Authentic Leadership in Contemporary Time

I agree that self-exploration or self-assessment is the best tool for self-awareness.

There are a lot of advantages from an authentic leader. One of the most important is that a person under his leadership will have enhanced attitudes, work performance improvement and encourages positive emotions. For me, the leadership theory will be better if there is a tool to measure it.

Nowadays, we need authentic leaders to be governing in our field. We need good leaders to lead us towards improvement in the nursing field. Also, it challenges us to become one of the few authentic leaders in our country.

@ mariekathleensantos

If an authentic leader is existing in any group, showing passion, excitement, and energy could be the key for his members to be encouraged or motivated, and inspired to also attained those because happiness is evident in whatever the leader(s) is doing.
The said weaknesses of the author in the theory is where it can be improved. The most important is the measurement of self-awareness wherein it is one of the element that an authentic leader must have. Then, more empirical testing to different participants should be conducted.
Yes, i think authentic leadership is significant today. It should be given more importance and knowledge to it will lead to application of it in a health care setting for a leader-follower relationship and healthy work environment. The emerging theory discussed on characteristics on how to be an authentic leader so if those are apparent within the workplace of any area of every institution there would be a better working environment for the head, nurses, and also to the patients.

Authentic leadership helps in the development of a leader. The characteristics mention in the model should be internalized for a person to become an effective leader. Authentic leadership affects healthcare in the aspect of improving the service that the health care providers are offering to their patient's. We have tackled different nursing theories last week and for me I have now a better grasp of each theory. In relation to authentic leadership, since we have read the article, although for me it's an old model, the author somehow gave a different approach or have reminded us of what leadership should be. For me a great follower is a great leader.

The benefits of Authentic Leadership include:

An individual continually grows. They creatively adjust to the conditions that are facing them.This process is sustainable and shapes culture.

People become more honest with themselves and those they are in contact. Developing higher levels of trust and goodwill towards each other. Hearts become involved not just minds.

An individual connects with and aligns decisions to their personal conscience. This means higher levels of ethics and personal integrity.

Leaders appreciate and utilise ‘difference versus sameness’. This fosters innovation and an ability to resolve conflict.

New memes (ways) of thinking develop. This provides an opportunity to view the world differently and solve issues of great complexity .

Suggestive implementation of Authentic leadership can affect not only the health care delivery system but the society as a whole. The role of authentic leadership in nursing practice is to create a healthy work environment, maintain adequate workforce, and shape the healthcare practice environment to produce quality outcomes.


http://www.ahigherself.com.au
Maria R. Shirey, MS, MBA, RN, CNAA, BC., Authentic Leaders Creating Healthy Work Environments for Nursing Practice

@ chel_calvelo


Thank you for responding to the questions!

I think that one benefit of Authentic Leadership is having a special relationship with their followers; one that is characterized by mutual respect, mutual support and mutual trust. Where Authentic Leaders get the best from their people; subordinates and colleagues are favorably influenced by them and follow their lead willingly.

Authentic Leadership is a leadership multiplier; the actions taken by Authentic Leaders are received more favorably by others. Therefore the impact of their outcomes and their results are significantly increased. Authentic Leadership provides a lens through which all positive leadership outcomes are magnified, thereby leading to ‘better’ results.

For people in an organization, in a hospital as an exampleto work harmoniously and efficiently, a healthy work environment is indeed agreat need. One way to achieve this is through having an authentic leader. Authenticleaders not just any leaders, arethe glue that holdtogether a healthy work environment. They conform to fact or speak the truth and therefore are worthy of trust, reliance,or belief. This model may lack enough scientific bases but it is a greatstart towards the journey of a better perception of our innate leadershipqualities.

In my opinion , one of the advantage that our health care team can benefit from authentic leadership is having a safe and quality healthcare delivery system. Through this, ethical issues regarding misconducts in our practice will lessen.

The theory focuses only on the positive traits of both the leader and the follower. They should also consider its weaknesses to be able to make it more realistic. The theory was well defined but some of its concepts are difficult to measure (like self-awareness).

Some may think that authentic leadership is somehow has its significance concerning leadership in current time and I agree with that. But sometimes, leadership style that is needed in our practice depends on the situation we are experiencing. This leadership may be applicable to you but not to others. I think every human being is a unique individual. We have the freedom to choose what kind of leadership that will fit us. By the end of the day the most important is leaders-followers having good relationship which as a result will be create a healthy work environment that recipients of care can benefit form.

@ AntonJayTan

@ Edliwag

@ Charis Juan

@ Cezzy

A good example of a authentic leader is our class leader AC.
For the question, In my opinion authentic leadership have a great significance to nursing leadership.

Today's health care environment, both community and clinical setting needs a leader. Leaders who inspire others. In hospitals, where the head nurses serve as the immediate leaders and their leadership style can affect staff nurses' job satisfaction. Authentic leadership can boost staff nurses' self esteem and working skills.

A leader is effective in manifesting his or her goals because he creates specific, achievable goals, initiates action and enlists the participation of others. These actions are guided by his sense of understanding one self and knowing fully that empowering the people you serve creates a harmony in the pursuit to achieve goals.

More self-aware and passionate than others, leaders follow an inner sense of direction, and lead from the inside out, as exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi. He said, “I must first be the change I want to see in my world.” He was a prime example of a commitment to values, as he freed India by appealing to the moral conscience of Britain and using “satyagraha” or non-violent action to reveal the immorality of the British Empire. If the core values of the authentic leader is applied to the nursing process it stands to have a greater impact on the leader-follower relationship since
putting your complete trust in your leader exhibits the kind of confidence you have in him and in effect the leader would not want to disappoint others by breaking their trust.

Endearing yourself to your followers through transparency and trust creates a shared sense of vision and meaning with others. This is where i think the core elements of the authentic leader is greatly appreciated if the focus is on Leader-follower relationship.

Authentic leaders demonstrate honesty by being true to themselves and to others, and by acting according to their values. I believe a person cannot become an authentic leader without having these inherent traits. In a way, authentic leadership borrows from the Trait theory where a person who is born to lead has to have certain traits like intelligence, integrity, and charisma to be able to influence others. I agree to the statement that authentic leaders are true to themselves and what they believe in.

In nursing practice where a nurse deals mostly with patients and their families, other members of the healthcare team, and their superiors, the battle is won halfway when a leader possesses these traits and, is able to exhibit them to others, in the process, influencing others with their “openness, clarity and consistency in communications with others”, and thereby gaining the trust of the others. The attributes are especially significant in nursing practice as nurses often deal with decision-making processes in day-to-day interactions with people.

⁽¹⁾Authentic Leaders have a special relationship with their followers; one that is characterised by mutual respect, mutual support and mutual trust.The benefits of Authentic Leadership include:

• Authentic Leadership is a leadership multiplier; the actions taken by Authentic Leaders are received more favourably by others. Therefore the impact of their outcomes and their results are significantly increased. Authentic Leadership provides a lens through which all positive leadership outcomes are magnified, thereby leading to ‘better’ results.

• Authentic Leaders get the best from their people; subordinates and colleagues are favourably influenced by them and follow their lead willingly.

• Authentic Leaders are more successful; they accept themselves for who they are and are happier as a result. They have a congruence that others aspire to.

• Authentic Leaders get themselves noticed; they have a higher profile than other leaders at work, regardless of their position in the organizational hierarchy.

• Authentic Leaders get results that consistently out-perform their colleagues and other comparable leaders. They do this with an elegance and a humility that inspires others; even when facing challenging times, they consistently act as a role model to colleagues and subordinates alike.

One weakness of authentic leadership is not having a validated tool of measuring self-awareness which is its main component. Moreover, though the definition of terms used maybe simple, the approach of authentic leadership is complex. The things discussed, though, maybe easy to comprehend, in reality, is quite hard to practice since different factors might hinder development of its characteristics.

An authentic leader is a person who chooses to live a life of integrity. They are not only honest in relationship with others but most importantly they are honest and true to themselves. Yes, I think authentic leadership is a significant concern today because it can possibly create a healthy working environment not only conducive for nurses to work to but also a great place for patient's faster recovery. ⁽²⁾ Implementation of authentic leadership can affect not only the nursing workforce and the profession but the healthcare delivery system and society as a whole. Creating a healthy work environment for nursing practice is crucial to maintain an adequate nursing workforce; the stressful nature of the profession often leads to burnout, disability, and high absenteeism and ultimately contributes to the escalating shortage of nurses. Leaders play a pivotal role in retention of nurses by shaping the healthcare practice environment to produce quality outcomes for staff nurses and patients.



References:

⁽¹⁾ Retrieved from, http://www.cognitivefitness.co.uk/documents/Authentic%20Leadership%20e-book%20for%20RAF.pdf

⁽²⁾ Shirey, M., (2006). Authentic Leaders Creating Healthy Work Environments for Nursing Practice. American Journal of Critical Care. 2006;15: 256-267

One of the benefits from an authentic leader is creating a healthy environment. According to Shirey (2006) healthy environment guided by authentic leaders produce superior outcomes both staff nurses and patients.

I think the area to where the authentic leadership theory may improve, as stated in the literature, the possible one-way leadership influence with little room for reciprocal influences between leaders and followers. Since it was stated, that the theory is a narrow and deeper focus on leader behavior that relates to follower response therefore the leader’s act has an influence in the followers outcome. But it doesn’t mean that if the leader has these behavior the follower would copy it or the follower already has this trait and not be influenced by the leader itself.

In general, I can say that the authentic leadership may not have a greater impart in the nursing leadership in this time since there are already other theories that exist. I can say that I shouldn’t be a new theory because from reading the literature, there are dimensions that are already overlapping with other theories. That it should have been just an improvement or enhanced of the other theories.

Having authentic leader would mean having a strong structure and foundation... People could benefit from an authentic leader in various ways, like a resource of strength, hope and courage... someone whom you can depend on and could even be an agent for unloading your personal problems...

The theory of authentic leadership may be improved in terms of narrowing its scope to make it more researchable and understandable by the public... a focus on one person alone, who would be perceived as an authentic leader should extend up to the part of citing qualities/requirements necessary for its achievement external to him/her...

i definitely think that the theory is in its most importance for discussion not just in the nursing field, but also in other areas. even in personal life, i think it is applicable and can serve as an enabler for reflecting things and looking at them in a new perspective....

Authentic Leadership in Contemporary Time

The ongoing problems in healthcare system over the past years have heightened the need for a new kind of leadership in the 21st century- a kind of leadership that calls people to lead in building enduring organizations not only with the use of brilliant minds but with the use of great hearts as well. The simple definition of leadership wherein it is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal has changed to broader scale. Leadership just like any other area of expertise has been called to a higher and deeper stage of performance to be able to converge with the challenges and demands of nursing leadership in modern time.

Just recently, Authentic Leadership was proposed as another theoretical model to give on elements on effective leadership. Authentic Leadership was derived from various concepts of efficient leadership but the theory was created for authentic leaders to share transparently and to act with integrity which requires self-awareness. Having said this, these leaders function with activities that will always reflect their core values (George, 2003).

In today’s situation, there has been the frequent test of a leader’s self integrity in knowing one’s stand in different crisis that may confront him especially in the all-encompassing nature of the nursing profession. This model shows the importance of authenticity in every leader. This is for the reason that before one can find his purpose, he must first understand himself, his passions, and his underlying motivations (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999). No one can be authentic when someone is just presenting a façade of someone else, just being a replica and not being genuine. This brings us back to what Hildegard Peplau have contributed to psychodynamic nursing and when she stressed the importance of nurse’s ability to understand his or her own behavior first because it is only after this that one can help others in identifying their perceived difficulties. Another is one of the adaptive modes that Callista Roy has identified in her adaptation model, the self-concept mode. She explained that the self-concept mode or the need to know who one is has great importance as it is through this that one can be or exist with a sense of unity, meaning and purposefulness in the universe.

The journey to authentic leadership begins with understanding the story of one’s life. One’s life story provides the context for their experiences, and through it, they can find the inspiration to make an impact in the world (George, Sims, McLean & Meyer, 2007). Authentic leaders are genuine people who are true to themselves and to what they believe in. They engender trust and develop real connections with others. Because people trust them, they are able to motivate them to high levels of performance thus, being able to meet the goal of the whole team. Rather than letting the expectations of others guide them (authentic leaders), they are prepared to be their own person and go their own way (George & Sims, 2007). Its importance nowadays is seen as ethical and moral issues continue to arise because a positive moral perspective is fundamental to authentic leadership and as leaders, they are expected to engage in ethical and transparent decision-making. Authentic leaders draw on their moral capacity, courage, and resiliency (May et al., 2003) to address ethical issues and achieve moral actions. Furthermore, Authentic Leadership has also found great function as one of the 6 standards necessary to establish and sustain healthy work environments in healthcare according to American Association of Critical-Care Nurses last 2005 wherein they also expanded definition of authentic leadership and its attributes (eg, genuineness, trustworthiness, reliability, compassion, and believability).

Authentic leaders furthermore work hard at developing self-awareness through persistent and often courageous self-exploration. However, there have been the persistent questions on how to really measure self-consciousness. Denial can be the greatest hurdle that leaders face in becoming self-aware, but authentic leaders ask for, and listen to, honest feedback. These leaders make time to examine their experiences and to reflect on them and in doing so, they grow not just to become better individuals but as enhanced leaders as well.


Please take time to respond through the follow-up questions, thank you
Questions:

1.Having stated what authentic leadership is, can you give additional advantages of what people/healthcare team can benefit from an authentic leader?

2.What do you think are the opportunities/areas to where the authentic leadership theory may improve? (cite any biases or weaknesses)

3.In your opinion, is the authentic leadership theory really of significance concerning nursing leadership in current time?


Resources:
1. George, W. (2003). Authentic leadership: Rediscovering the secrets to creating lasting value. San Francisco7 Jossey Bass.
2. Bass, B. M., & Steidlmeier, P. (1999). Ethics, character, and authentic transformational leadership behavior. The Leadership Quarterly, 10, 181–217.
3. George, W. , Sims, P., McLean A., Mayer, D. (2007) Discovering your authentic leadership. Harvard Business Review, 85(2), pp. 129-138.
4. George, W., Sims, P. (2007). True North: Discover your authentic leadership. Retrieved February 1 2007, from Authenticleaders.org Website: http://www.authenticleaders.org/book.htm
5. May, D.R., Chan, A., Hodges, T.D. and Avolio, B.J. (2003), “Developing the moral component of authentic leadership”, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 247-60.
6. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses 2005. AACN Standards for Establishing and Sustaining Healthy Work Environments: A Journey to Excellence
From Aliso Viejo, Calif. American Journal of Critical Care. 2005;14: 187-197

[/justify]