2020 is definitely a year of change for work-life environment.
I was looking at the results of Jobvite’s 2020 National Recruiter report for US. I was mainly paying attention to the fact that Instagram is up with 20% vs 2017 on the top of social media tools used by recruiters. While LinkedIn is going down 20%. Facebook is still the second social media tool to be used in recruitment. This can be explained by the need to reach a bigger pool of candidates, but also by the fact that recruiters are looking for a better insight of the candidate’s self. Instagram (and Facebook) is opening the door to a more “personal” face of the candidate.
With social networks giving access to our personal life, with home working becoming the new “normal” this year, with Zoom meetings from our homes, the personal and professional life are merging. And their limits tend to disappear.
For me, this year brings again in the light the need of authenticity and transparency in our lives.
But what is authenticity?
Authenticity is not about how we dress or our appearance, nor about starting watching soccer games during working hours. Authenticity is about our true self, about our core values, about aligning our beliefs with our behavior.
And why authenticity matters?
Most of us were confronted with conformity in our careers. Most of us put up a facade behavior, a smile when needed a smile, a nod when needed a nod. And this, despite our beliefs. Studies show that when putting up a facade behavior, we put ourselves in a stressful situation. Conformity generates fear, fighting, fatigue and eventually depression. For the company this translates in less engagement and less commitment. Eventually we will end up by leaving the company.
Being an authentic member of a team nurture a feeling of belonging and of acceptance. We feel we fit completely in the place. It translates in a happier self as a worker. It translates in quality results, a better productivity and more satisfied clients.
By being an authentic leader, we inspire trust to the team. People are more willing to open up and to discuss about problems that might occur. Therefore, the problems are solved instead of hidden. Teams will be more engaged and will follow with their hearts the cause.
Why being authentic now?
It’s been a while now that we are talking about being authentic. Coaching and trainings in leadership area are supporting authenticity at work. But I believe the current context is a good timing to break some barriers that still exist.
On the one hand, an opportunity is presenting to us by working from home. Letting our colleagues entering our private space through the lens of our web cam, unconsciously makes us more relaxed and lets us show a self, closer to our true self. The mechanisms of putting up the “work environment self” are softened by being at home. We are more natural.
On the other hand, social media pushes our environment to another level, whether we like it or not. Friends, colleagues, recruiters, potential employers might have access to our “personal” self, through the content we share on Instagram or Facebook for example.
These are so many reasons for adopting a more authentic behavior in work environment.
But is that simple shifting to an authentic self?
For sure not. Because authenticity is also about relationships. The way we are and we act have consequences on our relationships. In order to achieve authenticity, we need to answer honestly to the question “who am I really?” and decide which values are really important for us. In the same time, in order to be able to show our true self we will need a work place that encourage authenticity and where leaders know how to deal with authentic people.
But today's writing was intended to be a reminder related to a particular context that 2020 brought in. It might be a good moment for shifting to a more authentically work environment. Becoming authentic is a journey, it will not happen during the night. So better start the process sooner than later, because research suggests that when we are authentic, we have a greater sense of well-being.
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