All positive employee relations environments require strong, authentic leaders. But is authentic leadership universal? Does it apply across different industries or even different cultures? Let’s say you’re a functional corporate director with a six-figure income and responsibility for a few million dollars of company business. Part of the people you oversee are hourly employees with high-school education working in one of the business units you oversee. How do you — who they might consider a “stuffed shirt” from corporate — effectively communicate with and coach them? We run into this situation all the time with our clients. I believe that being “authentic” is the master key to relating, communicating and coaching in the workplace, no matter the environment. Here are 3 tips I give on authentic leadership: 1. It starts with a mirror. While nobody I know thinks of themselves as a “stuffed shirt from corporate” I’ve seen plenty of executives who see themselves as smarter or better than the average production employee. These people forget that leadership isn’t something you get with a title or a degree – it happens when people choose to follow you. An authentic leader understands that if you aren’t getting the results you want you don’t blame the follower – you look yourself in the mirror and figure out what you are doing to contribute to the problem. Just that small change in mindset will transform your interactions with others. 2. Good leaders understand they have a toolbox with one tool – their conversations. If you are a leader you are no longer in a position to actually do the work. So your conversations are the only tool you have to accomplish your goals. If you can’t connect with others through your conversations you will fail. It is that simple. So a good leader understands that they need to master the art of getting results through conversations. The fastest way to do that is by connecting to others in an authentic way. People quickly figure out whether you are “real” and even if you have power over them you won’t have their full effort without an authentic relationship. 3. I believe authentic leadership is universal. I have international clients with operations in the US and it is interesting to watch leaders from other countries work here. The best ones learn to flex their style to work in a very different culture, and the ones who fail don’t flex. I’ve seen the same thing internationally (mainly in Canada) where American leaders fail when they don’t adapt. But in the end the ones who succeed are the ones who are authentic and use the power of their conversations to build relationships and ultimately followers in their organization. It is really important for leaders of any culture or background to be authentic. You can “fake it” for a while (although most people who think they are getting away by faking it usually are just fooling themselves). But to be successful long-term you must strive to have authentic, “real” relationships with coworkers — not just your immediate staff, but at all levels of the organization.
