Authentic leaders are transparent.
Do not adopt personas.
Share personal stories & experiences.
Are open and honest.
No hidden agendas or ulterior motives.
Always show respect.
Authenticity means being at ease with vulnerability.
Embrace vulnerability.
Productive vulnerability requires a delicate balance between openness and maintaining professional boundaries.
Influential leaders share personal stories, experiences, and challenges sincerely and accurately.
They are willing to disclose their mistakes, failures, and lessons learned without seeking pity or sympathy but to foster learning and growth.
However, they do not burden others with extensive and intimate details of their problems.
Authentic leaders communicate their purpose & vision.
Remain faithful to their values.
Inspire others with their commitment.
Do not impose their values on others.
Look for common ground.
Do not tolerate duplicitous or manipulative behaviour.
Look to change toxic environments.
Authentic leaders build cultures of authenticity.
Lead by example, encourage open & honest communication.
They make psychological safety a priority.
Hold themselves and their team accountable for decisions, activities & results.
Involve the team in decision making.
Authentic leaders build meaningful relationships.
This includes empathy, active listening, and a desire for reciprocal understanding and support.
Prioritise nurturing meaningful connections, which can lead to personal and professional growth, collaboration, and shared success.
Psychological Safety
What is it?
Psychological safety is the belief that you won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. Psychological safety at work is a shared expectation held by members of a team that teammates will not embarrass, reject, or punish them for sharing ideas, taking risks, or soliciting feedback.
What are the benefits of creating a culture of Psychological Safety?
For the employer:
Benefits mental wellbeing in all team members.
Attract and retain top talent.
Improve teamwork & collaboration.
Improve engagement and performance.
Enhances creativity & innovation
Can improve problem solving.
For the team member:
Improved mental and physical health, particularly in these days of home and hybrid working.
Increased organisational commitment.
Improved productivity & performance.
More open to learning and change.
Better creativity & innovation.
More positive attitude.
Less interpersonal conflict.
Developing a culture of psychological safety is much easier said than done. We will all have differing opinions of what it actually is.
How Do You Create a Culture of Psychological Safety?
Experts suggest that ‘it’s more magic than science’, which is probably not what you scientists want to hear! It’s important for leaders to remember that psychological safety is co-created by a group of individuals, often in mysterious ways!
If you have ever worked in a team marked by silence and the inability to speak up, you will know how difficult it is to reverse that. Developing a culture of openness & honesty where there isn’t one can be very challenging.
A lot of what goes into creating a psychologically safe environment are good management practices — things like establishing clear norms and expectations so there is a sense of predictability and fairness; encouraging open communication and actively listening to employees; making sure team members feel supported; and showing appreciation and humility when people do speak up.
Management Practices are:
‘A set of clearly defined, measurable practices that managers at all levels commit to carrying out on a regular, disciplined, skilled and enthusiastic basis and without fail’
Here's how you might achieve this:
1. Develop your leadership skills. Be authentic, be a role model and be open & honest at all times.
The old adage of ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ is a thing of the past or at least should be! Leaders need to be a role model in everything they do. Developing a culture of psychological safety is a major part of this.
2. As human beings one of the main ways we learn is by making mistakes. If you have a fear culture, where psychological safety is not prevalent, you actually have a non-learning culture where people are afraid to make mistakes. Many toxic cultures are like this.
Team members should be allowed to make, and learn from, their mistakes in a positive and understanding environment. It’s how we as human beings learn.
3. There are no hidden agendas in the team, nobody acts in a way that might undermine others. We are transparent at all times.
4. We accept and celebrate the differences in people, whatever they might be. Diversity brings innovation, creativity and a different ways of looking at things and solving problems. The best teams are diverse.
We all take risks and it’s safe to do so and encouraged! In successful sporting teams, risk taking is actively encouraged, it should be the same in businesses.
5. Team members can bring up and discuss tough issues. Like our example of the team marked by the inability of individuals to speak up if we can’t do this we will not have a culture of problem solving and people will shrink into themselves.
6. Have fun! If the leader is having fun, there’s a good chance the team will be having fun. Having fun will give your team a competitive advantage in all sorts of ways.
In their book Work Made Fun Gets Done by Bob Nelson and Mario Tamayo they found that 81% of employees at companies in the 100 Best Places to Work For index described their office environments as fun. At companies that didn’t make the list, only 62% of employees did the same.
7. Role model vulnerability. Leaders should role model vulnerability, particularly during time of crisis. By showing their own vulnerability, leaders can send the message to their team that it’s normal to feel this way and they’re part of the team.
People work best when they feel good about themselves. Happy teams aren’t about take away pizza and nights at the pub. Good leadership is the key, people that are empowered will work best and fulfil their potential.
If you think about the best boss you ever worked for, think about what made them so good. What made you want to run through brick walls for them? Then try to be that person!
