Authentic Leadership: What It Is And Why It’s Important?

A leader sets an example for others and takes effective actions that benefit a company in various ways. No one can become a leader in a day because it involves several things. An authentic leader will lead an organization with unique characteristics and styles. He/she will choose the management style that offers more advantages. Authentic leadership involves practicing transparent behaviors to build strong relationships with employees. It even focuses on establishing trust, honesty, and transparency in a workplace that will help gain more benefits.

Why is authentic leadership important for an organization?

Increasing productivity in the workplace is an important objective of organizations. At the same time, they face difficulties in motivating teams due to a lack of skilled leaders. An experienced leader will offer solutions for problems in a company after evaluating them with more attention. Authentic leaders are necessary for an organization because they show ways to maintain a positive working environment.

Here is how they will promote a healthy culture in a company.

1. Increases employee morale

An authentic leader will increase employee morale in an organization by addressing concerns. Apart from that, he/she motivates employees and helps to increase productivity to a large extent.

2. Develop communication skills

Communication plays an important role in enhancing the performance levels of employees. A good leader aims at developing the communication skills of team leaders, project managers, and others. When a leader has good listening abilities, he or she can interpret the needs of a team and customers properly.

3. Improves relationships

Maintaining good relationships with employees is necessary for an organization to achieve significant goals. A company should know the importance of authentic leadership, which will help grow relationships in the workplace. Besides that, it provides feasible ways to obtain optimal results while planning important tasks.

4. Implements code of ethics

A good leader should have a positive internal code of ethics to manage external pressures with ease. Implementing a code of ethics will help an organization enhance the efficiency of its employees.

What are the characteristics of an authentic leader?

1. Self-awareness

Authentic leaders can assess their strengths and weaknesses properly because they cultivate self-awareness. Furthermore, they will guide employees to exhibit their self-awareness to perform better while performing important activities.

2. Focus on big results

Expert leaders know what authentic leadership is, and they work well with employees to address their concerns. Moreover, they always focus more on long-term goals and motivate their team to accomplish them with the best outcomes.

3. Consistency

An authentic leader doesn’t change his/her leadership style or apply different values to different situations. This results in consistency, which promotes reliability among employees in a workplace. Besides that, team members will also place their faith in genuine leaders who will do major wonders.

4. Integrity

An organization should understand the importance of authentic leadership, which helps to increase productivity. Authentic leaders are true to their values and practice what they preach in an organization. Also, they show ways to build loyalty among employees.

5. Transparency

An experienced leader will maintain transparency and encourage employees to focus on open communication. Moreover, he/she knows what authentic leadership is and follows the best practices in the workplace. Teams also get encouragement from him while voicing their concerns.

How do I become an authentic leader?

Those who want to know about authentic leadership should follow certain important steps to become more successful. They include self-awareness, communication skills, identifying values, finding a trustworthy mentor, and so on. Becoming an authentic leader needs those qualities that will help achieve goals with high success rates in an organization.