Authentic Leadership: The Missing Ingredient in Diversity

When it comes to diversity leadership, authenticity of leaders in managing and leading diversity efforts is absolutely necessary. The political and socio-economic landscape pushes and challenges organizations to engage in transformative work in diversity leadership. As organizations look to develop the diverse elements within their workplace, it is important for leaders to understand that transformative work in diversity must be internalized at a deeper level than at present. If leaders can apply what is known about authentic leadership to the diversity process, they will better engage and cultivate a generation of leaders more mindful of the value diversity has in life.

Authenticity, and specifically authentic leadership, is about the nature of individuals to be true to themselves. Truth of oneself can be found through a deep exploration and reflection of the self, particularly in three areas of one’s life: purpose, values, and relationships. I believe that these three elements stand out as critical ingredients for leaders to have in diversity work. When embraced and internalized, they can transform diversity thinking and practices at a personal, organizational, and community level.

Purpose. To begin, leaders in diversity work need to be clear about their purpose in the process. Articulating their reasons and support for diversity is critical when engaging supporters, but that is not enough. Purpose, in authentic leadership, is to understand oneself in relationship to what is being sought. In other words, understanding and exploring your motivations, your passion, and your personal journey must serve as a foundation for reaching the desired vision. You must personally explore and identify what it would mean to the organization, and most importantly to its people, if diversity (of thoughts, ideas, people, systems, etc) did not exist.

Simply asking yourself and others, “if we didn’t do this work, what would be lost,” can make a difference. I once worked with a manager who asked this question of himself, and then his staff. The result was a deep and authentic dialogue about the responsibility that each person brings to the process. They understood that diversity wasn’t something to control or “manage,” rather it was a human element that needed to be nurtured and cared for by everyone. In the end, he gained an understanding for the different notions of diversity his staff had, he learned more about his own passion and purpose for the work, and he gained more enthusiastic support for his vision.

Values. Leaders are often defined by their values, their beliefs, and their character. Authentic leadership in diversity work requires leaders to consistently review, revise, and reflect upon their personal value systems and how these systems impact the work they do. Leaders must understand and articulate what values drive their behaviors and attitudes. This means that leaders must question and challenge, that they explore the deeper stories that give life to their belief systems, and that they are courageous enough to give themselves a “reality check” for any dissonance surfacing between their beliefs and actions.

Too often, I see organizations create assessments and tools to measure the effectiveness of “the organization as a system,” and forget about the most important system, the “personal value system” that drives most of organizational processes and thinking. We need to be reminded that organizational systems come about because there are people within the organization who are driven by their personal values and beliefs.

As an example, I have worked with managers and executives who are passionate about the issue of diversity, but often cannot make a value-connection back to their personal lives. In fact, many of them begin diversity initiatives or efforts because it is part of a strategic or business plan, or it’s important because “it is the thing to do.” There is no connection back to the personal experiences – values, life histories, beliefs – of the individual, thus the purpose (or authenticity) for the work is not connected to authentic values for doing the work. It is essential then for leaders to uncover the stories that create the deep roots of personal cultural understanding (values and beliefs), and then to challenge oneself and others about these stories.

Relationships. Essential in authentic leadership is a leader’s ability to develop long-lasting and meaningful relationships. For this to happen, it’s vital for leaders and organizations to change their thinking and practices about relationships. Leaders can create a shift in doing authentic work in diversity when they pay attention to the relationships that they develop. Authentic relationships can occur when the questions asked are shifted from “how can this relationship help me to reach my organizational goals” to “what can I (we) learn from this relationship, and how can the learning move us towards our vision?”

I suggested this question to a woman who manages volunteers in a nonprofit. In our brief conversation, she realized that asking the question in this way helped her to see culture and diversity as a process rather than an outcome. She realized that it was important to build relationships for diversity work, but in doing so the relationships built can have a larger impact than the diversity efforts themselves. By asking questions such as, “what forms of relationships need to exist in this organization,” “what do relationships mean to this organization,” and “how do people in this organization work together” enables the organization to become a learning organization around diversity and culture. Asking these questions enable an organization to be more authentic and understanding of how relationships are created. This is a critical element in authentic leadership and diversity as it helps leaders to tap into the power that relationships have in building trust, unity, and support for diversity work.

By applying authentic leadership principles to diversity work, leaders can garner support and understanding for the work, discover the discord between individual and organizational values and behaviors that serve as barriers, and develop meaningful relationships for organizational growth – all intended to heighten awareness and understanding for the value diversity has on organizational life. Authentic leaders who can dig underneath the surface by exploring their purpose, their values, and how they build relationships lay a foundation for a deeper commitment to organizational growth. That because attention is paid to purpose, values, and relationships, how we think about and act upon these elements will engage people, not only with their minds but also their hearts.

Welcome to Leadership Paradigms!

Hello and Welcome to the Leadership Paradigms Inc Blog!

Leadership Paradigms works with people, organizations and communities on a local, national and global level to bring conscious awareness to challenge, renew and transform one’s ways of knowing and being. We do this primarily through leadership and organizational development, particularly in the fields of diversity and inclusion, cross cultural leadership, and women leadership.

This blog is a space for our thoughts, inquiries, and ideas around transforming leadership paradigms. We will offer on this site tools and techniques, videos and resource links, and opportunities for dialogue around shifting all of our work towards a holistic system that values, appreciates, respects and honors the differences and similarities that make us whole.

Come along with us on this leadership journey, and together we can discover, create, take action on, and transform our leadership practices and thinking!

Mai Moua
President, Leadership Paradigms