Imagine if your leaders were highly engaged. Imagine if they demonstrated this to their team. Close your eyes… What does that look like? What does the work environment feel like?
There is ample literature on this subject showing that there is a deep-rooted need to adjust the meaning of leadership based on different factors. These factors may, among other things, be linked to the growing volatility in the business environment, increasing competitiveness, globalization of economic and business issues, and rapid development of technology that affects the key responsibilities of leaders. Timely decision making and optimized use of resources — can all influence the defining characteristics of a leader.
Employee Engagement
Regardless of the business environment and the management level, most people have come to expect that managers will, at minimum, make timely, informed decisions and make reasonable and optimal use of available resources, especially human resources. It is precisely in this latter regard that leadership behaviours can make a big difference.
It has been clearly demonstrated that leadership has significant impacts on business results. According to 2014 research on engagement conducted by Aon Hewitt, a management consulting firm, perceptions of leadership had an average correlation of 0.6 with the top global employee engagement drivers. Furthermore, companies that had greater than seven out of 10 employees engaged with work also outperformed the average company on business results — by 4% on sales growth, 2% on operating margin and 4% on total shareholder return.
What does that mean? It means that the effectiveness of managers, even if only perceived, has direct implications on employee engagement. Companies with engaged employees stand out; this includes improved client satisfaction and return on investment.
Digging Deeper
If you go through the definitions of leadership from the past 20 years, you will notice that not one addresses with depth and breadth the human component of leadership. So how does the notion of authenticity fit into the discussion of good leadership?
When asked which values employees most appreciate in a manager, they often say something along the lines of, “Someone whose door is always open. You don’t have to walk on eggshells when they are around;” “Someone who offers support in difficult times and you always know where that person stands;” or “A manager who consistently does what they say they will do and stands by their values.” This is the picture of what workers consider to be an “authentic” leader.
In the literature, being an authentic leader may be defined a little differently, depending on the author. But in the end, being authentic refers to being introspective, true to yourself and consistent with your values, words and actions. You cannot be authentic without having a strong connection to your values. Authenticity has become a key attribute in leadership due to the impact that leaders have on employees’ contributions to the success of their organization. By nature, individuals have the crucial need to connect their hearts and minds. They rely on leaders to create that connection. That is why leaders struggle with being authentic while they are confronted with decisions or supporting decisions that are not always in line with their core values.
Key Attributes
Authenticity in leadership should not be confused with leadership style. Authenticity is certainly not the only attribute that makes a high-performing leader. As mentioned earlier, there is also a close relationship between organizational performance and employee engagement, both of which are influenced by how employees perceive their leader’s efficiency. Consequently, in order to attain desirable results, a leader must win the hearts of team members. A leader must give particular attention to the emotional aspect of the workplace — the relationship between employees and their organization.
Following comprehensive research in 2014, Aon Hewitt was able to develop the “Engaging Leader” model, which highlighted the different attributes of a leader, including those related to authenticity. The findings were consistent. At their core, engaging leaders have three fundamental similarities: an early experience that shaped them; a unique belief system and personality traits that create connections with others and help them stay grounded; and, finally, distinctive behaviours that positively affect the commitments of those around them.
Most importantly, the study revealed that in order to engage others, leaders must first be engaged themselves. This raises the critical issue of a leader’s awareness of their own engagement and their ability to accept how others perceive them.
Closing the Gap
In order to make sense of authenticity within the context of leadership, you must compare your perception of yourself with how others perceive your reactions in various work situations. Authenticity refers to, among other things, your ability to be true to others, but also to yourself, which requires a certain degree of self-awareness. If, as a leader, you are asked whether you are always consistent with what you feel and believe, and whether your words and deeds are always aligned with your deep beliefs, and you answer without checking what others think in this regard, you are likely to be surprised by their answers.
In leadership, what matters most is the gap between the leader’s self-perception and how others perceive the person. A leader must make every effort to close this gap pertaining to all the required leadership attributes, including authenticity. It is certainly no coincidence that leadership has been at the forefront of organizational discussions. It is known that leadership has a direct impact on bottom-line results, both positive and negative. But there is no magic formula. It is a complex constellation of characteristics, behaviours and cognitive ability that leads to success.
Successful companies follow certain practices to assess leadership attributes and authenticity is becoming increasingly part of those measurement factors. This is done through various sources of feedback and processes, including evaluation of potential candidates in the succession management process. Such practices as personality tests, 360s and multi-rater assessments allow leaders to understand their perception gaps and work on their blind spots. They can be highly effective at unveiling strengths and areas of development. They can also isolate one of the most prominent features in superb leadership behaviour: authenticity.
Francine Tremblay is an Associate Partner in the Talent Strategies Practice for Aon Hewitt. She is involved in mandates pertaining to organizational efficiency and designs performance management programs. She has experience in organizational development, compensation survey management and human resources management.
Originally published in volume 17 issue 3 of Your Workplace magazine.