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How well do leaders/managers set the moral tone of an organization? Too often managers are too focused on meeting day-to-day managerial responsibilities to set much time aside to think about the moral tone of their workgroup. Setting the Moral tone is a leadership function, but it cannot be delegated "up." Every manager has an obligation to set the tone of his or her workgroup. See the article below: to learn more about the six steps every manager can take to become an ethical leader in today's organizations. In addition, we would appreciate your comments, stories, insights and comments on this and other articles on our blog: Magnify L&D Blog
Magnify L&D would like to offer our support in building ethical leadership. See the program review below to learn more about how we can help your leaders discover their own ethical approach to leadership. If you would like more information and/or if we can help in sales force analysis or with other sales and management development needs, please feel free to contact us at info@magnifyleadership.com
As part of our community, Magnify Leadership and Development will periodically send you informational articles that may benefit you and your organization. We thank you for your association with Magnify Leadership and Development and look forward to the opportunity to work with you to improve the performance of your team or organization.
Regards,
James Gehrke
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| May's Article |
6 Steps for Ethical Leadership in Today's Organizations
by James Gehrke |
Perhaps no other issue can so dramatically define the difference between management and leadership, than the attention the individual gives to ethics.
A manager must focus on the on the day-to-day aspects of keeping the department, team or organization running smoothly. This includes making sure the department is staffed appropriately, that the company is on target for sales, that production is on target, etc. A leader, on the other hand, must be able to set goals and aspirations for the team, set the tone of the organization, motivate and inspire the group, etc. Realistically, managers must be able to do both. They must inspire and motivate and they must ensure that the company operates effectively. Setting the ethical tone of the organization is a leadership function. The challenge for most managers is to spend enough time focusing on leadership functions without becoming totally consumed by the day-to-day operations of the team. Because business ethics are every bit as important to the success of any business relationship, giving them the attention and care they deserve is crucial to an organization's success. I suggest six steps for a manager to take to lead ethically.
1. Reflect on Values. To focus the appropriate attention on the ethical tone of the organization, a leader must be able to recognize lessons from and draw from their own fundamental values and capabilities in order to optimize their leadership potential. To do this, leaders must find time to reflect and identify their own personal moral compass as well as to ask themselves what are the key ethical questions and dilemmas facing their organizations. Just as a manager must take time to understand their market, budgets, production timelines, etc., an ethical leader must take time to understand his/her own personal values, the values of the team, what the value statements of the organization should be and identify the gaps that exist in aspired goals and current behavior within the organization.
2. Establish Trust. Build an environment of trust with employees in order to create an environment where employees feel free to discuss ethical dilemmas and issue with management.
3. Establish a Shared Ethical Vision. To ensure buy-in and commitment from the organization, include members from various levels of the team to help create a "Code of Conduct" that is aligned with the Ethical Vision of the organization.
4. Communicate the Ethical Vision and Code of Conduct. A leader must ensure that the vision and code is communicated to everyone within the organization. This can be done through policy manuals, training events, one-on-one and team coaching, newsletters, team meetings, etc... Communicating the program frequently is another important success factor, as is establishing a way for employees to communicate their concerns back to management in a safe and confidential manner.
5. Act. To be effective, the leader must show that all the organization is serious about ethical behavior. All reports of unethical behavior must be investigated thoroughly. Furthermore, all violators of ethical standards must be punished equally and justly throughout the organization, irregardless if the perpetrator is a senior executive or first line hire. In addition to punishing negative behavior, effort should be made to reward and recognize positive ethical behavior. Just as a good manager knows that rewarding employees for reaching goals is important, the ethical leader will recognize that equal importance must be given to recognize those who exemplify ethical behavior within the organization. Acting also means leading by example by letting ethical behavior guide the actions of the leaders at all times. Doing so will help establish and sustain a culture of ethical behavior.
6. Monitor and Sustain Ethical Behavior. The leader must consider ethical leadership a key aspect of their role as a manager. It cannot be seen as a passing organizational fad. Effort must be made to gather feedback through surveys, focus groups, one-on-one interviews, etc., to identify employee concerns regarding the ethical environment where they work. This should be a continuous improvement process to identify concerns and to improve the overall ethical environment.
There are at least seven benefits for a manager to focus on being an ethical leader, including; improved public image of the organization, restoration or enhancement of investor confidence, prevention and reduction of criminal penalties, preventing civil lawsuits of employees who could not have their grievances met satisfactorily inside the company, improved employee retention, market leadership through by improved customer satisfaction and setting the example for others in the market.
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| Magnify Leadership and Development Training Solutions: |
| Magnify Persional Leadership |
As pointed out in this month's article, managers often struggle communicating initiatives in a way that clearly motivates their teams around a common vision. Part of the challenge is that managers are often so involved in the day-to-day challenges of managing the business that they never stand back and evaluate what their own personal style and/or approach to leadership is.
This session provides several facilitator lead activities that help individuals explore their personal approach to leadership. Just about any manager, facilitator, teacher, coach, or anyone else in a position of influence can be considered a leader. Perhaps the common denominator in defining who is and who is not a leader is whether the individual has influence over another individual or group. When we consider this, all of us have the potential to influence and lead. However, how effective we are as leaders is another question.
The Bible tells us to judge the goodness of a tree by whether it bears good or bad fruit and that "a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil." The same evaluation works for leaders. Do they have positive or negative influence on others? By observing great leaders of the past and present, certain basic qualities can be identified of great leaders. This workshop is designed to provide participants opportunities reflect on their own personal approach to leadership in order to improve their positive influence on those they lead.
Participants in this 2 to 3 day workshop will:
1. Discover the traits of leaders in order to identify their key core values they will use as a base for their leadership platform.
2. Determine what mark they want to leave on those the lead and influence.
3. Create and practice delivery of a succinct message that explains their core values and where they want to lead their teams.
4. Investigate and practice key qualities of servant leadership
Click here if you are interested in this or other Magnify L&D training workshops
Magnify Leadership and Development Programs Include:
Full one to three day workshops include:
- Magnify Personal Leadership
- Magnify Coaching Skills: Ten Hallmarks of Coaching Greatness
- Magnify Change Leadership
- Magnify Communications Skills: Becoming and Effective Communicator
- Magnify Interviewing Skills
- Magnify Team Effectiveness: Creating a Team Environment
Half to one First Line Management Development Skills workshops include:
- Leading By Example
- New Employee Development
- Employee Recognition
- Delegation
- Mentoring
- Teamwork
- Time Management
- Interviewing Skills
- Coaching
- Disciplining and Terminating
- Sexual Harassment Avoidance and Diversity Training
- Conflict Resolution
- Disciplining
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| About James Gehrke and Magnify Leadership and Development |
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is a training consulting company with global experience in management/leadership and communication skills and sales force effectiveness training. We provide our clients with customized service and the individual attention in ways that larger training firms cannot provide. We design and deliver customized workshops for clients and back up that training experience with individualized feedback and coaching so that participants can apply the concepts learned more effectively to their jobs; improving performance, productivity and bottom-line results.
Our vision is that our efforts will help to 'magnify' the natural ability that exists in individuals, helping them to maximize their full potential, increasing their value as leaders and professionals in the organizations were they work and serve. We will not be the largest training company, but by offering customized training solutions and by developing a global network of proven subject matter experts, trainers and coaches, our clients all over the world, will value us as the best. We will provide a stellar training experience that has been tailored to our client's needs, providing lasting value to their organizations and improving their bottom line.
Click here to visit our website James has over 25 years of experience working for some for the world's leading Corporations. He headed Pfizer's Learning and Development for all of Europe, Canada, Africa and the Middle East where he was instrumental in the development of a global management curriculum and other training initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness for over 30,00 employees. He has worked on high level cross functional teams addressing issues such as Field Force Effectiveness, Change Leadership, Leader Behavior Development, Executive Coaching and many others. James also has extensive experience in Sales, Sales Management and Training.
Since founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James has developed, facilitated and coached dozens of leadership and management development training programs for dozens of organizations worldwide. James is bilingual and can facilitate and coach in both English and Spanish. Click here to see customer testimonials |
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