Authenticity
Being who you really are is about being coherent. Your values and your behaviour at work should be aligned. An authentic workplace is one where you can be yourself. If people feel relaxed about revealing their true identities and values, they are more engaged and also more effective. However, authenticity can become an excuse for inflexibility. This warning comes from an article on the management-issues.com website.
When you work with people who don’t share your values or expectations, you will have to choose between what is effective and what is in line with your true self.
Cultural fit
It is about whether a new colleague is able to conform and adapt to the core values of an organisation. A huge part of being a cultural fit is the ability to comply with collective behaviours that are in place.
People who fit well into an organisation have greater job satisfaction and are more likely to stay with that organisation. Their job performance is very high. The risky part is that when managers look for cultural fit, they may hire only people like themselves, and that hinders diversity.
Achieve both: cultural intelligence and authenticity
Perhaps authenticity should not be something completely rigid. We always need to re-appropriate how we express ourselves based on the context: we definitely speak differently to our children than with our grandparents.
Cultural intelligence is about finding the equilibrium. We must adapt to the norms and preferences of people around us but when doing so, we still must not lose ourselves.
-jk-