Ritu Bhasin, leadership and belonging expert and Author of 'The Authenticity Principle,' joins ChedHER to discuss what authenticity really means, and gives tips on ways to live your life more authentically.

chedHER

Tips for Living More Authentically

our next guest is on a mission to create a more empowered, inclusive and inspired world. All by unlocking authenticity. Joining us now is rich to be seen, leadership and belonging expert and author of the authenticity principle, rich to thank you so much for joining us. How exactly do you define authenticity? Because it's a word we hear all the time. So I define authenticity as the consistent practice of choosing to know who we are, to embrace who we are and then to be who we are as much as possible, so that we feel better connected to ourselves and we know from all the research around authenticity that the more we commit to being who we are and putting that out there, it causes greater joy for us, but not just that when we do this for ourselves, authenticity is a lot like a magnet magnet based on my work and research in this space, I can tell you it's contagious. The more I do this for myself, bring this into my, into my spirit, into my interactions with others and then the more you'll be inclined to do it back with me and this is what causes us to create more meaningful relationships with people and of course in the workplace when we work and lead with this spirit, this is what helps to unlock experiences of inclusion of belonging, of empowerment engagement and so much more, you know, this is a really exciting time, especially when we talk about the workplace because I think corporate cultures are changing and allowing people to be more authentic. So how can we all live more authentically? Do you have any regular tips for the daily periods for people? Absolutely, and I think if authenticity was important before the pandemic in the workplace, I would say to you, it's even more pronounced now in this hybrid world where we have seen that when we work from home, it gives us more freedom and comfort to be who we are and then having to be in a place where we're going back to some form of in person working, there's the pressure of oh well do I have to go back to curating an image or performing like I'm an actor on a stage work. And so there are three things I wanted to suggest to people today in terms of what you can do to be more authentic in the work place. And so the first thing is really about anchoring and understanding like what's getting in my way, like what is it that's preventing me from being who I am in the workplace and I can tell you based on my own experiences when I was a young lawyer and then an HR executive in the workplace that I held all kinds of self limiting beliefs tied back to the wounded nous that I had experienced as a child with being bullied and experiencing racist bullying in particular. That then I held within me and brought that into the workplace and so digging deep to do our work around healing, whatever it is that's causing us to feel like we can't be who we are is paramount. And so whether that's therapy or journaling self reflection, work meditation, whatever it is, that helps you to feel more empowered is critical. The second thing I just wanted to mention quickly is that start small and then go big for a lot of us when it comes to behavioral change, we don't do, we don't go 0 to 60 in two seconds. It's like little micro behavioral shifts that we make that help us to be more authentic in the workplace. And so what's one thing about yourself right now that you're not sharing at work at a fear of judgment that after today you'll start to share one small thing. And then the final thing I just wanted to mention quickly is that often times when it comes to being authentic. We shut down in the moment when the opportunity arises and so being prepared in advance can really help. And so what I mean by that is think about moments like at a meeting, for example where you wish you could speak openly and freely and be more of who you are before you go into the meeting. Think about what am I gonna say in an authentic way and like actually plan it out, scripted out and then in the meeting using your mantras or affirmations to help you speak to coach yourself in those moments where we freeze to say to myself, I'm going to speak can be really powerful. And so one of the things I love to say to myself, for example, in a business interaction when I feel myself shutting down and I'm like, oh I can't do it, is to be seen stand in your power. So choosing words of affirmation can be helpful. I was gonna say I did my affirmations this morning, I think they're so important to this and that inner work is really important, but also what are the signs that a workplace is in fact equitable and also authentic and what are some of the green flags at a workplace? So we know that that workplaces are rooted in authenticity and belonging when leaders first and foremost show up as their authentic selves and not just about things that they're happy about and that make their lives great. But I mean more importantly, talking about their vulnerabilities and their insecurities and what they're ashamed of and what they're afraid of because when we as leaders bring that spirit into how it is that we're engaging with others, what we do is we're signaling to people, I'm struggling, I'm having a hard time. I'm a real person and you as a leader can help to unlock and make people feel safe in doing the same thing back with you, in other words, we model what it looks like to be authentic in the work place and so when leaders are doing this and unlocks it for for everyone else. And then of course, we know that employee engagement survey results will be the results look better because people feel like they belong in the environment. There's more innovation and creativity. Because people feel safe to share their dissenting opinions or their creative ideas, morale goes up, our retention rates improve. We see greater diversity in the senior ranks. So there are many, many signals that we're cultivating a culture of belonging reed to be seen, leadership and belonging expert and author of the authenticity principle. Thank you so much for joining us all. Really helpful insight there.