The importance of Authenticity and Commitment
Are you familiar with the Run Towards The Roar (RTTR) Leadership model?
I talked about it last week – looking for the ACES in your leadership team, looking for people who demonstrated…
- Authenticity
- Commitment
- Enthusiasm
- Service
This week, I’d like to take a deeper dive into a couple of the principles behind the RTTR Leadership model…
I’m going to break down Authenticity and Commitment.
Are you authentic in your interactions?
Let’s talk about authenticity.
If you’re seeking leaders or seeking to become a leader, this is a characteristic you must learn to identify quickly or exhibit from within your core.
Authentic leaders manifest these qualities…
1. Consistency
The faithfulness, moral compass, the consistency of an authentic leader serves as encouragement for the rest of us to find our own focus, to define our loyalties.
You’ll meet an authentic person at a restaurant, your child’s soccer game, a family festival…even at work. You’ll find yourself trusting them because you know what to expect, even if it’s not what we want.
Authenticity is demonstrated by appearing as the same person from every vantage point.
Authentic leaders don’t have a “work persona” and a “family persona”…they are whole and consistent, regardless of the setting.
2. Transparency
They are also transparent.
Authentic leaders don’t pretend that their life is perfect. Yet, they don’t wear their life on their sleeve. They have emotions and passion, but they’re still conscious of how to share them both in the right setting.
3. Teachability
Authenticity is demonstrated by a desire to learn.
You’ll hear them say phrases such as, “Would you help me to understand how you did that, how you came up with that idea?”
They are actively engaged and open to correction, encouragement and a willingness to learn and grow.
They know that if each part works together it’s for the good of the whole.
4. Mentorship
Authentic leaders make great mentors.
Enthusiastic students make the best teachers because they want to share their thirst for knowledge…and they know that the best way to reinforce knowledge is to share it.
In the process, they encourage growth in their colleagues.
Authenticity: the hot-water-teabag test
When people and leaders are in hot water what’s inside always leaks out.
For example, would a person who coaches their son’s soccer game hold the same values when at work or with their family?
Would these different scenarios adjust their core values? It’s exactly these values that leak out in hot water.
The test then is to put the subject in a hot water situation so that their authentic self emerges.
Ask yourself these questions…
- Who or what would people say you are for?
- What parts of who you are and what you do are you willing to share with people?
- When you say you have an open-door policy, do people come to you? Do you seek them out when they don’t?
- What are the qualifiers/qualities you use to measure a worthy mentor?
- Where are you investing in future leaders?
Commitment: not just lip service
Authenticity and Commitment are closely linked.
Commitment is about being for – and advocating for – something.
Commitment in leadership isn’t demonstrated by battling against something…it’s about bringing valuable causes, thoughts, processes to the forefront and throwing support behind them.
Leaders who are committed will show these characteristics…
1. Focus
A committed leader will focus on the vision-values-destiny of their company.
They won’t seek the spotlight. Their reward is maintaining a level of consistency in their values so they earn the trust of their colleagues.
These leaders make choices that are consistent with their values…without fail.
2. Permanence
Great leaders have an orientation towards growing and maturing as part of a healthy, thriving organization. They’re not seeking to hatch something that delivers quick success.
They understand that an investment in coaching and training is crucial to long-term, lasting success…and it won’t lead to overnight success.
3. Accountability
They understand that to be a person of influence requires taking responsibility. They’re willing to be accountable for their actions but also consider themselves part of a team.
A great leader is a team player who considers trust to be non-negotiable. They’ll honor their commitments and seek to clarify misunderstandings so that what they’ve said is understood…it’s transparent.
Commitment Examples
The hot-water-tea-bag test
The hot water tea bag test is such an effective technique it deserves to be mentioned again. We know that when someone is put in hot water what’s inside leaks out, where authenticity gets revealed.
The same can be said about commitment. Work, family, workplace relationships, and friendships are all forms of common life responsibilities.
But how committed are you to each? If put in hot water will your devotion waiver?
It’s in these pressure moments where trust is exposed and values leak out.
The African Impala
Did you know that the African impala can jump over 10 feet and cover a distance greater than 30 feet?
Did you also know that an impala can be held captive in an enclosure with a three-foot wall?
Why?
If an impala can’t see where it’s going to land, it won’t jump.
Faith in leadership is the ability to trust what we cannot see…with that faith in a committed leader, we can overcome obstacles.
So, ask yourself these questions…
- What are some instances when you’ve jumped the fence without seeing where you’d land? Think of…
- Situations that didn’t go well
- Situations that went better than well
- What did you learn?
- Would people say they can count on you?
- Are the people who count on you the ones who model commitment themselves?
A candle loses nothing by lighting another
If you want to be an effective leader, you must be willing to share your flame, passion.
In order to share your flame, though, you must be authentic, and you must commit to your cause.
Would you like to explore these principles in greater depth? Contact me and we’ll talk.
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