Do you remember the times when our teacher or a classmate ask this, “Who would like to be the leader?” – may it be for a group project or any activity. The room became silent, no one would like to volunteer, one will recommend him, the other is appointing her. As a solution, we will declare for an election and vote or to be fair, the picked piece of paper with someone’s name is the leader even if he/she is against it. And if someone will offer his or herself, we are somewhat surprised because we thought that being a leader sometimes, has a lot to do compared to the group members. It’s really annoying if your groupmates will be expecting you to finish their work just because you’re the leader. As a first guide question, from your past, is it difficult to be a leader? Site an example that you have become an effective leader to your members despite of difficulties.
When I saw the word “authentic”, it immediately reminds me of the second chapter (Defining the Authentic Self) of a book I’m reading written Dr. Phil. It is about identifying one’s authentic self - real, genuine, true identity/self of a person from the inside out; similar with what encapsulated by Shakespeare in Hamlet’s: “To thine own self be true”, and to the third underlying element for the authenticity construct - authentic behaviour or “acting in accord with one’s true self”. Again, according to Dr. Phil, we have certain traits, qualities, gifts, needs, desires, a core purpose for being in this world; similar to the definition provided in the article that self-awareness of a leader is “a process where one continually comes to understand his or her unique talents, strengths, sense of purpose, core values, beliefs and desires” (Gardner et al.,2005, p. 349). The way I see it, a follower should also have identified his/ her authenticity or recognized self-awareness for a leader-follower relationship to be established. Cooper and Sawaf (1997) regard authenticity as an ‘energy field’ which derives from within a person and conveys stronger meanings to those who engage with them.
Leadership is a responsibility as well as, a commitment. It is not functional without the followers. Trust with each other is very important in any kind of relationship. It can be built and fully attained when your words are congruent with your actions. By this, you can be a truly authentic leader together with other characteristics. Relational transparency or open-mindedness of a leader is a democratic kind of leadership. Based on the article, listening to nurses, asking about their visions for practice, keeping promises made to them, faithfully representing them, and celebrating their accomplishments are signals of authentic leadership that foster work engagement. In a study of health care teams, leader inclusiveness, the extent to which leaders invited others’ contributions, predicted psychological safety, which in turn was related to quality improvement work (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). It has been well established that when people know that they are valued, they also feel empowered and become able to accept responsibility and ownership for whatever soul, tone, wellbeing and successes occur within the workplace (Rogers, 2005; Storch et al., 2002). This is about the ethical climate of trust which further promote patient safety, excellence in care, and recruit and retain nurses (Avolio and Gardner, 2005; Kerfoot, 2006; Shirey, 2006). Furthermore, it has been suggested that authentic leaders influence follower well-being through multiple channels. Some of these pathways include unconditional trust on the part of the follower, positive emotions engendered by the leader, and self-determination as fostered by the leader, who places a premium on follower development. By nurturing followers through coaching, development and feedback, today’s leaders can create a cadre of leaders for the future who will also be committed to developing those who follow them (Collinson, 2002). Also in the article, authentic leadership was described as making a difference in organizations by helping people to find meaning at work, build optimism and commitment among followers. Wong and Cummings concentrated on the positive psychological capacities (hope, optimism, resilience, etc.) of an authentic leader. Ilies, Morgeson, & Nahrgang, 2005 entails that authentic leaders express their true selves and display hope, optimism, and confidence.
As what the authors said, it is not another theory for leadership. For me, it is new as a theory of “authentic leadership” to be recognized by every institution as a useful guide to achieve effective leader-follower relationship and leadership-development especially to the nursing profession. A leader may not be naturally born but can be made and developed. It is not literally going back to basics. It just puts value and acknowledgement to what has been known and published leadership theories in the past.
Second question, from you experiences in the undergraduate days and at the present, was there an instance that you encounter a leader who is not acting and talking as a leader? Did you happen to correct what he was inappropriately saying? And do what he or she should be doing as your leader?
What other characteristic/s you think is/are to be visualized and expected by a leader to be authentic and effective?
Richard Smith, Narottam Bhindi, Jens Hansen, Dan Riley & Johan Rall Questioning the notion of ‘authentic’ leadership in education: The perspectives of ‘followers’ (2008)
Marilyn Macik-Frey James Campbell Quick Debra L. Nelson Advances in Occupational Health: From a Stressful Beginning to a Positive Future (December 2007)
Gill Collinson The primacy of purpose and the leadership of nursing, Nursing Times Research 2002