A small initiative in the journey of making leaders with the help of authentic leadership model
Authors: Shrivastava Archana 
Published: April 2018

Purpose
This research study uses authentic leadership (AL) model for leadership development. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the developmental perspective where the attention is on the processes. As the authenticity involves both owing one’s personal experiences and acting in accordance with one’s true self, the emphasis is on self-awareness and self-regulation. The influence of the person’s personal history and trigger events are considered as significant antecedents for generating AL. As the research was facilitated by the participation and collaboration of the number of individuals with the researcher for common purpose, i.e. developing AL, action research methodology is adopted.

Design/methodology/approach
The methodology used was based on the self-assessment exercises in the controlled environment. The programme used intensive counselling sessions, Neuro Linguistics programming (NLP), career autobiographies, mind maps, workshops and storytelling sessions as tools. Certified counsellors and trainers were out-sourced for conducting such sessions. With the information generated through various sources, detailed career autobiographies of students’ self-image were generated. These reports were then critically analysed on “Nvivo”, a software that supports qualitative and mixed research methods. Comprehensive data analysis was done to pull the information together and make sense of it. The development process model of AL began with how individuals interpret their accumulated life experiences with the “Who I am?” approach. NLP was used as a research instrument which involved question-based discussions, value elicitation exercise and “Anchoring and Mentor table”. The results that came after the exercises were reported by the students in a one-page autobiography.

Findings
The students learnt to live by their inner compass. They were finally able to relate themselves and their identity with their beliefs, thereby, understanding the term, “Who Am I”; the intentions closely related with the components of AL. Students realized that each one of them was unique. What lied beneath were exposed and the students were more at ease once they realized that they were able to balance these emotions and use them towards behaving congruently. The research concluded that doing such kind of exercises along with the main stream subjects is definitely going to help students emerge as a better person, employee and an authentic leader in the future.

Practical implications
The approach helped students become self-aware and self-confident and therefore enhanced their capacity to adapt positively to social set ups personally and professionally. The results suggest that such leadership development programmes along with the main stream subjects can foster AL giving students new abilities and embodied skills to deal with the practical challenges of life in a more effective manner.

Originality/value
This research study supports new emerging strategy of educating managers to become effective leaders and demonstrate that the development of AL can be fostered by such interventions during their journey of becoming leaders. Further, researches on whether AL can be developed through planned interventions can be certified through longitudinal studies in this area.