Are you Ethically Fit?
“To be an ethical leader is indeed to be different. This kind of leader acknowledges the complexity of running a responsible business, yet tries to do it anyway.” Andrew Leigh
One of your subordinates cheats on his safety certification test. You learn of an adulteress affair which has occurred between two employees in your company. Sarah wants to fire John who is not performing. She is correct about his performance but has never formally appraised him or trained him. Your top sales associate lies about the efficacy of your service to gain several new clients. An email gets sent to a wide distribution of people in your company with a cartoon and joke which is a bit sexually and racially sensitive. Brian’s personal Facebook posts are very political and abrasive which is not in keeping with the values and culture everyone subscribes to in your company? The extra hours Chelsey must work this week are only due to her own failures when she attempted the task the first time. Should you pay her for those hours? What do you do in these situations? How should you lead?
These are tough situations, some of which have no clear right answer. Regardless, they do require leaders to act. How 'fit' are you to handle them? If you were part of a local running group or played on a weekend basketball team, you would maintain a level of physical fitness required for the demands of your group or team. The same is true for ethical decisions. The muscle this time is our brain. Periodically reviewing and presenting ethical dilemmas to your team and its leaders, especially as they relate to your values and culture are great ways to ‘stay in shape.’ Let me share a ‘handrail’ you can use in your leadership.
The Citadel Military College in partnership with Institute for Global Ethics and The Krause Center for Leadership and Ethics offers an informative document focused on ethics and moral courage. Here is the link. Hit print and keep it handy. It offers definitions, diagrams, and vignettes perfect for leaders. I offer this 'workout' to guide you in your quest for ethical fitness! Apply them to the scenarios above or to a situation you are dealing with at work.
Five tests are useful in determining whether or not an action is wrong. (Keep in mind that these tests are meant for quick, efficient, problem-solving purposes; some actions that fail these tests may be moral, and some actions that pass these tests may be immoral.)
The legal test: is the action legal? If not, it may be unethical.
The professional standards test: is the action consistent with the accepted standards of your profession?
The gut feeling test: how do you intuitively feel about the action? Does it feel wrong?
The front-page test: how would you feel if your action was published on the front page of a newspaper?
The role model test: would your role model perform the action?
Be Ethically Fit and Make it Personal!
Go crush it today!
Rob
Rob Campbell