Are you an authentic HR leader?

Award-winning researcher and professor of leadership at IE Business School, Margarita Mayo, urges leaders to develop their unique style to lead people and build social capital. 

Moving beyond a training culture and embracing a learning culture requires authentic leadership. To overcome the HR silo mentality, it is important to develop your unique style to lead people and build social capital. My research over the last two decades suggests that authenticity and growth go hand in hand. True leaders are grounded but continually learning.

In my new book, Yours Truly: Staying Authentic in Leadership and Life, you will find a practical toolkit for any HR leader who wants to become and remain true to themselves. Genuine leaders experience greater well-being, feeling happy and having a sense of personal growth. These positive feelings make them and their teams more productive.

Are you an authentic HR leader?

To find out, consider the following checklist of the nine competences behind the 3Hs model of authentic leadership: heart (emotional authenticity), habit (behavioral authenticity), and harmony (social authenticity).

Emotional authenticity

1. Passion: I feel happy with my working situation and I do things that are important to me.

2. Humility: I have an unbiased view of myself – my strengths and weaknesses - and I am quick to admit my mistakes.

3. Storytelling: I embrace my personal story and tell people what I have done in life – ups and downs – and learn as a result.

Part one of the book (i.e. "The heart factor – be yourself with passionate humility") explains these attributes of emotional authenticity. When leaders show confident humility, their employees report higher engagement at work.

Behavioral authenticity

4. Development: I instill in others a growth mindset to create a climate of psychological safety.

5. Optimism: I believe that we can always get better at work and tend to see the bottle half full.

6. Resilience: I am open to the feedback of others when facing adversity to facilitate personalised learning.

Part two of the book (i.e., "The habit of learning – grow into your best authentic self") explains these attributes of behavioral authenticity. Sharing your growth mindset with others creates a culture of innovation, development and growth.

Social authenticity

7. Exemplarity: I walk the talk to embody the values of a collective identity and hope my actions set an example for others.

8. Community: I care about the development of others and create a balanced culture of empowerment.

9. Legacy: I propose integrated solutions to improve employees' work experience and have a positive impact in the future.

Part three of the book (i.e. "Harmony in agency and communion – be true to yourself and others") explains these attributes of social authenticity. The greater the fit between organisational and employee values, the more effective the business will be in the long run.

Remember that to become an authentic leader you don't need to fall into the mentality of a superhero. Instead, shift to the mindset of unsung heroes.

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Margarita Mayo is an award-winning researcher and professor of leadership at IE Business School in Madrid. The author of Yours Truly: Staying Authentic in Leadership and Life (Bloomsbury, 2018), she was part of the Thinkers50, as a 2017 Radar Thinker.

Margarita Mayo will soon be visiting Singapore and Malaysia to speak at Training & Development Asia. In her presentation, she will test your leadership abilities by challenging you to move beyond traditional models of unipersonal heroic leadership to new models of collaborative and authentic leadership that focuses on humility, openness to feedback and long-term vision.

The biggest takeaway from her presentation would be the real life business cases that will help to shed light on the type of leadership that is needed in the current context of disruption.

Reserve your attendance at the regional conference to catch Margarita Mayo live:

• Malaysia: 14-15th August at ALOFT KL. Contact Adrian Ray or Reggie Ola for queries.
• Singapore: 16th-17th August at Shangri-La Hotel. Contact Hemalatha Siranjeevi or Renamel Torres for queries.