.  Others follow them because they know where they stand.  They are consistent and self-disciplined.  When their principles are tested, they refuse to compromise.  Authentic leaders are dedicated to developing themselves because they know that becoming a leader takes a lifetime of personal growth.

Being Your Own Person
Leaders are all very different people.  Any prospective leader who buys into the necessity of attempting to emulate all the characteristics of a leader is doomed to fail.  I know because I tried it early in my career.  It simply doesn’t work.

The one essential quality a leader must have is to be your own person, authentic in every regard.  The best leaders are autonomous and highly independent.  Those who are too responsive to the desires of others are likely to be whipsawed by competing interests, too quick to deviate from their course or unwilling to make difficult decisions for fear of offending.  My advice to the people I mentor is simply to be themselves.

Being your own person is most challenging when it feels like everyone is pressuring you to take one course and you are standing alone.  I remember readingThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.  Initially I did not relate to the film’s message, as I had always surrounded myself with people to avoid being lonely.  Learning to cope with the loneliness at the top is crucial so that you are not swayed by the pressure.  Being able to stand alone against the majority is essential to being your own person.

Developing Your Unique Leadership Style
To become authentic, each of us has to develop our own leadership style, consistent with our personality and character.  Unfortunately, the pressures of an organization push us to adhere to its normative style.  But if we conform to a style that is not consistent with who we are, we will never become authentic leaders.

Contrary to what much of the literature says, your type of leadership style is not what matters.  Great world leaders—George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Margaret Thatcher, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, John E. Kennedy—all had very different styles.  Yet each of them was an entirely authentic human being.  There is no way you could ever attempt to emulate any of them without looking foolish.

The same is true for business leaders.  Compare the last three CEOs of General Electric: the statesmanship of Reginald Jones, the dynamism of Jack Welch, and the empowering style of Jeff Immelt.  All of them are highly successful leaders with entirely different leadership styles.  Yet the GE organization has rallied around each of them, adapted to their styles, and flourished as a result.  What counts is the authenticity of the leader, not the style.

Having said that, it is important that you develop a leadership style that works well for you and is consistent with your character and your personality.  Over time you will have to hone your style to be effective in leading different types of people and to work in different types of environments.  This is integral to your development as a leader.

To be effective in today’s fast-moving, highly competitive environment, leaders also have to adapt their style to fit the immediate situation.  There are times to be inspiring and motivating, and times to be tough about people decisions or financial decisions.  There are times to delegate, and times to be deeply immersed in the details.  There are times to communicate public messages, and times to have private conversations.  The use of adaptive styles is not inauthentic, and is very different from playing a succession of roles rather than being yourself.  Good leaders are able to nuance their styles to the demands of the situation, and to know when and how to deploy different styles.

Being Aware of Your Weaknesses
Being true to the person you were created to be means accepting your faults as well as using your strengths.  Accepting your shadow side is an essential part of being authentic. The problem comes down when people are so eager to win the approval of others that they try to cover their shortcomings and sacrifice their authenticity to gain the respect and admiration of their associates.

A highly directive leader shared with me recently
“I too have struggled in getting comfortable with my weaknesses— .  Only recently have I realized that my strengths and weaknesses are two sides of the same coin.  By challenging others in business meetings, I am able to get quickly to the heart of the issues, but my approach unnerves and intimidates less confident people.  My desire to get things done fast leads to superior results, but it exposes my impatience with people who move more slowly.  Being direct with others gets the message across clearly but often lacks tact.  Over time I have moderated my style and adapted my approach to make sure that people are engaged and empowered and that their voices are fully heard.

I have always been open to critical feedback, but also quite sensitive to it.  For years I felt I had to be perfect, or at least appear that I was on top of everything.  I tried to hide my weaknesses from others, fearing they would reject me if they knew who I really was.  Eventually, I realized that they could see my weaknesses more clearly than I could.  In attempting to cover things up, I was only fooling myself”

As part of our research and development tools we have asked to partner with the Global Leadership Institute to focus on Authenticity in leadership. If you wish to be part of this process please contact us. Details of the questionairre follow.

Authentic Leadership Questionnaire - The benchmark measure of authentic leadership.
Bruce J. Avolio, William L. Gardner & Fred O. Walumbwa.

Global Leadership Institute
The Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) is a theory-driven leadership survey instrument designed to measure the components that have been conceptualized as comprising authentic leadership.

The four scales comprising the ALQ address the following questions:

1. Self Awareness: To what degree is the leader aware of his or her strengths, limitations, how others see him or her and how the leader impacts others?
   
   
2. Transparency: To what degree does the leader reinforce a level of openness with others that provides them with an opportunity to be forthcoming with their ideas, challenges and opinions?
   
   
3. Ethical/Moral: To what degree does the leader set a high standard for moral and ethical conduct?
   
   
4. Balanced Processing: To what degree does the leader solicit sufficient opinions and viewpoints prior to making important decisions?
   

Basis for the ALQ
The theoretical and empirical basis for the ALQ is covered extensively in the website. The ALQ has gone through extensive validation work, and is being used currently in a number of projects around the globe to augment other measures of leadership.

Effective modeling of authentic leadership Academic Exchange Quarterly, Summer, 2007,
by Jo Ann Brown,  William L. Gardner

Authentic Leadership Luthans and Avolio (2003, p. 243) define the construct of authentic leadership as "a process that draws from both positive psychological capabilities and a highly developed organizational context, which results in both greater self-awareness and self-regulated positive behaviors on the part of both leaders and associates, fostering positive self development."

In describing authentic leadership, they assert that transparency of the leader's intentions produces a "seamless link" between values, actions and behaviors. Authentic leaders inspire others by modeling the positive organizational states of confidence, hope, optimism, and resiliency (Luthans, 2002, p. 59: Luthans & Avolio, 2003, p. 245). By responding transparently to moral dilemmas, authentic leaders become ethical role models (Gardner & Schermerhorn, 2004).

Authentic leadership is a relatively new concept, and theoretical development has taken precedence over empirical testing to date. Groups of leadership researchers are concurrently focusing on the antecedents and trigger events of authentic leadership development, enhancements to well-being among leaders and followers, and narrative or life story approaches (Avolio & Gardner, 2005).

Empirically, Luthans and associates (2006) have reported preliminary evidence that the combination of confidence or efficacy with hope, optimism, and resiliency has a synergistic and positive impact on performance. Their initial tests of a developmental intervention show promise for increasing the levels of these psychological capabilities among individuals and providing performance benefits to their organizations.

Integrity and Core Values Integrity and a commitment to core values are important characteristics for exemplars and authentic leaders. Respondents listed positive aspects of integrity 184 times. For 28 percent of the participants, integrity was a quality of the most influential person they described. Moreover, 93 percent reported success or some success in emulation. Positive values in the areas of religion, family, or thrift were listed 152 times, and approximately 77 percent of the sample reported some success in emulating these values.

Conclusion

Results of the study suggest that the most influential individuals in the respondents' lives were not distant charismatic political and business leaders, but friends and family, teachers and coaches, ministers and mentors. Consistent with authentic leadership theory (Luthans & Avolio, 2003), respondents described these persons as exhibiting the positive psychological states of confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience, along with high levels of integrity and positive values. Moreover, the success participants reported in emulating these qualities and values attests to their importance in positive self-development among respondents. Together, these findings suggest that the processes whereby influential persons model positive psychological states and high levels of ethical conduct provide a promising starting point for the study and development of authentic leaders and followers.

To do our Authentic Leadership Pathway Diagnostic:

Click here to take the survey

Full article can be found at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3325/is_2_11/ai_n29397974

The Achievement Creed

 

Excellence in all things is an obtainable goal. It is something toward which one

strives and aspires, but it is not something that can be demanded of others; for the

very fact that it is demanded and not self selected destroys the essence of the

achievement motive.

 

That achievement thinking lies in the realm of the possible, of improving things, and

making anything better. It is not dissatisfaction with what is, but rather a constant

vision of what is possible.

 

That accomplishment, understanding, and improving oneself and ones’ surroundings

is an intrinsically positive force in human affairs. Man is a goal setting creature with

imagination and vision. While this may not characterize the bulk of the population,

it is characteristic of all human potential.

 

That this phenomena of striving for a better way is unique to mankind and, thus, the

need to satisfy this drive remains deeply rooted in our very makeup. Accomplishment

in and of itself is an intrinsically positive force that is nearly indomitable.

 

Being effective at what one does, in the broadest sense of the word, is a way in which

all human beings build self esteem and self value. The opposite of success at what

one does is not failure, but rather indicates a greater need to learn, improve, and try

again—because it is possible. I further believe that this manner of building self

esteem is uniquely within individual control and is not subject to the capricious

judgments of other people or time. That someone did it better does not mean I

failed.

 

That the artificial focus upon winners and losers obscures the accomplishments of

many and unnecessarily rewards a performance that may only be minutely different.

Such an overemphasis upon one winner tends to blur the abilities and the

accomplishments of many. This blurring diverts attention from the process of

excellence and draws it to winning, which is by comparison superficial.

 

That knowing, doing, striving, cooperating, creating and understanding are all

worthwhile activities in their own right. I believe it is a fundamental mistake to

embellish the act of achievement to the point where the extrinsic factors are more

recognized than the intrinsic factors. Such over-reaction causes a focus upon the

wrong stuff and upon the wrong method of recognition.

 

In a fundamental way that my effort, my thinking, my knowledge, my actions can

make a significant difference in the quality of my life and in the quality of the life

experienced by those around me or in my area of influence. While I have every right

to take pride in my accomplishments, I do not believe that such achievements

elevate my sense of worth over other people; the worth is my own. Conversely, my

failure is not the measure of the man, but of the response to the situation.

 

That the human being is the highest form of life and, as such, each has an

indisputable worth. This belief is to me the absolute mainspring of human progress.

Without such a belief, there is little basis to judge anything.

 

That it is from the mode of cooperation that we can progress beyond our self-centered

selves and attain some synergistic effect from the combination of individual effort.

Competition does not contain any such powerful effect, yet it is applauded and

nearly worshiped.

 

That the nature of man is more cooperative than competitive, and more

compassionate than aggressive, and that our worst selves emerge from fear, threat and

anxiety—not from our basic nature.

 

J Clayton-Lafferty Ph D.

Founder Human Synergistics

Ten Lessons in Leadership - General Colin Powell

Lesson 2

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the

day you have stopped leading them.  They have either lost

confidence that you can help them or concluded that you

do not care.  Either case is a failure of leadership."

If this were a litmus test, the majority of CEOs would fail.  One, they build so

many barriers to upward communication that the very idea of someone lower

in the hierarchy looking up to the leader for help is ludicrous.  Two, the

corporate culture they foster often defines asking for help as weakness or

failure, so people cover up their gaps, and the organization suffers accordingly.

Real leaders make themselves accessible and available.  They show concern

for the efforts and challenges faced by underlings, even as they demand high

standards.  Accordingly, they are more likely to create an environment where

problem analysis replaces blame.

 

Lesson 3 to follow next month:

"Don't be buffaloed by experts and elites.  Experts often

possess more data than judgment.  Elites can become so

inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death

as soon as they are nicked by the real world."

Leadership In the Service of Life

In recent years the question how can I help -  has become meaningful to many people. But perhaps there is a deeper question we might consider. Perhaps the real question is not how can I help? but how can I serve?

Serving is different from helping. Helping is based on inequality; it is not a relationship between equals. When you help you use your own strength to help those of lesser strength. If I'm attentive to what's going on inside of me when I'm helping, I find that I'm always helping someone who's not as strong as I am, who is needier than I am. People feel this inequality. When we help we may inadvertently take away from people more than we could ever give them; we may diminish their self-esteem, their sense of worth, integrity and wholeness. When I help I am very aware of my own strength. But we don't serve with our strength, we serve with ourselves. We draw from all of our experiences. Our limitations serve, our wounds serve, even our darkness can serve. The wholeness is us serves the darkness in others and the wholeness in life.

Helping incurs debt. When you help someone they owe you one. But serving, like healing, is mutual. There is no debt. I am as served as the person I am serving. When I help I have a feeling of satisfaction. When I serve I have a feeling of gratitude. These are very different things.

Serving is also different from fixing. When I fix a person I perceive them as broken, and their brokenness requires me to act. When I fix I do not see the wholeness in the other person or trust the integrity of the life in them. When I serve I see and trust that wholeness. It is what I am responding to and collaborating with.

There is a distance between ourselves and whatever or whomever we are fixing. Fixing is a form of judgement. All judgement creates distance, a disconnection, an experience of difference. In fixing there is an inequality of expertise that can easily become a moral distance. We cannot serve at a distance. We can only serve that to which we are profoundly connected, that which we are willing to touch. This is Mother Teresa's basic message. We serve life not because it is broken but because it is holy.

If helping is an experience of strength, fixing is an experience of mastery and expertise. Service, on the other hand, is an experience of mystery, surrender and awe. A fixer has the illusion of being casual. A server knows that he or she is being used and has a willingness to be used in the service of something greater, something essentially unknown. Fixing and helping are very personal; they are very particular, concrete and specific. We fix and help many different things in our lifetimes, but when we serve we are always serving the same thing. Everyone who has ever served through the history of time serves the same thing. We are servers of the wholeness and mystery of life.

The bottom line, of course, is that we can fix without serving. And we can help without serving. And we can serve without fixing or helping. I think I would go so far as to say that fixing and helping may often be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul. They may look similar if you're watching from the outside, but the inner experience is different. The outcome is often different, too.

Our service serves us as well as others. That which uses us strengthens us. Over time we burn out. Service is renewing. When we serve, our work itself will sustain us.
Service rests on the basic premise that the nature of life is sacred, that life is sacred, that life is a holy mystery which has an unknown purpose. When we serve, we know that we belong to life and to that purpose. Fundamentally, helping, fixing, and service are ways of seeing life. When you help you see life as weak, when you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. For the perspective of service, we are all connected: All suffering is like my suffering and all joy is like my joy. The impulse to serve emerges naturally and inevitably from this way of seeing.

Lastly, fixing and helping are the basis of curing, but not of healing. In 40 years of chronic illness I have been helped by many people and fixed by a great many others who did not recognize my wholeness. All that fixing and helping left me wounded in some important and fundamental ways. Only service heals.

Rachel Naomi Remen,

In the Service of Life, Noetic Sciences Review, Spring 1996.

This was edited from a speech given by Ms. Remen at the 1996 Temple award ceremony. Ms. Remen with her husband, won a McArthur Award for their work with Commonweal, a holistic cancer treatment facility in Bolinas California and is a professor of medicine