How do I lead authentically when the organisational culture feels different from me?
Welcome to The Coaching Corner. Transitioning from a practitioner to manager or leader in the research industry is not easy – it demands that we adapt, unlearn and rethink many of the things that served us well as individual contributors. Coaching Coach offers practical support and fresh ideas for growing managers and leaders.
Today’s question is: How do I lead authentically when the organisational culture feels different from me?
I love this question because it shows that this person is invested in developing their own leadership style and is thinking carefully about what is appropriate for where they work. This is a tension many leaders face, whether they are new to leadership or more experienced.
There will almost always be some dissonance
It is normal to ask this question in moments where we feel we have held back part of who we are, or overperformed to fit in. At the same time, it is not realistic to expect complete alignment between who we are and what our organisation is.
What we need is enough alignment, along with the skills and behaviours that allow us to adapt to the new situations we will inevitably face when we shift from researcher to research leader.
How we define authenticity matters
In my coaching work, I see two common definitions of authenticity:
Being natural
Being myself
Both can be problematic, because they look backwards.
What people often mean when they say, “I’m being myself” or “I’m being natural”, is that they are behaving as they always have. More specifically, they are behaving in the ways they have learned to, based on past circumstances.
The challenge with these definitions is that when the context shifts, such as when you move from researcher to leader, it becomes very easy to feel like:
I don’t belong here.
I don’t feel like me.
People don’t listen to or value people like me.
But the job of a leader is not the job of a researcher.
Leadership will require us to act in ways that feel unfamiliar, because it involves stepping into new levels of influence, responsibility and visibility.
So the first question to consider is: is your definition of authenticity helping you grow, or keeping you safe?
Authenticity as armour
Authentic leadership has been around for more than a decade now, but I do not think we have fully got to grips with it yet.
What I have observed is that our version of authenticity, rather than freeing us, can actually restrict us.
Authenticity has unintentionally become a kind of armour:
A way to avoid doing hard things.
An excuse for attitudes or behaviours that do not serve the team or organisation.
A story we tell ourselves that keeps us from feeling like we belong.
Authentic leadership is about being authentic within the context you are in
Authentic leadership is not about being fixed in who you are. It is about staying anchored to your values while allowing your leadership style to evolve.
Leaders do not operate in a vacuum. They are part of teams and organisations that have a culture. They need to find ways of showing up that fit what the context requires and still feel aligned with who they are.
I often say that coaching is more about range than change. This is a good example of that. Leadership is not asking you to change who you are or become someone else. But it is asking you to flex, evolve and adapt.
Practising intentional authenticity
Next time you catch yourself thinking, “this doesn’t feel like me”, pause and ask: is this behaviour in conflict with my values, or is it just unfamiliar?
Thank you for reading. I hope this helps you stay rooted in who you are, while still allowing yourself to grow. If this resonated with you, or you have an experience to share, drop a comment in the notes. If you have a question you would like answered in a future column, get in touch at zoe@youburnbright.com.
Coaching Corner is a bimonthly column by Zoe Fenn. Zoe is a qualified coach with 15 years of agency-side experience as a researcher, manager and leader. She now runs her own business, You Burn Bright, helping talented insight professionals become more effective managers and strategic leaders.
She runs small-group coaching programmes for agency-side and client-side professionals who are transitioning into their first management and leadership roles.
If you are curious, or want a sounding board for a management or leadership challenge, get in touch at zoe@youburnbright.com
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