Authentic Leadership- Leading in the post pandemic world

Course overview

The global pandemic has significantly blurred the lines between our personal and professional lives. Baring a few essential service industries like agriculture, medical and a few others, majority of the global workforce was forced to work from home.

Our families and homes were neither equipped nor ready for this abrupt and massive change. Suddenly our employees started seeing a more human side of their colleagues at work.

For more than twenty-four months, the customary start to all virtual meetings was a genuine question “how are you today?” This question rarely felt meaningful before the pandemic and the responses to this simple questions were more emotional than they have ever been. Employees carried their stress, fear, anxiety and gratitude into every meeting and leaders genuinely listened.

What transpired this change and transformation? How did our leaders become authentic overnight? The answer is simple. Leaders globally felt the same stress, fear, anxiety and gratitude like their team members. Leaders not only spoke about the concern, they felt the concern. This “feeling” of similar emotions for a prolonged period of time caused the shift, a much needed shift.

Authentic Leadership is about embracing each other’s vulnerability and accepting each other’s imperfections. It means being fearless about showing our emotions, taking risks, speaking up, showing compassion, asking for support, in a way that we are truly seen and heard.

Its about not judging others, it is about creating equity so that everyone in the team can perform and deliver their best. Authentic leadership recognizes that we can passionately work towards the same goal in spite of all our differences. Authentic Leadership is complementing each other in a way that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Learning Objectives

This training on Authentic Leadership aims to achieve the following objectives:

• What is Authentic Leadership?
• Self-reflection
• Fostering a growth mindset
• Importance of psychological safety
• Resolving ethical dilemmas
• Enhancing Emotional Intelligence to connect with people and deepen relationships

Our Unique Training Methodology

• Interactive discussions
• Roleplays
• Break-out sessions
• White boarding
• Experience sharing
• Authentic leadership stories

Training Medium

The training on “Authentic Leadership” is designed in a way that it can be delivered face to face and virtually.

Pre-course Assessment

All participants are required to:

1. Read the Feb 2023 article Forbes article on “Authentic Leadership can be a guiding light during tumultuous times.”
2. Complete the Authentic Leadership Self-Assessment Questionnaire

Course Modules

Module 1: Introduction and Ice Breaker

Every participant needs to introduce themselves and mention which leader they admire the most and why. The leader can be from any field. Is this leader authentic? What characteristics of this leader make her/ him authentic.

Module 2: What is Authentic Leadership?

• Leading from the heart
• Integrity
• Tapping into trust, appreciation, loyalty and engagement
• Creating psychological safety
• Acknowledging vulnerability and imperfections

Module 3: Why is Authentic Leadership important?

• Increased employee moral and employee engagement
• Boosts loyalty and trust
• Enhanced productivity
• Better work environment

Module 4: Characteristics of Authentic Leadership

• Self-reflection
• Personal and professional growth
• Ability to inspire
• Great storytelling
• Consistency and commitment
• Transparency, clarity and focus

Module 5: Inspiring, influencing and empowering as an Authentic Leader

• Showing up
• Accepting challenges
• Keeping the organizational vision in mind
• Creating more leaders

Module 6: Leading authentically in the digital world

• Learning, unlearning and re-learning
• Being agile
• Having a creative edge
• Engage and communicate
• Sustain a culture of change

Module 7: Practicing Authentic Leadership

• Doing the right thing, always
• Live the values and behaviors you expect from others
• Fair and balanced approach
• Cultivating transparency by giving and accepting feedback
• Long term focus

Module 8: Authentic Leadership in the post pandemic world

• Leading impactfully in a digital world
• How to be more inclusive
• Embracing hybrid working and influencing at the same time
• Being sustainable in actions and thoughts
• Giving back to the societies and communities in which we operate

Post-course Assessment

After the training, each participant should invest time in the following:

1. Reflect on their learning
2. Judge the level of psychological safety in the team and derive an action plan to enhance it.

Lessons Learned

The Training Bee takes pride in identifying the most critical training requirements of the workplace and curating training programs that are forward looking. The aim of this training on “Authentic Leadership” is to help participants understand the meaning and importance of Authentic leadership and how they can practice it. The training also delves on how Leadership has evolved post the global pandemic.

Our team of competent trainers, research the present and future workplace trends across industries and geographies and deliver information, knowledge and tools to overcome the challenges of tomorrow. This preemptive outlook differentiates our course design, its delivery and keeps our clients asking for more.