AUTHENTICITY: Its impact on the workplace and why WE believe in it!

Written by: Federico Calvino - Co-Founder / CSO

Not long ago, right before I decided to co-found TAM Solutions, I was involved in 3 Interview processes. I was trying hard to decide whether I should consider another leadership role in an up-and-coming recruiting company or launch my own firm.

During the 5th round of interviews with one potential company I was speaking with the CEO where after a series of strategic, tactical, and at times odd questions, he asked me what the last book I read was. The question surprised me a bit and I even wondered if I should provide a comfortable and safe answer. Those who have worked with me know that I’m transparent and authentic at all times, thus I answered “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. The book had a profound impact on me when I was 19 years old, and, after 25 years, I had just finished reading it for the second time this last April. Authenticity.

Being authentic in the workplace lays the groundwork for true, honest, and deep relationships, it sets realistic expectations (especially if you’re interviewing). It allows you to create a work environment full of trust, comfort, transparency, support, and engagement. This approach with your teams has a direct impact on performance, communication, collaboration, decision-making, teamwork, loyalty, and ultimately, it has a direct effect on clients.

Over the course of the last 8 years, I have had the opportunity to lead fully remote teams of all sizes and shapes. I quickly realized that a customized leadership approach was needed to be successful. Every team operates differently, performs differently, and thinks differently. Through trial and error, I was able to learn and understand that each team had different needs, and different opinions, but they all shared a common denominator: they all reacted exactly the same way when approached with authenticity. They responded with empathy, care, confidence, collaboration, and open communication, you could just sense trust was being built right in front of your eyes.

After 15 years in the industry, I experienced every possible leadership approach: bureaucratic, transactional, autocratic, toxic, servant, and transformational. I got an up-close look at the impact of every approach, its results, and more importantly its impact on teams. I quickly realized that most of the teams I had ever been involved with responded extremely well to transformational leadership, clients were happy, the work environment was full of trust and enthusiasm, and it naturally pushed each member to connect at a much deeper level.

Today, the way we run things at TAM Solutions is transformational leadership with a BIG dose of authenticity. What is transformational leadership? Stay tuned for another blog post! Here at TAM Solutions we are going to analyze victories just as much as defeats. We’re going to openly brainstorm on what’s working and what’s not. We’re going to encourage healthy disagreements, debate and we’re going to push open communication, collaboration, and make sure we enjoy every second of it!