What is authentic leadership? How do followers respect the authorities of those that have it? Does the the military breed authentic leaders, do we see ourselves as genuine leaders because of stripes or bars tell us we are or is there some other reflection process that makes us good leaders?
Authentic leadership is a leadership style that "emphasizes sincerity and genuineness (Authentic leadership (2015)." It establishes that the leaders stay true to their own values and principles. It involves being open and honest, deciosn-making, mistakes, to both the leader and the followers. At the very essence it is about being transparent with the follower or authentic (Wood, 2007).
The military requires open and honest communication between the leader and the follower. It exemplifies their demand signal. Since the formation of organized military thousands of years ago, we have stood by these demands. This demand has not changed for authentic leaders. The military in itself trains us to believe that we are good leaders, we go through our lives with new promotions, leading troops, putting on those new stripes or those new officers colors. We move from gunner to platoon sergeant to a staff job. We spend twenty years presuming that we are authentic leaders. I have done this; this however does not mean that I was an authentic leader.
Authentic leader means that I was genuine to my own values and principles and that I was willingly to accept criticism and feedback. I was open to new ideas and to my mistakes and reflect and even adapt my own leadership practices. At my last job I was responsible for the stand up of a new mission area and handpick 25 new troops. This exciting request a new squadron standup and I started four previous squadrons before, so this was not my first time. As the troops started to arrive one bye one they tested by authentic leadership, some tested me from day one. They tried to see what the bounds of my own principle would be, how far would I go to defend them, to stand up fro them, to get hem what they needed to get the job done. What lengths would I go for them?
Everyday I called an "Afternoon Huddle" with my senior team to discuss the day, I would ask for feedback honest, and open--the kind of "Let me have it!". This was a open discussion about anything they needed it could be personal, it could be mission related, it could be secretive, it did not leave the room. And they would let me have it, with all due respect. I would reflect on what they had to say, taking notes, jotting things down, even drafting the next days war plans on the board, so I would not make the same mistakes twice. I listened and made changes, I adapted where I could and where I needed too in order to both be authentic to my principles and to get the mission done. I was willingly to admit mistakes, I was willingly to discuss and debate, I was not willingly to argue or to fight. I was willingly to present evidence and counter evidence. I was willingly to be open and honest and to communicate all requirements. This required great comprise between myself, the team and the mission. But at the end of the day the team respected me more for it. This is authentic leadership.
References
- Authentic leadership. (2015). In J. Mcray (Ed.), Leadership glossary: Essential terms for the 21st century. Santa Barbara, CA: Mission Bell Media. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/mbmlg/authentic_leadership/0
- Wood, G. M. (2007). Authentic leadership: Do we really need another leadership theory?
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