Leading with Authenticity & Integrity

Values That Guide Decisions

Values - Definition

• Personal values are your central beliefs and the principles that guide your actions. These principles influence your behavior and personality traits and guide you through success and challenging times. These individual values inform your decision-making, aspirations, and relationships.

• You can learn personal values from the people around you or develop them on your own through personal growth. Children often adopt most of their values from the family members in their lives, but they start to build their own value systems as they age.

Why values are important to Leaders

• Values are important because they represent what matters to us and they help make decisions. They make sure we act consistently across situations, time and people.

• Values serve as a compass for decision-making. When faced with complex choices, managers/leaders can refer to them to help determine the best course of action. This ensures that decisions are aligned with the leader's moral compass, and the organisation’s vision and direction.

Transparency in Leadership

Transparency means:

✓Being open and honest in communication

✓Sharing relevant information, not withholding it unnecessarily

✓Explaining decisions, not just announcing them

✓Being clear about what you know and what you do not

Balanced Choices and Accountability

Balanced Processing in Leadership

Balanced processing means:

✓ Considering multiple perspectives before making decisions

✓ Actively seeking different viewpoints

✓ Challenging your own assumptions

✓ Making decisions based on evidence, not bias

The links to authenticity and integrity:

✓ Prevents biased or one-sided decisions

✓ Demonstrates fairness and objectivity

✓ Builds credibility and trust

✓ Encourages inclusion and better thinking

Accountability

• This is the act of holding yourself accountable to others. To be an effective leader, you must be able to hold yourself accountable for your actions and decisions, as well as the actions and decisions of those who report to you.

• If people don’t feel accountable they won’t take personal responsibility for themselves and they won’t be held accountable by others.

• It is built around expectations. It’s about being clear with everyone involved about what you expect from them and why. When people feel accountable for their actions, they take ownership of them and can easily fix mistakes they make.

• A recent study found that business leaders who possessed the qualities of accountability and integrity were more likely to outperform their peers.

Resilience That Holds Under Pressure

Resilience: A Key Leadership Competency

What is resilience?

• Resilience is the ability to adapt to challenges, recover from setbacks, and maintain performance under pressure.

Why is resilience important?

• Rapid workplace change.

• Increasing expectations on middle managers.

• Navigating personal and team stress.

Outcomes of resilience?

• Stronger leadership.

• Increased productivity.

• Better mental health and wellbeing

The Growing Importance of Personal Resilience in the UK Workplace

Health and Well-being:

• Higher levels of emotional resilience are associated with better health outcomes and greater immunity from certain illnesses.

Enhanced Productivity:

• Employees with high emotional resilience are more effective at work, indicating that improving resilience is a key strategy for boosting productivity.

Adaptation to Change:

• Resilience enables employees to better handle job uncertainty, increased work pressure, and financial concerns, especially during economic downturns.

What Resilient Leaders Do Differently

1. Develop high-quality relationships.

One key characteristic of resilience is high-quality relationships. The most resilient individuals surround themselves with the right people, who they can reach out to for help.

Strong Leadership in Reality

Choosing When and Where to Challenge

Speaking up with integrity at senior level means:

✓ Exercising judgement, not just courage

✓ Balancing challenge with influence

✓ Acting in the organisation’s long-term interest

What This Looks Like in Reality

Authentic and ethical leadership is not:

×A one-off decision

×A statement of intent

×Something you do when it is easy

It is:

✓A series of small, consistent choices

✓Visible in how you behave under pressure

✓Noticed most when it would be easier not to do it

What Strong Leadership Looks Like

In practice, this means:

✓Being clear and honest, even when the message is difficult

✓Making decisions you can stand behind long-term

✓Challenging constructively when needed

✓Staying consistent, regardless of audience or pressure

The Leadership Checkpoint

Before your next key decision, ask yourself:

• Am I being fully honest here?

• Am I considering all perspectives?

• Would I be comfortable explaining this decision openly?

• What are the longer-term consequences?