How to Be Your Authentic Self at Work
Psychological safety in teams allows an employee to be their authentic self and feel a sense of belonging at work. When employees feel this sense of psychological safety, they are able to produce better, more creative work. This is because there isn’t the worry of negative employment actions for showing up as they are and they don’t fear not being part of the group.
Here are some tricks to help you show up as your authentic self, even if your daily work environment doesn’t always support your psychological safety.
1. Find a friend who can support you and your work
Research has shown that one of the best predictors of someone’s happiness at work is linked to that person having a work best friend. This doesn’t have to be your very best friend in life, but having a work best friend is someone you can grab lunch with, hang out with at company events, and vent to when things are tough. Having a person where you can share the authentic you, even if you can’t yet do that with everyone at work, is a great place to start.
2. Find a sponsor
Mentorship and sponsorship are two ways to help propel your career. As someone who has struggled in the past to understand how to find a mentor and who hasn’t seen a lot of people who looked like me in the positions I wanted, I understand that this can be a challenge. There are a few ways I have learned how to find mentors and sponsors.
a. You don’t have to know the person. Some of the people I think of as mentors are people in the public spotlight doing what I want to do and talking about how they did it. They share their experience through writing or podcasts and I can follow them and be inspired without ever meeting them in person.
b. Don’t be afraid to ask if someone will sponsor you. Reach out and ask if someone will recommend you for a job or program or write your recommendation letter. Do a little legwork on your end by reminding them of the achievements they could highlight from when you worked together.
c. Have mentors at the same level as you. A lot of the people I admire in my field are in the same career stage as me. I am inspired when we discuss work or when they help me work through difficult problems. All your mentors don’t need to be senior level, and I have had people sponsor me for jobs who easily could have gone for the same position.
d. Mentor and sponsor people who are in an earlier career stage. You never know where their career will take them in the future, and you may be surprised by what you learn or how they can help you down the line.
3. Work on systemic change
Think about the ways in which you are not comfortable being your authentic self and what barriers are in place? Make a list of these things and the barriers you see for others. In what ways can you change these barriers? Sometimes it is simply beginning to talk about a topic that is not normally discussed at work like mental health or religion. Bigger systemic changes can come by looking at company policies or how processes are executed. Can you recommend changes or point out inequities regarding who doesn’t have a seat at the table?
While the ideal goal is for all workplaces to allow people to show up as their authentic selves all the time, we don’t always have that safe space. Therefore, we must make small changes like these as part of the work to help us get there.
