Authenticity - a Double-edged Sword

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.