Authenticity: a real superpower

Something that I believe to be core in the “Beyond Professionalism” manifesto is about how it is so much more important to be authentic than it is to be “professional”. How can you use authenticity in your career to take you to the next level?

With the introduction of gamification to corporate learning and employee engagements, there was an acknowledgement, nay a concession made by the entire working world that workers are not in fact machines. Quite the opposite – teaching and upskilling yourself requires a great deal of external coercion and psychological “hacking” that cannot be achieved by simply being presented with an instruction manual. Whilst it may have been enough in the past to incentivise through necessity, the power shift caused by oversaturation of job offerings and massively enhanced consumer experiences, from the employers to the employees, has itself necessitated a shift towards cultivating better employee experiences.

This sink or swim situation is often exactly the catalyst required to force through such Copernican revolutions in legacy organisations and industries. It may have been a great idea to pivot a long time ago – but the need was never great enough to facilitate this. Now however, this fundamental design principle has moved beyond simply upgrading mandatory learning content and has permeated its way through the very fabric of organisational culture, only hastened on its way by the coronavirus pandemic. Employees demand to be treated like human beings in all aspects of their work – and that means dealing with people who are authentic.

Some things have already changed to address this. Hierarchies, at least on paper, have been flattened. Managerial relationships have been de-formalised. The balance of power has never been so evenly distributed. But whilst this paradigm is championed through the HRO’s vision, written into company lore and chanted with religious fervour during onboarding, there are those who would, perhaps unwittingly, seek to destroy it – namely middle-managers and experienced professionals.

The middle-manager is someone who has worked hard for what they have. The middle-manager has acquainted themselves with the requisite ladder, forged the appropriate relationships and staked their respectably-sized flag upon their respectably-sized parapet with not insubstantial effort. They have played the game and have, on the whole, settled with their winnings. The job is no longer what’s important to them; rather, the life they have built around it, which is now so dependant upon that job. Of course, defence is the order of day now – and the greatest threat of all is change. Change means needing to relearn something already mastered. Change means an increased level of effort. Change is itself the enemy.

Harsh? Maybe. But this principle applies in many situations and to many different groups of people in life. You see, the middle-management layer has, on the whole, got to where they are without these people-focussed tools – or at least ones that are so good. They have learned in spite of the pain of their provided learning journeys (even if it took a lot longer than it could have). The bedrock of their success was forged in the fires of their own resilience when faced with an in-human organisation. Not only this, but the methods, mannerisms, behaviours and even the language they had to use to get here, are now so engrained within them that it really is a huge challenge for them to operate outside of them – whether they want to or not, and whether they are conscious of it or not.

So the top-down perspective for most organisations is clear – treat people like people and you’ll unlock more of their potential. The bottom-up perspective is also clear – new workers who have only been consumers to this point will only accept being treated like people. The perspective for everyone in-between is less clear – whether it is well-intentioned or not, there is a level of institutionalisation that prohibits a change in behaviour. This, for me, is the problem. Now, I don’t believe that most people in this position are actively vindictive. I believe that they require more targeted support in order to understand how their behaviours are potentially damaging and why something as simple as being authentic can be so powerful, both for them and for the future of their organisations. This is not an overnight fix. It will require very careful messaging and meticulously planned interventions to address.

So why is authenticity really so valuable? There are many reasons – but the big one for me is because it makes it all real. Work already takes up such a large part of our lives that we cannot afford to live that part as if we are someone else, as if we are not good enough. Lying to ourselves and those around us, acting in ways that are expected, mandated. Transforming into a corporate drone, caught up in politics and spending so much time trying not to make the wrong move that we don’t move forwards, or innovate at pace. Feeling lonely and isolated, at arms length with the people and activities that we spend the most amount of our lives with, not really caring, not really trying to deliver the best that we can. Rather, we should look to, yes be respectful and understanding, courteous and patient with people – but also unabashed, honest, quirky and free.

What I have witnessed with regards to the “bring your full self to work” mantra, is often well-intentioned and messaged – but just as often ill-implemented. Junior resources learn mostly from the middle layer, who themselves may feel that they are being authentic, but whose actions often speak otherwise. What now feels natural to them is the result of forced habits cultivated over a number of years. The passions of individuals should be preserved and organisations now know it. Sometimes all it takes is to remember to care.

Authenticity is my superpower – what’s yours?