Is Inauthenticity Killing Your Performance?

Inauthenticity could be killing your performance.
(and energy, happiness, motivation, potential - the list goes on.)
(Read or watch - your choice!)
Are you being authentic?
Sounds quite a loaded question, doesn’t it?
No-one wants to be accused of being inauthentic or fake.
It can feel like an attack on our character.
BUT, it’s a crucial question.
And I ask it in an entirely curious, non judgemental, non-accusational way.
I ask it of myself too. Every day.
Why? Because authenticity is just too important not to pay attention to.
We talk about it all of the time as a business - the extent to which people feel safe, supported and inclined to show up as their whole selves.
It’s perhaps THE founding element to building a sustainable, high performing organisation.
Recently, I read a fantastic book by Professor David Posen - Authenticity - A guide to living in harmony with your true self.
It gave me some fresh insight on authenticity, stemming from physiology, psychology and philosophy/ outlook.
And I thought he offered such great advice that I wanted to share.
Because the cost of not living in harmony with our true selves - of not being authentic - are too significant to ignore - both individually and collectively.
This advice is for the individual - for you - whatever level of your organisation that you operate at.
I’ve pulled out 3 key areas that we can raise awareness of how authentic we are being and to keep an eye out for when we’re not:
1. Pace of life
2. Personality traits
3. Passions and Values
By understanding ourselves better in these 3 key areas, we can intentionally take action to build a working pattern that suits us better. It will also allow us to push out of these comfort zones and grow, whilst understanding what we need to recover.
1. So, Pace of life/work
Generally, the speeded up world in which we live represents a huge disruption to our natural rhythms.
There’s a conflict between biological time and artificial time.
The demand for more, more quickly creates a discomfort and tension in most of us, to varying degrees.
We’re losing time to reflect, contemplate and think laterally and creatively.
We’re losing patience.
We’re becoming less efficient, rushing and making mistakes.
Quality is suffering.
We have less time for each other.
We’re becoming chronically stressed out - a huge 63% of people in the UK are stressed at least weekly – up from just over a third 6 years ago.
So what does this have to do with authenticity?
Well, we’re not living in sync with our most natural rhythms.
Don’t wait for burnout to react. Be intentional.
How can you find time to get off of the merry-go-round, pause and truly be present - and at regular intervals?
-a walk
-quality time with loved ones
-a bit of meditation
-a proper lunch break
-Some breathing exercises
It’s not rocket science.
Be intentional. Make it your own.
Take back control.
2. Personality traits
And in particular the fundamental, if often misunderstood, spectrum between introversion and extroversion.
Terms first introduced by Carl Jung in 1921, introversion and extroversion are simply a reference to where one’s psychic energy is directed - inwards or outwards? Subjective or objective?
-- More of an introvert’s energy is directed inwards to their own thoughts and feelings. (Subjective)
-- More of an extrovert’s energy is directed towards other people and the outside world. (Objective)
With the proliferation of personality tests, originating from Jung’s work, developed by Myers Briggs, and now turning up in all sorts of guises, people often “wear” their result almost as a badge of honour.
Really, such tests should be used as helpful information, a sign post, opening the door to a deeper understanding of ourselves and each other and, therefore, to further growth and development. It’s a starting point, not an end point.
However, understanding where abouts you’re placed on the spectrum is incredibly helpful. Greater awareness leads to better choices - certainly when it comes to living in sync with ourselves.
Generally, introverts re-charge and re-energise with solitude and space for reflection.
Extroverts generally re-energise through interaction with people and external stimulae.
Work out where you fit on the spectrum. Again, you needn’t overcomplicate this.Your gut will probably know. Maybe the above has clarified it for you. If not, there are plenty of short online surveys that can give you insight.
The purpose of this discovery is not to then build an environment where you’re constantly in your comfort zone.
It’s important for all of us to break out of ours, in order to grow.
However, an awareness of the toll that it can take, allows you to better create the conditions where you can recover - avoiding burnout.
So, if you’re an introvert needing to spend a LOT of time interacting with people in busy environments, how will you build in space for more solitary, reflective work? Avoiding exhaustion.
If you’re an extrovert and you know that there will be a lot of solitary, focused work this week, how will you build in time for external interaction with people and the world to re-charge? Avoiding chronic understimulation.
It’s all about getting the cortical centres at the optimal level of arousal - not too much - not too little.
What will work best for you?
3. Passions and Values
When we live our lives in a way that goes against our authentic values, it takes a toll. We feel uncomfortable and stressed. Whether we’re conscious of them or not.
When we live our lives doing something that doesn’t ignite our passions, we feel unhappy, uninspired and lacking in purpose somewhat.
Spending some time, through self-reflection, reading, coaching or mentoring, can help make us much more aware of what makes us tick and what values are integral to us. This is important work.
Because, we could be living in authenticity, completely unaware. Maybe it’s not in every area of your life. I’m sure it won’t be. But maybe there are pockets.
We could well be operating, daily, in a way that makes us feel uninspired, uncomfortable in our own skin and stressed.
When we bring our passions and values to the surface, and articulate them, we’re empowered to make better choices.
What will you do to start or maintain this reflective work?
Clearly there’s so much depth to this conversation that can’t we can’t cover in a relatively short blog. There are many other areas to explore around the subject of authenticity. There are also important conversations to be had around how organisations build cultures where people feel safe, supported and inclined to be more authentic and bring more of themselves to work.
However, the best place to start, and to prime ourselves for these wider conversations about authenticity, is to start living more authentically ourselves.
You might be doing fantastically well on this front and, again, no element of accusation or judgement here, but maybe there are some pockets where you’d like to do better.
What will you do as a result of reading this piece? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
By Chris Wickenden 13.08.2024