I love these words - if you can be sure of anything you can be sure that whatever follows this phrase will be exactly that. I heard it used most recently at a senior team event I was facilitating when the ‘discussion’ between team members got a little heated. What I then found interesting was that, when the person who said it - and indeed followed it with a personal attack - was challenged on her behaviour, she shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘I was just being authentic’. I realised how easy it is, when under pressure, to misuse such a positive and powerful word - and deliver a devastating personal blow to the receiver.
Authentic is a great word, one of the core values of 21st Century Leadership, and one that appears alongside organisational values such as open, honest and genuine. Values, when properly defined and used, should help define how people in organisations engage with each other within the organisation and with customers and stakeholders outside. Not because it’s nice to do so, but because where an organisation’s values are aligned to its vision and strategies,they are an integral part of achieving results.
Yet, all too frequently as in the example above,values get ignored or distorted when the going gets tough or the pressure starts to build. Even the most inspiring leaders can become dastardly dictators, terrible tyrants, or, at the other extreme, limp lettuces when up against it. All of us have the ability to turn to the dark side. There are various psychometric tools that demonstrate how we operate when things are good - and then show our default position when stressed or under pressure. I enjoy seeing the slightly smug faces of delegates when their ‘going is good’ position is revealed - and the knowing grimaces when the negative indicators of the default position are revealed.
For me, and anyone who appreciates a bit of emotional intelligence in our leaders, one of the key measures of a strong leader is someone who can continue to demonstrate the values of the organisation consistently through good times and bad- and who can and will hold to account those who don’t. It starts at the top and must go right through the organisation as part of its DNA if the values are to do their job in delivering results. This means that values and the behaviours that demonstrate them need to be embedded into personal objectives and reviews -and therefore linked to pay and reward; into programme and project reviews and into feedback mechanisms.
If values do play an integral role in delivering results, allowing them to be ignored or distorted risks not hitting precious targets that now more than ever for organisations determine survival, success and safeguard jobs.
