Authentic Leadership (IRSC series)

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”.

(Warren Bennis)

The Walk into the Future blog has a consistent focus on Authentic Leadership and the impact in the workplace.  My leadership consulting work is founded on Authentic Leadership principles and drives my daily interactions in the workplace.  My Walk into the Future readers should know I love a good quote by now.  Ok, here’s another one!

“A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives, and in his own land” (Mark 6:4).

I have leveraged Authentic Leadership with my consulting organizations to help them develop their staff and engage them to seek positive work outcomes.  I continue to seek out additional consulting opportunities with local government agencies and will work with the Seminole Tribe of Florida again in early May.  Fun fact, the Seminole Tribe of Florida was my first Authentic Leadership client back in 2018.  I maintain an active vendor credential with the Tribe, but COVID-19 stopped our training momentum.  That changes in May! 😊

So, why is the prophet quote above?  Great question, Lynn!

I work with multiple organizations to help THEM improve the work environment, but I never introduced my Authentic Leadership program to my current organization, Indian River State College.

Leadership training is normally a product of the Human Resources (HR) department at most educational institutions.  The University of Central Florida (UCF) and Florida State University (FSU) have robust leadership programs within the Organizational Development unit under HR.  I experienced firsthand how these consistent leadership programs enhanced the overall operational effectiveness on both campuses. 

Fast forward and I decided to introduce my Authentic Leadership training program on my current campus.  I’m not saying I’m taking over the training program for my organization, but I have training materials that can and will help the organization grow. 

I decided to schedule an Authentic Leadership series and invite campus partners and my staff to attend.  This was not an official consulting role (not paid) but I wanted to start making a difference in ‘my own land’.  No one called on me to do this, but I saw a need and had a platform to move us forward.

The following workshops were scheduled with in-person and virtual options:

• Authentic Leadership (2 times)
• The Self-Aware Leader (2 times)
• Empowered Leadership (1 time)

I didn’t know how these workshops would be received in ‘my land’ but I was pleasantly surprised by the attendance and the level of participation.  There were several attendees who attended ALL the workshops even though I repeated two of the workshops—same material but the folks wanted to get more in-depth with the content.

The biggest take away for me was the amount of interest and excitement for the attendees to create their personal WHY statement as part of their homework from the Empowered Leadership workshop.  The WHY statements were well conceived and addressed areas each attendee wanted to improve in their daily lives.  I felt like a proud papa reading the statements and saw my volunteer work making a difference in my work environment.  Not a surprising outcome considering I do this for outside organizations on a regular basis.

Looks like you can be a prophet in your own land after all! 😊

What areas can you impact in your own land?  Thanks!

Irie!

Calvin Williams

“Every time you speak, you are auditioning for leadership”.

(James Humes)