One of the current buzzwords lately is “authenticity”. It
seems like the focus on collaboration and dynamic teamwork has increased this
need for being real, being true to ourselves, to bring
the real us to our workplace as a means to develop trust in collaborative workplaces. Being authentic has a number of benefits.,but
this sharing of feelings and experiences can be a double-edged sword and
may backfire at you. Being authentic needs to be properly timed and should align
with your current workplace culture. I've been reading numerous articles on
authenticity and I have honed-in on a list of ways to avoid authenticity
back-firing at you.
Learn more about Yourself. Learn
more about Yourself first. What are your successes, your failures, what lessons
did you learn from both? What are your experiences at work and at
volunteering? What is your personal philosophy? Who are the people who
have influenced you the most? Choose which stories are worth sharing and are
appropriate to share.
Learn more about Them.
Investigate your team members' national cultural norms about sharing so that you will know
how to approach each individual person. Learn more about
your organization's cultural norm too.
Learn when to be quiet. With regards to personal
disclosures, avoid these, or at least delay sharing them.
The only time when you should share intimate stories is when you have
already established relationships with the individuals you are
sharing the stories to. These personal stories are meant to
strengthen those relationships. I am not saying for you to wait for years
and years of working with a colleague/having a relationship with that
colleague or with a team. You should have just first developed a
foundation of trust with them. You should have first seen how you and the
team have common goals and that the team environment is already such that the
others are open and are disclosing personal stories. If the culture of the team
is where they are at this place, if the individual you are working with
shows interest and shares stories himself/herself, then it'll be a safe
and even helpful to share.
Stay
genuine. In your effort to connect with others, never
fabricate stories that you may feel will make you succeed in establishing that
connection. Stay true to yourself. Your real-life experiences may not be
as interesting to you but they may be of great value to others.
Hoping these four steps can help you in your use of self-disclosure as a management tool.
