Leadership #NoFilter

When you think of leadership, how would you define a good leader? Many of us would use performative traits like: strong communication, excellent people skills, or being skilled in leading others toward and completing a common goal. While these are all things we hope to see on a leader’s resume, what would we want to see behind the scenes? Is a leader still a good leader if they have strong communication skills and charisma, but never does what they say they will? What would happen if we removed the filters of performance and actually looked at what a true leader looks like before they make a single speech or decision? 

One of the quickest ways to build distrust amongst your team, and people in general, is by not following up your words with actionable results. If you say one thing to your team and then turn around and do the complete opposite, it will make it extremely hard for your team to believe what you say the next time. They won't have the faith that you'll execute on your words and follow them up with action. Not only does this create distrust, but it won't build a strong team that can rely on its leader. 

Furthermore, in some cases, the way a leader carries themselves can trickle down into how their team treats each other and their work. If you show your team that you'll always back up your words with action, they'll never question your reliability, and it will make them feel more confident in their team and the tasks at hand. Of course, no one is perfect, sometimes mistakes are made, and that's okay. Even though this may be true, leaders must be self-aware of how they manage and interact with their teams.

In the social media world, the term #nofilter is used to denote that the user is showing up as themselves. By including that hashtag, you’re indicating that you haven’t used any of the filters available to adjust or improve your image. If applied in the business context, there are a lot of filters that we apply either consciously or subconsciously as individual professionals and as leaders. 

So what does leadership look like with no filters? Leading with no filters allows you to lead from the inside out with your actions following suit. When we lead with no filter, we become accountable for our actions. We operate with integrity, being careful to always stick to our word. We have empathy, putting ourselves in other’s shoes and making decisions with our team’s well-being in mind. We’re transparent, allowing our team to clearly see our motivations and our goals behind our decisions. When we lead without filters, we positively impact our teams and create a lasting impact on our organizations. Our #nofilter leadership not only motivates and encourages our teams to succeed, but it also inspires other leaders to remove their filters and become the leaders they were meant to be.

If we took the time to assess and understand the filters that we’ve put on top of our own leadership style, we might find that we’re further from our authentic selves than we’d like. Taking the time to re-evaluate and remove some of those filters will allow us to better connect with our teams and show by example how we’d like them to show up as well. I’d like to challenge you to consider: What would the impact be if I could lead with #nofilter?