What is authentic leadership is a question that many people who aspire to become leaders in their field want to get an answer. Authentic leadership is a type of leadership that values honesty and building relationships with people who are valued as followers. Leaders in this style try to be positive and have an honest self-concept, which leads them to promote openness between themselves and their followers.
What is authentic leadership theory?
A leader is free to devise their own leadership style so long as that approach aligns with the personal character and values of that individual.
What is an example of authentic leadership?
Howard Schultz is a prime example of an authentic leader who gives you the possibility to understand what is authentic leadership. When he took the helm at Starbucks, his first order was to cut prices on bottled water and iced tea in 2008-2009 when there were huge economic woes going around. Howard quickly realized that people needed comfort during this time period so they could rely on their daily rituals while making tough decisions about what else to do with dwindling budgets for luxuries like coffee drinks or expensive meals out.
How do you develop authentic leadership?
Know yourself
“It is important to be aware of your own weaknesses and strengths in order to lead the company without feeling like you are a fake or an imposter.”
Connect
You will want to make a sincere connection that matches the needs of your situation. Whether you are speaking with one person or in front of many people, it is important for them to feel like they can trust and relate to what you have said.
Be discreet
“You don’t need to tell your entire life story or constantly talk about how you feel. An authentic leader is someone who focuses their energy on others and trusts that people will naturally respect them for it, Vuckovic says. So before spilling personal details just ask yourself: Is this relevant? Does it contribute anything of value towards understanding my values here? If not then keep the conversation focused on the task at hand.”
Play to your strengths
Every leader has his/her own set of qualities which make him/her unique amongst the rest- some might excel with maintaining high spirits among team members, whereas others may thrive when determining how best to reach certain goals.
Authentic leadership disadvantages
Leaders can appear overbearing
For some employees, the prescriptive leadership style can be seen as overbearing or restrictive. This especially goes for young leaders who handle specific responsibilities such as managing more experienced staff members.
Lleaders must own their mistakes
A disadvantage of authoritative leadership is that the leaders must own their mistakes. This means there are no excuses for any wrongdoing, and it can be hard to admit when a mistake has been made.
Can authentic leadership be learned?
Leadership is a skill that can be learned. Leaders need to know how to use self-awareness, logic and other people’s opinions when making decisions. One thing they cannot learn though are morals or values – who we are informs what kinds of leaders we will be for others in our lives. If someone has poor moral standards, followers sense it and the lack of these traits makes trusting them harder than ever before because there needs to be trust between leader and follower.
Conclusion
The conclusion of what is authentic leadership is to understand that being authentic means following the example of those whom you are striving to emulate and listening to what your followers have to say. It also entails being a student and paying attention to what they are saying, studying their body language and reactions. All this is done with an open mind and a willingness to take risks to help them develop into better leaders. We do not want to discourage people from being leaders, but we also do not want people to believe everything that they are told by others if it does not seem to make logical sense.
