5 Ways to Be a More Ethical Leader
Leaders can’t please everybody, and trying to do so only causes problems. But being a good leader means being comfortable with making hard decisions and helping everyone see the clear path ahead, whether they agree with the decision or not. Employees appreciate leaders who inspire them, who they trust, help them trust the organization, and approach hard situations with confidence and clarity.Here are five ways to be a more ethical leader.
Understand Your Own Ethics
Ethical leaders can serve as a lighthouse for employees by providing a model for how to act. Ethical leaders understand that their obligation is to do good in their work, and determine what is right and wrong. Their actions match their ethics, and employee can trust their actions. Leaders can explore their values and ethics by considering their guiding principles. These are values and principles that they would hold onto even if they became a professional disadvantage.
Know Your Organizational Ethics
Strong leaders understand the roles and personality of their companies. Companies maintain multiple roles with a variety of stakeholders, such as a provider of a service or product, a business partner and employer, and a corporate citizen. But in each case, a strong leader knows and upholds the organizational ethics that guide the company in each of those roles. A dynamic, progressive company might have different values than a conservative one, and company leaders should understand what’s needed in each situation.
Embody Company Values
Trustworthy leaders know how a company should act — follow laws, embrace its own values and mission statement, and provide a code of conduct and policies for employees to follow. But leaders should also embody to the letter those laws, values and codes. If honesty is a value, leaders must be honest in all things. As far as policies are concerned, there can’t be a separate set of internal rules for leaders and employees — everyone must be treated the same. And of course leaders should follow all laws. If they don’t, they invite misconduct from employees at all levels.
Don’t Fear Dilemmas
When faced with a difficult choice, some leaders falter. They may outsource or delegate serious decisions, or play one set of interests against another. Strong leaders understand that sometimes there isn’t a single “best” answer, and that sometimes one value may seem to conflict with another value.Leaders in these situations must be comfortable with ambiguous decisions and can follow a procedure to ensure they make a well-informed decision by:
- Managing competing rights. Identify the facts, factors and stakeholders in the decision.
- Considering pertinent laws, company mission, values and policies, and determining which option provides the greatest benefit for the most stakeholders.
- Asking for counsel if necessary.
- Looking at their own perspective and perspectives of others.
- Understanding the positive and negative effects of the decision.
Deal With Ambiguity
Not everything in business is clear-cut. Leaders must embrace a certain amount of risk and failure — and the higher the leader, the more ambiguous these decisions will be. Successful leaders know their decisions aren’t correct 100 percent of the time — it’s unavoidable. Leaders know they must be able to decide and act without always having the total picture, and stay calm when things are up in the air.Looking for ways to develop ethical leaders? Contact us to learn about our leadership development and coaching offerings.Success Labs is a leadership development and management consulting firm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For more than 25 years, our expert team of consultants has worked with hundreds of companies to explore their business potential and improve their company and cultural performance. Contact us to get proactive about your people strategy.
