Unleash the Positive Power of Ethical Leadership
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Forbes Business Leaders published an article by Victor Lipman last week responding to my post 40 Ways To Build an Ethical Culture. In the article, he discusses how leaders can use the practical list to build a better workplace.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Last week I blogged about 40 Ethical Culture Gaps to Avoid. This week, I’m sharing a ‘What To Do” list of 40 Ways to Build an Ethical Culture. This list includes many ways to incorporate ethical values into daily organizational leadership.
Each one of these 40 Ways to Build an Ethical Culture can improve an organization. Leaders paying attention to all of these factors will reap rewards that include improved employee engagement, better financial performance, increased productivity and job satisfaction, improved competitive position and more.
Use this “ethical to do list” to assess your culture. Put a check mark beside the positive ethical actions that you have observed in your organization. Any that you leave unchecked are opportunities for improvement.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Leaders set the tone for how ethical values are applied. They mentor those they lead, and serve as positive role models. It is not enough, though. for them to talk about ethical values and model what they look like in action. They must also fiercely protect the ethics of their organizations. They are the caretakers of ethical culture.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
We create organizational culture through strategic choices and daily actions. If we imagine building our culture as creating an elaborate painting, what will we depict on the canvas? Will we work together to carefully paint a background theme of positive values, or will we just give everyone brushes and “see where it goes?”
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Don’t assume that an ethical culture will just happen in your workplace. Even if you are a good leader, ethical culture is a delicate thing, requiring intentional positive leadership and daily tending. It requires more than good leadership, more than trust building, and more than good hiring.
Why does building an ethical culture require so much more than good leadership? Ethical culture is a system of systems, and just putting in good leadership, trust-building and good hiring doesn’t make it healthy.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
A reader commented on the post Can A Toxic Leader Be Ethical? Yes and No requesting more information about the organizational side-effects of toxic leadership. If you have ever worked for a toxic leader (myself included) you have already experienced the powerful negative side effects first-hand.
When people are treated as “less than human,” “less than capable” or as “pawns in a game” some extremely negative things happen in the organization that derail its success. Attempts to control what people do and say makes them feel inadequate and unappreciated. Withholding information to preserve power creates an environment of suspicion.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Today I’m sharing hand-picked resources about how to build an ethical culture. The most recent one was just published this week by Government Executive magazine. They acknowledge complexity, and are based on performance improvement and ethical principles.
This collection provides practical advice for how to build high trust cultures and keep the ethics conversation alive. Use it to create workplaces where people thrive and where “ethical” is a way of life.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
CEOs are in a unique position to make ethics a priority through their everyday actions, but simply modeling ethics isn’t nearly enough. Here is a starting list of 5 actions CEOs can take that move organizations toward an ethical culture.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
I was recently invited to co-present an ASTD Public Manager Webcast “Developing Ethical Leaders and an Ethical Government Brand” with John Umana. While the Webcast which aired on March 19, 2013 was customized for government HR and Training leaders, the content is applicable across industries.
This week’s post offers 18 resources that will make ethical leadership easier to understand and implement in your organization. 17 of the 18 tools are free. The list of resources is organized around questions that you may have about how to build an ethical culture.
The Impact of the Unethical Senior Leader
Take the common case of many organizational leaders trying to create an ethical culture, with one or more of the Senior Leaders not bought in or even blocking their efforts. The distraction, fear and chaos created by an unethical Senior Leader can drain the company of engagement, creativity and productivity.
Is blocking a company’s efforts to create an ethical culture unethical? You bet. It can be the cause of company failure because of the negative systemic effects that it creates. The systemic effects created by even one Senior Leader leading unethically include loss of trust, loss of employee engagement, loss of customers, lowered productivity, increased complaints, failure of departments to work together, sabotage, blaming, etc…
Correct it Quickly
When a Senior Leader is operating against the best interests of the company and its stakeholders, the problem needs to be corrected by the other Senior Leaders as quickly as possible. How?
When we are faced with a business problem that involves ethics, the easy way out is to blame someone. That appears to remove the pressure of actually solving the problem. But organizational problems are complicated and rarely have one simple cause.
By Linda Fisher Thornton
This week I’m sharing posts that clearly describe what unethical leadership looks like, and caution readers about the risks of allowing it to continue. While I have always blogged about proactive ethical leadership, my posts on unethical leadership continue to be some of the most popular, so I know you’re looking for answers.
By Linda Fisher
Ethical leadership failures can be caused by different types of problems that may compound. Some of these problems are individual and others may be embedded in the organizational culture. In 7 Lenses, I describe the kind of proactive ethical leadership that builds ethical cultures. The book is a road map for how to lead ethically in a complex world. While 7 Lenses is written from a positive perspective to help leaders avoid ethical problems and create ethical cultures, I often get asked “What causes ethical failures? What goes wrong?”
By Linda Fisher Thornton
We are here to focus on what’s right and what’s possible, not on what’s historical or convenient. We are here to serve others, not to profit from their vulnerabilities.
We are here to make a positive difference, through intentional leadership and responsible choices.
Leading in Context 