Authentically me!

In the early stages of my career, I obtained leadership positions without any leadership training.?This made it very bumpy and very difficult to do a good job as a leader.?Although I had no official training, I have always considered myself an authentic and honest person. I took that into the office with me every day, yet never allowed it to bleed into my daily responsibilities and interactions.?I had a strong sense of logic that I thought allowed me to make good business decisions, not realizing that my authenticity played a large role in that decision making process.?I didn’t have a “people person” personality, so I avoided connecting to anyone and just kept all conversations about the job.?My employees felt that I was unapproachable, but I never thought to analyze why.?In that era, it was considered unprofessional to interact with anyone in the workplace if it had nothing to do with the job.

As I matured professionally, I gradually but subconsciously opened myself a bit in the workplace.?It started with basic but small things that I honestly felt; saying “good morning”, asking “how are you?”, saying “hope you have a great weekend” on Friday and then asking, “how was your weekend?” on Monday. I began noticing that my employees liked talking! ?I then made a conscious effort to have real conversations.?We would talk about new babies, the joys (and fears) of raising kids, kids’ sports games, planned vacations, holidays, birthdays and sick parents. This way of connecting created a sense of belonging and sincerity for all of us and we no longer had just a supervisor/employee relationship, we had a “TEAM” relationship. ?I was surprised to see that it was okay to talk about something other than daily tasks related to the job…and it was genuine!?It also helped make the workplace less mundane.?

What I have learned over the years is that the more authentic I am with my team, the more authentic they are with me.?Authentic leadership has empowered me to be human in the workplace, and to connect with my team in a way that lets them know that I care about their success and their well-being.?I used to think authenticity was inappropriate in the workplace.?Now I know that it is an extremely powerful tool in the journey to becoming a great leader!

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Kimberly Hubbard currently serves as an instructional dean for the largest community college in Texas, with oversight of IT and Visual Communications programs.?She also serves as a professor. With over 20 years of experience in both the private and public sector, her area of expertise is in the field of information technology and information security. She has held a variety of managerial and administration positions in IT operations, IT training, IT resource management, business management and education. Dean Hubbard also owned her own business, Hubbard Group and Associates, which specialized in IT recruiting, training and systems administration. She holds a BS in Physics from LSU-Shreveport, an MBA and an MS in Information Systems and Security from Our Lady of the Lake University. She is currently a doctoral candidate in the field of organizational leadership at Our Lady of the Lake University.