Authentic Leadership

As we continue to age, we also continue to gain experiences that nourishes our personality and that defines who we are, Being authentic is not easy to do for the simple reason that understanding oneself probably takes a long time to accomplish, Knowing your strengths and weakness involves a lot of soul searching and understanding. You make think somehow that you already know who you are until something comes along, an event or situation that will have a great impact on your life.

With regard to having been an authentic leader in the past or in the present, Yes, I have shown that through knowing where I stand in making a decision and getting the people's trust.

Do you agree that authentic leadership is more possible in privately owned companies? I think it is applicable to all kinds of leadership. Wong’s leadership theory clarified authentic leadership as the components of the theory were discussed clearly.

In my past leadership experiences, I think in some way I have already exercised authentic leadership because I see to it that I have self-awareness and I tend to think of my followers first to improve on their performance before me.

In the Philippine hospital setting, many head nurses and supervisors do not exercise authentic leadership because crab mentality blocks them from doing so. As what I have mentioned in one of the posts in the forum, these nurses on higher positions tend to think of themselves first and their position before enhancing their staff nurses’ work performance. It is not authentic leadership. In one of the examples of an author of this forum, he was not permitted to take up Masters Degree for continuing education because they do not want a competitor for their position.

In the Philippine hospital setting, does head nurses and supervisors use authentic leadership?


In any other hospital setting across the globe, I believe that there's the traditional group (stands on hierarchy and seniority) and the transitional group (believes in capacity rather than old age) of nurse supervisors and head nurses. Though I believe that, there's no such thing as the "One-Minute Leader" because real leadership requires years of development and hard work (George B., 2006); I've seen a lot of young workers that are more dynamic and effective, in working and influencing others, compared to a lot of workers who have flittered with age and as if they have remained in the ancient way of thinking and operating and end up disapointing followers who look up to them.

As a comparison of yoursynthesis and Wong’s work, the main idea is that authentic leadership is aproduct of continuous development of all leadership styles.

Authentic leaders are persons who are hopeful,optimistic, resilient, and transparent (Hannah et al., 2005).They operate consistently with valuesvisible to others, focus on ethical or right things to do, take the lead even at personal risk, make the development of others a priority,and work to ensure that their communication is transparent and that othersperceive it as intended (Avolioet al.,2004; May et al., 2003).

So to be truly genuine - or authentic-a leader requires a few things: To ensure that one's corporate actions andrhetoric are aligned; to ensure that such actions are meaningful (as opposed tosuperficial, headline-grabbing actions that don't take root beyond theorganization's need for disingenuous publicity); and to ensure that one'spublic persona and private core are not at odds.(Fenson,2000)

In regards to your succeeding query, yesi have been an authentic leader especially in the clinical area where I rendercare to my patients with honesty and sincerity. And for your final query,ideally our superiors should be authentic leaders thatmake difference in organizations by helping people to find meaning at work, build optimism and commitment among followers, encourage transparent relationships that build trust, andpromote inclusive and positive ethical climates. However, not all of them possess the qualities ofan authentic leader.

Authenticity is the "State of being committed to the truth."

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.

It is easy to describe what an authentic leader is, but to be one is a great challenge. Something that you cannot become overnight. Through experiences we learn , we develop, we adjust and evolve.

http://www.ahigherself.com.au

AntonJayTan wrote:
1. How can we relate the above excerpts to Wong’s Authentic leadership theory? Does Wong’s article clarified the definition of authentic leadership?

I think Wong provide clear definition of authentic leadership. What lacks is his operational definition of concepts.

In your own opinion or experiences, have you ever been a authentic leader during your undergraduate years or even in the present time?

Honestly, no. I had many experiences in the past if leadership is concerned. Those are the days that I haven't realized yet that being a good leader is not about taking most the responsibilities. It is about learning to utilize each member's talents and helping them to be the best they can be. Being a leader is being able to make the working environment tension-free and conducive for learning.

In the Philippine hospital setting, does head nurses and supervisors use authentic leadership?

Most of them no. But I am not saying that we don't have authentic leader in the hospital.

I think Wong’s article on authentic leadership had clarified the aspects that need to be known about authentic leadership. From its definition, the purpose of authentic leadership, the concepts about authentic leadership, the components of authentic leadership, the proposed authentic leadership model, the theoretical conceptual and measurement issues about authentic leadership, to its conceptual clarity construct validity and measurement. And everything that you need to know about authentic leadership is put in a comprehensive yet understandable manner.

Maybe I become an authentic leader because as a leader as defined by the dictionary is someone who has the commanding authority or influence. So in my younger years, I was assigned to be a leader wherein it gives me the authority to direct certain works to the group. The group now tends to follow the instructions since I was in the position to give the assigned task. So as I grew, being a “leader” also begun to grow or evolve. That during the secondary and tertiary levels of my education, I wasn’t already focused on the fact that I was a leader, but being the leader I was able to attend and know the needs that concerns my members.

In my opinion, in some hospital setting they don’t use authentic leadership because if they do so, there would be a healthy environment for nurses and as for patient. Healthy environment as defined by Shirey (2006) “a work setting in which policies, procedures, and systems are designed so that employees are able to meet organizational objectives and achieve personal satisfaction in their work” therefore the delivery of care nurse should be effective and it facilitates healing of the patient. Also the American Association of Critical Care Nurses identified authentic leadership to be a key element for a healthy environment.

i think Wong clarified the definition of authentic leadership well enough, but i find it too overwhelming in a way that "all can't be found in one"(just an opinion) i guess, such characteristic can be attributed to certain individual, but expecting everything to be drawn from a person seems demanding already(my opinion only)

I can't say that I've been the authentic leader cited from the theory, but i know I've been an effective one, and will keep becoming one...

observing the current phenomena,especially within the health care setting, i think most of the leaders now are in the position not by noble vision and selfless desire for helping, but rather for personal and selfish reasons... from my own experience, i can't find a leader nowadays, who encourage and inspire his members...

for me, Wong has defined authentic leadership though there are revealed weaknesses in it and it concluded that the emerging theory of authentic leadership is still in the early stages of development and testing.
i have been a leader mostly in my highschool days but i think not possessing the deep meaning of authenticity. yet, in any activity me and my groupmates come up with a good outcome because of good relationship and trust with each other. we have the same goal of placing a good project outcome the best way can.
i think there are existing head nurses and supervisors who are authentic leader though we could not all observe them or a setting personally in every health care setting in our country.

In my opinion, Wong’s article clearly defined the definition of authentic leader. But some of the concepts presented in the article are difficult to measure just like self-awareness. It only focuses on the positive traits of the leader and followers. Maybe they should also address its weaknesses to make the proposed leadership more realistic.

I became a leader when I was a trainee nurse in a government hospital. We need to come up with a case presentation at the end of the training program. At first it was difficult because I need to communicate well with them and for me that is one of my weaknesses! I’m not the kind of person who can easily build relationships with others. But as time passes by, when I gave myself a try to know them better, I was able to have a good relationship with them. I learned to be an open-minded person, respect their ideas and be fair enough in delegating works. In return I was so happy because I earn much trust than what I expected. I think it’s on the followers’ perspective whether I manifested the authentic leader style or not.

I think there are head nurses and supervisors in some hospitals in our country who uses authentic leadership. As a result, healthy work environment are being experienced and they are capable in rendering safe and quality health care services to its countrymen.

During the old times, leaders already exist and until now in the present time. Leaders are the key figures of nations and countries. The word leader and leadership itself is a broad word with lots of definition and concepts that can be derived from.

The concept of leadership and leaders can be used in a variety of setting including the public or private sectors, school and in the health care system.

Leadership is a subset of action. But not all action is authentic leadership. Leadership is authentic action, a unique and honorific mode of engagement in life.(Terry,1993) Authenticity is knowing, and acting on, what is true and real inside yourself, your team and your organization AND knowing and acting on what is true and real in the world. It is not enough to walk one’s talk if one is headed off, or leading one’s organization, community or nation, off a cliff.(Terry,1993)

The word authentic derives originally from Greek sources meaning one who accomplishes. To be authentic is to act, to embody and to participate in life. Webster’s New International Unabridged Dictionary defines authenticity as “fidelity, actuality and fact, compatibility with a certain source or origin, accordance with usage or tradition, a complete sincerity without feigning or hypocrisy.”(Terry,1993)

So to be truly genuine - or authentic -a leader requires a few things: To ensure that one's corporate actions and rhetoric are aligned; to ensure that such actions are meaningful (as opposed to superficial, headline-grabbing actions that don't take root beyond the organization's need for disingenuous publicity); and to ensure that one's public persona and private core are not at odds.(Fenson,2000)

In any organization, an authentic leader gets ahead of the often unavoidable, sometimes unpleasant business realities, and communicates both realities and possibilities in a context of uncompromising honesty. He or she withstands the temptation to adopt popular buzzwords if he knows there's inadequate commitment to long-term support required for an initiative or ideal to take root and survive. She doesn't pretend the company has no hierarchy when both its size and its production requirements make hierarchy of some sort a necessity.(Fenson,2000)

Authentic leadership may indeed be more possible in privately owned companies, given the tremendous pressure on leaders in public companies to squeeze every possible penny of profit for shareholders, regardless of the deleterious effect on the organization's culture, employees, or customers. Are the chief executives of large, public companies - like most politicians – more like actors than true leaders? (Fenson,2000)

Even researches are done to measure authentic leadership. The importance of authentic approaches to leadership is far reaching in both the research and practitioner domains. Economic, geo-political, and technological developments over the past few decades have placed demands on leaders that require them to be transparent, be aware of their values, and guide organizations with a moral/ethical perspective. (Avey, Smith et al,2009)

More recent reviews of leadership theory also highlight that the future direction of leadership research must move away from a hierarchical, leader-centric approach to a more integrative approach in which followers, context, and group levels of analysis are hypothesized and tested to advance leadership theory (Avolio, 2007; Johns, 2006; Meindl, 1995). Furthermore, there is a continued call for leadership research to quantify how leadership behaviors can impact organizational outcomes such as firm performance (Avolio, 2007)

Guide questions:
1. How can we relate the above excerpts to Wong’s Authentic leadership theory? Does Wong’s article clarified the definition of authentic leadership?
2. In your own opinion or experiences, have you ever been a authentic leader during your undergraduate years or even in the present time?
3. In the Philippine hospital setting, does head nurses and supervisors use authentic leadership?

References:
Bob Terry (1993), Authentic Leadership: Courage in Action

Authentic Leadership: Looking in the Mirror, Sarah Fenson (2000)

Authentic leadership and positive psychological capital: the mediating role of trust at the group level of analysis. Avey, Smith et al (2009)