Rigorous Authenticity is the process of being vulnerable through honest communication and it has a direct correlation with results for your business. More importantly, it has an impact on the culture that drives performance across the entire leadership team. Shifting your culture toward authenticity requires encouragement and vulnerability from the highest levels of leadership.
Real leaders have to practice Rigorous Authenticity, embrace vulnerability, and lead by example. While being authentic does improve culture while fostering positive relationships, it also has a direct impact on revenue.
As leaders, we are constantly gathering information and data from our team members to optimize processes and performance. When employees are holding back their unique perspectives, it means they are withholding the information that leadership needs to make important decisions.
This missing information makes all our planning and decision-making harder. It’s like working with one arm tied behind our backs. We’ll never truly have an optimized workplace, which means we’re losing opportunities, revenue, and results.
Think about these sobering stats for a minute:
64% of people surveyed in a study by JobSage said they were hiding their unique perspective at work.
When asked why, 49% of respondents said they were avoiding Rigorous Authenticity because they didn’t want to make people uncomfortable. (This is the definition of “managing expectations” instead of Surrendering the Outcome.)
And lastly . . . 50% of people surveyed said that not being authentic at work is hurting their mental health.
Our employees see blind spots in our businesses every day. When they can’t speak up and tell us, the associated stress leads to burnout and turnover which ultimately costs your company revenue in the form of wasted time, poor performance, onboarding new employees, and plenty more.
Failing to embrace Rigorous Authenticity at work is killing your revenue!
Making the shift toward authenticity and opening lines of honest communication can have a huge impact on your business and the overall mental health and productivity of your team.
Making a commitment to Rigorous Authenticity will have a lasting impact on your organization, but the quick wins are noticed immediately. Overall, the shift from withholding important information to communicating and problem-solving will lead to better decision-making processes across the board.
We all carry stress at work and holding back our unique perspectives only amplifies that burden. When we turn to authenticity, immediate relief is experienced and that weight lifts off our shoulders. While this sounds like a soft benefit, it also connects the latter statistics regarding burnout and turnover.
The improvements in mental health and the relief provided by authentic communication mean you’re proactively fighting the causes of burnout while fostering an environment that values mental health for every employee. (It’s way better than a catered lunch!)
When everyone is empowered to be Rigorously Authentic, our working relationships feel more honest, we communicate problems and expectations without hesitation and productivity skyrockets as a result. The ability to communicate directly means we are focused on outcomes rather than side-stepping hard truths.
With some practice, implementing Rigorous Authenticity and learning to Say No mean that relationships are optimized and everyone begins to understand the costs and victories associated with strategic decisions and the ways we use our time.
Holding back your unique perspective and avoiding difficult conversations are high barriers to performance. When we practice Rigorous Authenticity, stop avoiding difficult conversations, stop holding back our ideas, and start Saying No to unproductive meetings and time-wasting tasks, those barriers fall.
We have a clean line to pursue and reach our goals. Expectations are clear, roles are respected, and everyone feels safe at work.
Part of creating a Rigorously Authentic workplace is learning how to Say No, and making it safe for others to Say No, to the things that are holding us back. These are things like:
• Poor performance
• Unclear roles
• Unrealistic expectations
• Low-value meetings and tasks
When we commit to being Rigorously Authentic, we commit to Saying No to these issues, and we reclaim 500 hours per person, per year as a result.
Here’s a quick example from my sales leadership role at a software company. We were selling through the recession, and I had one team member who was not hitting his goals. He constantly complained and blamed the recession for his failures.
I decided to listen to his calls one day and it turned out he wasn’t selling at all. He didn’t know how to sell through the recession and because he didn’t feel empowered to authentically communicate that, he had essentially stopped trying.
The entire time, I was Saying Yes to poor performance . . . and after evaluating this representative’s territory and potential, I found out that it was costing the company $1.8 million in lost revenue.
The thing is, we could have addressed the issue by practicing Rigorous Authenticity and found a solution to the very simple problem. Instead, it went on too long and by not communicating the problem, he put the entire sales team behind.
Committing to Rigorous Authenticity will boost performance, save time, and help your business chalk up more wins. Start today. Try using this 3-part script to open a line of communication with your employees, and build the trust needed for authenticity in your leadership environment.
Get the framework to improve your greatest asset—your people—to become exceptional leaders who do more in less time. Take the assessment today to see what’s holding you back.
