Editorial
| Date | 08 June 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-04-2015-0035 |
| Published date | 08 June 2015 |
| Pages | 73-73 |
| Author | Javier Bajer |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Employee behaviour |
Editorial
Javier Bajer
The development of leadership has kept many people busy for – at least – the past
three decades. Endless attempts at capturing and replicating the true essence of good
leadership have done limited to satisfy organisations’ needs to equip themselves with
good leaders. Years of psychometric testing and education on a variety of profiles, taxonomies
and traits, often thought as “the secrets” of x or y style of leadership, have clearly not managed
to give us the amount and quality of leadership that the world needs today.
That is the reason for having this issue of Strategic HR Review focus on authentic
leadership. Instead of embarking on a quest to become who we are not, our contributors
reinforce the idea that true leadership has to do with becoming the best version of
ourselves that we can be.
I start with identifying the need for effective, and authentic, leadership. In How Businesses
Can Deal With a Bad Manager, Penny de Valk highlights research documenting the ways
that ineffective leadership and bad management impact employee performance, and offers
ways to develop mid-level and senior leaders that effectively avoid those pitfalls.
In It’s Messy Being Authentic – Lessons Learned on the Road to Becoming an Authentic
Leader, Robin Wright lays out the basics of authentic leadership – such as valuing multiple
perspectives, balancing emotional and intellectual intelligence, developing internal
honesty and trust with others and a dedication to commitment and the courage to act – and
explores these in the context of her own personal journey of leadership development.
In Develop Authentic Leadership – Be a Good Host, Mark McKergow posits that adopting
the innately-understood roles and responsibilities as a “host” engenders authentic
leadership naturally.
In How HR Plays its Role in Developing Leaders and Managers, Tom O. Davenport identifies
specific functions for HR managers in building leadership capacity and ensuring that their
organisations have the “right people performing well in leadership roles at all levels”.
And finally, in Authentic Leadership: Development of a New Three Pillar Model, Fiona Jones
and Stephen Swailes outline a new model for authentic leadership, based on research with
senior leaders in business and the military, that relies on an individual’s capacity for
self-awareness, self-regulation and ethical behavior.
As I published on an earlier Strategic Commentary for Strategic HR Review (2009, Vol. 8
Issue 5), today it is clear that most organisations need to develop leadership in every
member of our organisations, not just for a few. Furthermore, true leadership is not
something that we can get by looking at others, but it is only achieved when we have the
courage (and tools) to honestly look at ourselves.
I hope you enjoy this issue.
Dr Javier Bajer
Editor-in-Chief
Strategic HR Review
DOI 10.1108/SHR-04-2015-0035 VOL. 14 NO. 3 2015, p. 73, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 STRATEGIC HR REVIEW PAGE 73
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