How can the four key positive attributes predispose or enhance a leader’s capacity to develop self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing or relational transparency?
Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership is the ability to determine if the person is sincere, real or genuine. In this case, behaving authentically can be the action of being true to oneself and acting in line with the beliefs own self. Having authentic leadership creates the aura that one can be trusted, responsible and values partnership. Responsible leadership is in such a way that leaders have an obligation to do activities with certain levels of concern and care. This is by considering actions and impacts on the decisions which one will make both on the outside and inside of the organization. There are multiple ways in which one can define authentic leadership because it is its developing stages. There have been definitions of leadership which they have contributed to taking up of different perspectives which include the interpersonal, developmental (Northouse 196). Therefore, authentic leadership is one of the fundamental aspects of leadership in any organization or business entity.
In approaches to this kind of leadership, it can be subdivided into theoretical and practical approaches. In the developmental aspect, it means that these are leadership traits which can be learned and are not innate, in a manner that they are fixed. In the definition context of this authentic leadership, it can have noted that it is something which can develop and grow throughout a person’s lifetime and thereby not a fixed issue. Learning, in this case, can be understood as being triggered by a wider range of issues and events which shape one’s beliefs and personal convictions. An example is a notable person in the world who uses his or her ability in empowering others to seize opportunities and achieve their life goals. In this case, people are being empowered to make the most out of their professional and personal lives. The person can then be termed as a one who is successful, motivated, true to herself, honest and easy to relate to in daily activities.
In the theoretical developmental approach, it can be termed that authentic leadership is something which is centered on positive psychological qualities of the leader and his or her ethics. It is in this context that it branches to the other four components which include relational transparency, balanced processing, self- awareness and internalized moral perspective (Northouse 201). It is in this case that there are factors which can positively influence a person in building psychological abilities which include critical life events and moral reasoning. These factors play a fundamental role in developing or enhancing the four components of authentic leadership. Any authentic leader must have the four physical attributes which include hope, confidence, optimism, and resilience to be effective in management of an organization (Northouse 204). These attributes will inform the activities and decisions which the leader will undertake in the management of the entity or organization.
An authentic leader who has the following attributes can term as a person who has been influenced by the four psychological attributes. a leader would need to have confidence in such a manner that they are motivated, welcomes challenges and are persistent in whatever they do. Having resilience would mean that these leaders can recover quickly if they suffer from setbacks. Authentic leaders will hold onto the hope that is they set goals and objectives; they will have the willpower and the personal drive which will enable them to achieve their dreams (Seco and Lopes 101). This is the fact there these people understand that their achievement will not only help them but will also inspire others to press on with their activities. Optimism drives them and has the objectives they have set are achievable and will be fulfilled within certain time limits. In this case, they hold optimism that their undertaking will have very favorable outcomes in when they are realized. Someone can have a representation of his or her vision in such a way that they can use them to decide the way in which their objectives can be achieved.
It is notable that from these factors, an authentic leader has a strong personal moral reasoning as well as sound positive psychological attributes which are fundamental in being an effective leader. These people can have the ability to have a pool of different people and give them a purpose in their professional and personal lives through inspirations. The other factor which can influence a person who has authentic leadership is the critical life events.
In this case, the leader stimulates growth shapes the lives of others through their actions. However, these life events can be other positive or negative, and it is for the leader to be able to learn from them. Leadership can struggle with personal issues such as failed relationships, health, and other factors but how a leader will rise from, it makes the difference in how leadership will inspire others. Leadership is measured by how one will bounce back to operational means when they face setbacks. Critical life events can shape how a leader will take lessons from it and adapt to make life-changing activities. Followers of this leader will then have a point of reference when they are faced with challenges or when handling some life issues.
After having considerations on factors which build on authentic leadership, it is fundamental that the real components of actual leadershipare discussed. One of these components is self-awareness and is in such a manner that these leaders are convinced of who they are (Northouse 202). These are leaders who do not let other people or circumstances dictate who they are and define them. In places where they feature, they can make it clear that they know what they stand for, and they know who they are. People can see what they want out of their lives and how they value achieving certain objectives in their work. Leaders, in this case, believe in themselves, create their own lives and go for want is best for them. Authentic leaders have the knowledge that they have strengths and weaknesses and that there are rooms for failure in their activities(Seco and Lopes 95-102). Their lives are punctuating by the desire to achieve the best, and they do not try to be everyone or everybody to all people.
The second component is the internalized moral perspective. This is a leadership perspective which means that leaders utilize their internal values and moral standards in their activities or what they say. It means these leaders are not guided by their emotional or external pressures to do or say something. Their moral convictions and personal values influence them to take actions which are considerations of others and the society (Northouse 203). Their behavior is guided by the ability to internalize activities morally and ethically which they will do. These leaders’ beliefs are consistent with the expectations of their activities and expressed beliefs. The society, socially construed activities and behaviors can have detrimental effects on people like womenthe youth and can have a strong impact on how they will fair in their activities. It is in this case that a leader will not let these societal actions to influence their activities and have an effect on their objectives (Seco and Lopes 97). Authentic leaders will stand by their beliefs and will not let them become a representation of what they can or not achieve.
Balanced processing components are something which can be termed as the behavior which is self-regulatory. The authentic leader can be self-aware and think out issues and decisions in an objective manner (Northouse 204). An individual can analyze information and gain an understanding of how leadership is all about and how their decisions will affect the lives of those who depend on them. Some individual needs to have a balanced sense of living and to be with others in the sense that they do not practice favoritism, are biased in their actions or behaviors and can put the opinions of others before taking an action (Seco and Lopes 99). In this case, people will be able to reach and inspire a wider variety of people by being balanced in their actions.
Relational transparency is the fourth component which is critical to authentic leadership. An individual need to give his or her private opinions in such a way that they do not offend others. in this case, they can share the core feelings and attitudes to other people in a transparent manner. A person needs to relate to others in such way that people can see their positive and negative aspects of life (Seco and Lopes 100). This is to motivate other people and be able to gain insight on how life can be and how to handle situations. This is a case where the leader is not in a superhuman attitude and shares their downfalls and areas which people can perfect on to be better than him or her (Northouse 204). In this context, relational transparency means that the leader can be real in relationships and communications with others.
To conclude authentic leadership is a fundamental aspect in a management and running of an institution. Leaders need to bear positive psychological attributes to inspire others to achieve their dreams. It is imperative for each leader to have the components of leadership because they inform the character and personality which he or she will portray to the followers. Being a successful would then require one to have a positive attitude which will contribute to developing of a leadership abilities in a leader.
References
Northouse, Peter Guy. Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2016. Print.
Seco, Victor, and Miguel Pereira Lopes. "Calling for Authentic Leadership: The Moderator Role of Calling On The Relationship Between Authentic Leadership and Work Engagement." Open Journal of Leadership 02.04 (2013): 95-102. Web.
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