We should bring our authentic selves to work

People have been adorned in traditional attire in various corporate offices. It is a sight that is quite strange to encounter in the formal workplace. It is the attire that people typically wear for functions at home and rarely ever bring into the office, unless it is Cultural Day or, as in this case, Heritage Day.

The level of pride and confidence that people show when they are in this attire is inspiring, and typically in complete contrast to the person who roams the corridors on the other days of the year. Even the quietest people become more noticeable.

Something similar happens when it comes to languages.

People tend to be far more expressive and influential when they have an opportunity to converse in their own language.

We are quite far off from living in a reality where all the 11 official languages can have a place in day-to-day corporate business.

We are also far off from a world where we stop conforming to the standard corporate attire and instead opt for the expressive traditional attire that you see only a few times a year.

But surely this should not be stopping us from bringing those authentic individuals within us to work more often.

We should not wait for when we are in the right attire or in the right language to let our authentic selves be.

In a country with so much history and heritage, we are privileged to all exist and benefit from the value systems that come from our pasts.

This is true irrespective of whether you've come from a farm, the suburbs or the townships - all of these have an influence on who we are today.

The environments where we had the greatest exposure in our lives have made us who we are. They are what has helped us reach a good level of success. They are where our sources of strength come from.

When we find ourselves working in environments where we have to wear apparel that may not be authentic to us or speak in a language that is not of our choosing, these factors should not be the reason that we sit back and do not bring our best selves to the table. These factors should not influence how effective we are at what we do.

Every day that we spend our lives conforming to behaviour that does not resonate withus, we are missing the opportunity of letting the world benefit from our true nature - defined by our experiences.

When we start leading our work lives from our authentic selves, those around us will always react with shock at first - as is the case on those one or two days in the year when we are allowed to adorn ourselves in cultural attire. People are always shocked when you suddenly become a more confident and noticeable character.

We need to have the patience to keep this way of being long enough for the shock to disappear. It usually does so quickly because when we are ourselves we are more effective.

If anything, it is contagious and others will follow suit.

When you are consistently authentic, and effectively so, people around you cannot help but start feeling comfortable with doing the same.

This is why the most authentic leaders in the world are effective, respected and remembered for their consistent character.

Authenticity is not at all about breaking all the rules - there is a reason why we have rules in the workplace.

But we tend to over-conform - to the extent that we lose our real selves, and ultimately our sources of strength in the process.

The person who shows up during Heritage Month in attire that gives them confidence needs to retain that confidence permanently.