Welcome to Week 29 of the Authenticity@Work Leadership Tool-kit! My intention for this series is to share a quick tool each week to help you lead with more authenticity, adaptability and inspiration so we can together create workplaces where we bring the best of ourselves and inspire others. So grab a journal and an accountability partner to make these practices even more powerful for you!
In last week’s post we discussed letting go of what you can’t control and what that has to do with authenticity. Did you notice any areas that you are committed to controlling that you actually have no control over?
Giving ourselves an A is nothing other than accepting all parts of ourselves – the good, the bad, the ugly, the parts that aren’t perfect, the parts that fail, and the parts that don’t conform to society’s expectations of us. Giving ourselves an A is about appreciating our humanity and making peace with our flaws.
It is a critical practice of authentic leadership, as it allows us to fully express all of who we are (including the parts that are underdeveloped). When we have access to a greater range of being and behaving, we are able to be more effective and adaptable across a range of leadership situations. This practice is the key to also accepting and appreciating others as they are and getting their best contributions in an inclusive workplace.
Part of giving ourselves an A is to get out of our proving mode and access our inner being mode. Giving ourselves an A is not giving ourselves a trophy every time; it’s about being comfortable with who we are, because we can’t be who we are unless we’re comfortable with who we are.
This Week’s Tool:
Questions to ask yourself: What parts of yourself do you feel are not appropriate for work (e.g., are you too colorful, expressive, introverted, etc)? What situations at work might actually benefit from expressing this part of you? What simple experiment do you want to try to bring that part to?
Try the experiment and notice the impact you make when you are.
Get the latest resources for Authenticity@Work (this tab will get updated with all kinds of cool resources). Curious to know more about the book? Read the reviews about Wired for Authenticity here.
