Authentic Leadership

INSIGHTS

• One of the newest areas of leadership research in its formative stage and focuses on the authenticity of the leader. Focuses on the “realness” of the leader.
• A complex theory that encompasses many definitions and at least 3 viewpoints: Intrapersonal (focuses on the leader), interpersonal (focuses on the relationship between the leader and follower/employee), and developmental (focuses on the development of the leader). There are four distinct components of authentic leadership: self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing and relational transparency.  These components are gained over the lifetime of leaders.

• The author suggests that there are two areas of authentic leadership; the practical approach, which evolves, from real-life examples and training and development literature and the theoretical approach, which is based on social science research.
• How does this theory work? Essentially, the practical approach provides a recipe for how to be authentic and how to develop authentic leadership and the theoretical approach describes what authentic leadership is and what accounts for it.

APPLICATION

This is an interesting leadership theory because although it is relatively in its infant stage; I can see how leaders that have been in my professional life (including myself) have used some of the practical approaches (recipes) of this style.  On the other hand, some of the leaders that have been in my professional life (including myself) have not figured out how these prescriptions (recipes) or how-to-strategies actually increase authentic leadership behavior. 

For example, as a former school principal I had the ability to demonstrate the characteristics of an authentic leader.  I understood my purpose (student achievement).  I had a strong value about the right thing to do (do what is best for children).  I had to establish trusting relationships with others (do what you say you are going to do and follow through with what you promise the students, parents and staff).  I had to demonstrate self-discipline and act on my values (treat people with respect, be calm and collective, and do not compromise my values).  In addition, I had to be passionate about my mission (learning for all and failure was not an option).  

This process of authenticity as a school principal did not develop overnight. Even with this prescription (by the way, no one bothered to share this “recipe” with me as a new principal), this style of authentic leadership took years to cultivate and perfect.  What puzzles me the most about this leadership style is that no matter how many times I could use this recipe or prescription at different schools within different cultures, this recipe did not guarantee me that this strategy would work as prescribed.  What I mean by this is that each school had a different climate, and a different culture that the leader had to figure out first.  I could use the basic five authentic leadership style characteristics at each school and have different outcomes.  At the end of the day, I could be as authentic as possible and still not have a strategic plan in place to replicate this leadership style with guaranteed organizational outcomes.  Sure, I could mentor a beginning school principal or a beginning dean of student support services and share this leadership style with them.  I could even articulate this “recipe” to follow to become an authentic leader, but this would not guarantee that by following this “recipe” that the beginning principal or higher education leader would have the other skills necessary to be an effective leader or achieve the intended outcomes of student success.  It is my belief that there are too many other variables that must be in place to be an overall effective leader of an organization than to rely on this type of leadership style as the one and only leadership style to implement.

STRENGTHS

• It fulfills an expressed need for trust-worth leadership in society.
• It provides broad guidelines for individual who want to become authentic leaders
• This leadership style has an explicit moral dimension to it.
• This style of leadership suggests that authentic values and behaviors can be developed in leaders over time.
• This style of leadership can be measured using the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ). The ALQ is a validated, theory-based instrument comprising 16 items that measure four factors of authentic leadership

WEAKNESSES

• Authentic leadership is still in the formative stages of development, and a number of questions still need to be addressed about the theory.
• The moral component of authentic leadership is not fully explained.
• Researchers have questioned whether positive psychological capacities such as moral reasoning and critical life events should be included as components of authentic leadership as they may influence authentic leadership.
• It is not clear how authentic leadership results in positive organizational outcomes. Although this leadership style may appear to be appealing on the surface, questions remain about whether this approach is effective.

Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ)

(Northouse, (2016). Leadership Theory and Practice Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks,                 California: Sage Publications, Inc. p 218-219.

The ALQ contained 16 questions about different dimensions of authentic leadership.  There was no right or wrong responses.  The ALQ asked you to use a scale from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree) when responding to statements that most accurately characterized my response to each statement.  My results on the ALQ were:

• Self-Awareness = 17. This fell into the HIGH authentic leadership category
• Internalized Moral Perspective = 18. This fell into the HIGH authentic leadership category
• Balanced Processing = 18. This fell into the HIGH authentic leadership category
• Relational Transparency = 16. This fell into the HIGH authentic leadership category
• A score of 15 and below was LOW and 16 – 20 was HIGH

My results did not surprise me as I believe that I do possess many characteristics of an authentic leader such as understanding my purpose, having strong values about the right thing to do, establishing trusting relationships with others, demonstrating self-discipline by acting on my values, and my passion for what I believe in, my mission.  On the relational transparency category I scored lower because I gave a neutral response to the question of sharing my feelings openly with others. 

I have included a copy of the ALQ for you to read and score.  Are you an Authentic Leader?

Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire
Instructions: This questionnaire contains items about different dimensions of
authentic leadership. There are no right or wrong responses, so please answer
honestly. Use the following scale when responding to each statement by writing
the number from the scale below that you feel most accurately characterizes
your response to the statement.
Key: 1 = Strongly 2 = Disagree 3 = Neutral 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly
disagree agree

1. I can list my three greatest weaknesses. 1 2 3 4 5
2. My actions reflect my core values. 1 2 3 4 5
3. I seek others’ opinions before making up my own mind. 1 2 3 4 5
4. I openly share my feelings with others. 1 2 3 4 5
5. I can list my three greatest strengths. 1 2 3 4 5
6. I do not allow group pressure to control me. 1 2 3 4 5
7. I listen closely to the ideas of those who disagree 1 2 3 4 5
with me.
8. I let others know who I truly am as a person. 1 2 3 4 5
9. I seek feedback as a way of understanding who 1 2 3 4 5
I really am as a person.
10. Other people know where I stand on 1 2 3 4 5
controversial issues.
11. I do not emphasize my own point of view at the 1 2 3 4 5
expense of others.
12. I rarely present a “false” front to others. 1 2 3 4 5
13. I accept the feelings I have about myself. 1 2 3 4 5
14. My morals guide what I do as a leader. 1 2 3 4 5
15. I listen very carefully to the ideas of others before 1 2 3 4 5
making decisions.
16. I admit my mistakes to others. 1 2 3 4 5

Scoring
1. Sum the responses on items 1, 5, 9, and 13 (self-awareness).
2. Sum the responses on items 2, 6, 10, and 14 (internalized moral perspective).
3. Sum the responses on items 3, 7, 11, and 15 (balanced processing).
4. Sum the responses on items 4, 8, 12, and 16 (relational transparency).

Total Scores
Self-Awareness: ______
Internalized Moral Perspective: _____
Balanced Processing: _____
Relational Transparency: _____
Scoring Interpretation

This self-assessment questionnaire is designed to measure your authentic leadership by assessing four components of the process: self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency. By comparing your scores on each of these components, you can determine which are your stronger and which are your weaker components in each category. You can interpret your authentic leadership scores using the following guideline: high = 16–20 and low = 15 and below. Scores in the upper range indicate stronger authentic leadership, whereas scores in the lower range indicate weaker authentic leadership.

REFERENCES

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Northouse, (2016). Leadership Theory and Practice Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks,                  California: Sage Publications, Inc. p 195-219.

Retrieved from: http://www.soulati.com