Learning Consultancy Partnership
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Are you truly an authentic leader?...
Developing your authentic leadership through coaching
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LCP Newsletter
Greetings! 
 
What does authentic mean to you? 
 
In these turbulent times of economic uncertainty, political upheaval and lack of confidence in our political leaders, who can we trust?
 
With this context in mind we thought the topic of authentic leadership would be a good subject to review as we believe leadership characteristics, traits and qualities will continue to be a driving force in organisational success for the foreseeable future.
office workerAre you truly an authentic leader?
 
The concept of authentic leadership is not new but the term is appearing more frequently in leadership literature, especially in the field of coaching.
 

Defining what is meant by authentic leadership is not easy but in essence it is about being 'real' rather than 'right'.  Webster's dictionary defines the word 'authentic' as 'genuine'.
 

Authenticity involves taking actions that are meaningful rather than superficial and leading from the heart so that the public and private persona are consistent. 
 
To be truly authentic leaders need to be true to themselves and their values and beliefs, which is often hard resulting in tough decisions and openly acknowledging mistakes.  As Kevin Cashman put it 'Leadership is authentic self-expression that creates value'.
 

Authors on the subject e.g. Sharma (2008), identify a number of characteristics that authentic leaders display.  They:
 

Speak the truth - being honest in all of their communications regardless of the audience.
 

Lead from the heart - their actions are congruent with their values and beliefs.  They genuinely care about what they do and the people they work with.
 

Have rich moral fibre - they work hard on developing their character and becoming more self-aware and demonstrate this by 'walking the talk'.
 

Work at building relationships, teams and communities - they empower others to make a difference and are approachable and deep listeners.
 

Are courageous - they are willing to take risks and make difficult decisions when necessary.
 

Know themselves - they are self-aware understanding their purpose, vision, values  as well as their weaknesses and strengths.
 

Are dreamers - they often dare to dream the impossible dream that others see beyond their reach.
 

Practice self-discipline - they act as a role model by being consistent and trustworthy and their actions and words are congruent in all aspects of interactions with others.
 

Apply their personal power to create value - they develop the organisation through their personal presence and relationships.
 

Leaders often do too much and appreciate others too little. True authentic leaders  work towards total alignment between who they are and what they do and this  authentic expression creates trust and connection with others which in turn creates real, sustainable value for their organisations.
 
Developing your authentic leadership through coaching

Becoming an authentic leader can be a huge voyage of discovery for many, because often as leaders, we are too busy to take the time to step back and reflect on what we do and the reasons why we do it.  Some leaders are naturally more self-aware than others, but all of us have aspects of our characters that may not be obvious to us.
 

Working with an experienced and qualified coach can be an effective first step in developing your leadership to become more authentic. 
 

Saying someone is not authentic may seem to imply that they are dishonest but all of us tend to adapt our behaviours to fit into the roles and expectations that others have of us.
 

During our lifetimes we will have many roles at one time, son/daughter; husband/wife; mother/ father; colleague; friend and so on. All of these have expectations about how we should think and feel so really understanding who we are and what matters to us can become blurred and confusing.
 

An experienced coach can work with you at a number of different levels to help develop your self-awareness and clarify your purpose and vision. 
 

They can facilitate your thinking and self-discovery by using a number of diagnostic tools such as 360 degree feedback, inventories to identify your strengths, talents and values or psychometrics instruments to assess personality traits or personal preferences.  Emotional intelligence questionnaires are popular to help leaders understand their behaviours, management styles, attitudes, interpersonal skills, and potential.
 

Coaches can also facilitate your thinking by asking powerful questions about what you do and why you do it.  They can help you to discover which aspects of your life you find most fulfilling and then help you to build a plan that makes your actions more congruent with your values, beliefs and purpose.
 

At LCP we have a number of experienced and qualified coaches and if you would like a no obligation chat about the benefits of coaching and how a coach could potentially work with you or your leadership team please contact us.

 

Learning Consultancy Partnership provides bespoke coaching and development solutions to meet the specific needs across all levels of an organisation.
 
To find out more, please visit our website at http://www.lcp.org.uk.