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Organizational ethics, often reflected in an organization’s culture, have an influence on every aspect of a business. Interestingly, a business does not have to define its culture in order to have one. An organization will develop a culture (and values) with or without purpose, though one that develops on its own will most likely be different from the intended culture and end up being detrimental to the business. Organizational culture affects the way people work in the company, the way people view the company, and the sustainable success of the company. Smart leaders recognize the necessity of a healthy organizational culture, and work to define and communicate values, ethics, and expectations for their businesses.
Beliefs and values are important for individuals as much as they are for organizations. Just as individuals make up organizations, their personal beliefs and values contribute to the organization’s overall culture. Beliefs tend to be associated with faith, such as a belief in God; values, on the other hand, can be more easily articulated. One of my core values is honesty. Honesty means transparency and truthfulness. Honest people do not have to be overly blunt or insensitive to convey truth, but conduct all communications with openness. Honesty includes not “lying by omission”, leaving out key pieces of information. An effective leader must be honest and inspire honesty in those around her. My next core value is respect. Respect is not easily defined, but to me it means treating everyone with dignity and being able to admire the abilities of others without pride or envy. Though true respect must be earned, a leader will treat everyone with respect regardless of how others behave. Showing respect for someone reflects more on the respecter than the person being respected, true character is reflected through showing respect to people of all kinds.
My remaining values of top importance are mindfulness, knowledge, and compassion. As a person and a leader, I strive to be mindful of the world around me and the perspectives of other people. Mindfulness comes through being purposefully conscious and aware of the things outside of one’s own life or sphere of influence. Hand-in-hand with mindfulness is compassion. When a person makes themselves aware of the situations and people around them, they are bound to come across situations that compel compassion. Effective leaders are compassionate, having sympathy and caring for the people in their lives. Lastly, I value knowledge – having a grasp of facts, information, and skills. Knowledge opens up opportunities and adds to the effectiveness of a good leader.
Great leaders have priorities; they know what is important and they put the important things first. A leader should prioritize virtue ethics, ethical decisions based on contributing to the betterment of humanity, rather than just based on consequences. By prioritizing ethical decision making, leaders will teach those they lead to base decisions on what is right, versus what is easy or fast. Communication should also be a top priority for leaders. Communication comes easily to some leaders, but not all. The key to prioritizing communication, whether or not it is a natural strength, is to ensure interactions are purposeful.
Faith is an important priority in a leader. Though I respect secular leaders, I will never hold them in the same regard as I do a leader who is faith-led. Whether that faith holds closely with my own or not, I respect a person who prioritizes something greater than themselves. Servant leadership, though not exclusively faith-driven, follows in line with what Jesus showed his people a leader should be. A leader who displays servant leadership leads from the bottom -> up (rather than from the top.) The servant leader prioritizes the people they lead over themselves.
Lastly, I myself prioritize family and community involvement, and expect other leaders to do the same. My family matters to be second only to the Lord. Great leaders prioritize families, their own and – indirectly – the families of the people they lead. Great leaders should establish an atmosphere that allows for flexibility in work, so that organization members are able to remain involved in their lives outside of work, and not compromise relationships for work results.
My beliefs, values, and strengths converge into a set of expectations for myself and others in positions of leadership. I expect leaders to set attainable goals and communicate them. Leaders must establish expectations for progress and track and study opportunities for improvement. Good leaders must avoid “blindness” – both motivated and indirect. An honest leader cannot display motivated blindness, purposefully looking the “other way” from something that is happening. Similarly, indirect blindness (acting in a way that is not unethical but will lead a second party to make unethical decisions) cannot be part of a leader.
A leader must reward decisions and motivations over outcomes. As part of virtue-led ethics, a leader recognizes that the ends do not justify unethical means. By encouraging and rewarding motivations rather than just outcomes, a good leader will show those being led that ethics in decision making matter. I expect leaders to promote honesty and openness in communication and behaviors.
Lastly, a good leader must avoid “ethical drift.” Ethical drift is when an organization or person slowly moves away from what was the defined ethic or value. This happens slowly in organizations, usually with one decision being made unethically and then rewarded. People who are rewarded for even small unethical decisions that lead to seemingly positive outcomes will push the envelope. Ethical drift will lead to unfathomable decisions being made before anyone realizes how far they’ve gone. A good leader must be aware themselves of the harm of ethical drift, and encourage awareness in the organization. Ethical drift should be avoided by safeguards and consequences being put into place by leadership.
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