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The moment someone steps into a formal leadership role a barrier automatically appears between the leader and his reports because they start treating him differently.

People mostly care what their leader thinks of them so they show and report their best side. This is a natural consequence of a title or position of authority.

The leader must establish how exactly this barrier looks. It may seem like a high and very thick wall, which means the leader cannot “see” or “hear” what is going on in the organisation.

When followers move over to his side of the barrier they behave differently to when they are on the side where the leader can’t “see” or “hear” them. The barrier may seem like thick glass, in which case the leader can sort of “see” the behaviour on both sides, but he can’t “hear”.

So, followers can smile at him while actually uttering negative comments and so fool the leader. Or, the barrier may seem like thin glass, in which case he can “see” and at least “hear” most… but, he still does not “see” or “hear” the exact truth.

One of the functions of a leader is to try and “see things and people as they really are” - see the truth, the facts. Without this ability the leader moves in the dark and will no doubt acquire some unnecessary bruises as he bumps into all sorts of obstacles.

The leader’s aim should be to continually break down the barrier. Anything that threatens an authentic open environment helps build the barrier. Anything that enhances an authentic and open environment breaks down the barrier.

To break down the barrier:

1. Give instructions to your reports and not below them, but insist that you will access information at any level. This means you can walk the floor and ask questions of anyone
2. Promote absolute openness and that reporting must include positives and negatives. Then, don’t only focus on the negatives but recognise the positives as well
3. Connect with people, at a deep level. A person that is truly connected to the leader will probably act more consistently – the same on both sides of the barrier
4. Ensure your passions are in place and therefore your intentions. More on passions below
5. Ensure an accurate management information system
6. Trust your ‘gut’ feel. When you ‘feel’ something somewhere is not right, dig deeper
7. Understand yourself, to the point that you know what weaknesses may prevent you from following though on your “gut” feel

Of course there are many reasons or causes that prevent leaders from seeing reality. Over the years we have discovered that one of the reasons authentic leaders achieve certain success is because of passion.

I want to touch on four passions that impact directly on the authentic leader’s ability to see the truth and to remain focused and authentic:

1. Passion for the specific industry, product/service or business: Authentic leaders more often than not love their specific industry (product/service). Those around them can sense this passion and it is infectious; it blows energy into followers and more often than not keeps others going even when they themselves don’t have an equal measure of passion. As long as this passion burns within the leader the intent behind decisions will almost always be pure. The leader will still make mistakes, but the intent will not be questioned
2. Passion for people: Authentic leaders more often than not want to see others succeed. Their focus is therefore on developing, empowering, caring for people. This includes courageous conversations when needed, with the intent almost always being to assist the individual to improve and succeed.
3. Passion for career growth (this may include promotion, increase in wealth, etc): This is an interesting one because a passion for self improvement, personal growth, development is a good thing. The corporate environment specifically is very competitive and a leader in this environment often measures career improvement by "promotion". Entrepreneurs specifically measure their success through wealth creation. Not to say corporate leaders don’t do this.
4. Passion for life purpose: Some leaders have discovered a deep sense of purpose in their lives that goes beyond industry and career - a sense of destiny to uplift others around them (linking with passion number two); a sense of serving God or a higher purpose in making the world in general a better place.

To remain authentic a leader needs to balance these passions. In my view, when passion number three overtakes the other passions, the leader is in dangerous territory.

It is at that moment that the leader will struggle to come across as authentic because decisions may be perceived to be made out of self interest and not necessarily for the good of the business, people or industry.

This means the leader may not be ‘seeing things as they really are’.

Such a leader struggles to really connect with followers and fosters an environment where barriers are built rather than torn down.

As a leader you have to accept that there is a barrier between you and those that follow you. Strive day and night to break down that barrier so that you can “see things and people as they really are”.

Balance your different passions so that you will remain authentic, which makes it easier to connect with people and so break down barriers.