Authentic Leadership: Reflection on Characteristics and Benefits

This article reflects on the characteristics and benefits of authentic leadership in healthcare. It discusses the four basic traits of an authentic leader and how they contribute to a healthier work environment. The article also explores the theories and elements of authentic leadership and how it can lead to workplace empowerment.

Running Head: LEADERSHIP 0
Leadership
Reflection
Student name

Leadership 1
Authentic leadership
Leadership is a skill, which is used for solving problems and it set an example for others.
Good leaders are always helpful for others in their problems. May be it will related to the health,
wealth and anything else. There are different types of leaderships for managing the work.
Leadership is a combination of different skills, which can be useful for decision-making
capabilities (Ainscow & Sandill, 2010).
I have been in the healthcare world from last ten years. I have worked with many doctors
and mangers in this field. I have learnt a common thing with each one that leaders are dealing
different situations with emotional upheavals trying to manage their career as well as families.
There are many bad days in this field, which is a reason of mood swings and stress. I remember
as a staff doctor hiding in room to avoid the emotional outburst of my seniors. This type of roles
is making me frightened. I always respect this type of person, which are easily handling such
type of stress (Clapp-Smith, Vogelgesang, & Avey, 2009).
Authentic leaders contribute their efforts for healthier work environment around them.
They are also described as effective leaders, which are always effective for growing the
workplace environment. All things are promote patients care. There are four basic characteristics
of an authentic leader, which are self-awareness, behavior, transparency in relation and
information processing (Day, Fleenor, Atwater, Sturm, & McKee, 2014).
Authentic leader is having these traits in their personality as mention below:
 Self-awareness
 Lead with heart
 Focus on long-term results
 Integrity
 Lead with vision
 Listening skills
 Transparency
 Consistency
 Share success with the team

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 Drawing on experience
Authentic leaders are always having a polite nature for their employees, which is helpful
for relationship building at workplace. It is also provide better results in terms of job satisfaction,
efficient performance and better productivity. This kind of leadership is providing motivation to
their followers. Authentic leadership is providing better behavior, which leads to workplace
empowerment ( Dubey, 2018).
Authentic leadership provides different theories in which four elements are most
considerable. They always garner the trust of followers. Authentic leaders are acting consistent
with their standards and values for facilitating collaboration environment. These qualities make
them powerful for handling different conditions at workplace (Gilley, Dixon, & Gilley, 2008).
This exercise is beneficial for improving characteristics and it motivates me for behave
like an authentic leader. It was making me more energetic for my work as well as for
professional career. This exercise is motivating me for changing in my behavior and self-
awareness. It is very fruitful for my professional career as well as social career. Such types of
exercise are helping for self-reflection and it is providing information about us, which is useful
for making desire changes in us ( Hoch, Bommer, & Dulebohn, 2016).

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References
Dubey, A. (2018, February 18). 10 Amazing Leadership Lessons From Design Thinking.
Retrieved November 21, 2018, from addicted2success.com:
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/10-amazing-leadership-lessons-from-
design-thinking/
Hoch, J., Bommer, W. H., & Dulebohn, J. H. (2016). Do Ethical, Authentic, and Servant
Leadership Explain Variance Above and Beyond Transformational Leadership? A Meta-
Analysis. Journal of Management, 1-29.
Ainscow, M., & Sandill, A. (2010). Developing inclusive education systems: the role of
organisational cultures and leadership. International Journal of Inclusive Education,
14(4), 401-146.
Clapp-Smith, R., Vogelgesang, G., & Avey, J. (2009). Authentic leadership and positive
psychological capital: The mediating role of trust at the group level of analysis. Journal
of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 15(3), 227-240.
Day, D., Fleenor, J., Atwater, L., Sturm, R., & McKee, R. (2014). Advances in leader and
leadership development: A review of 25 years of research and theory. The Leadership
Quarterly, 63-82.
Gilley, A., Dixon, P., & Gilley, J. (2008). Characteristics of leadership effectiveness:
Implementing change and driving innovation in organizations. Human Resource
Development Quarterly, 19(2), 153-169.