What is ethical leadership?
___Ethical leadership involves both acting and leading ethically over time all the time.
Why practice ethical leadership?
___Ethical leadership models ethical behavior to the organization and the community..
___Ethical leadership builds trust.
___Ethical leadership brings credibility and respect, both for you and the organization.
___Ethical leadership can lead to collaboration.
___Ethical leadership creates a good climate within the organization.
___If you have opposition, or are strongly supporting a position, ethical leadership allows you to occupy the moral high ground.
___Ethical leadership is simply the right way to go.
___Ethical leadership affords self-respect.
When and by whom should ethical leadership be practiced?
___Ethical leadership should be practiced all the time by anyone in a formal or informal leadership position.
How do you practice ethical leadership?
General guidelines:
___Ethical leadership requires a clear and coherent ethical framework that the leader can draw on in making decisions and taking action.
___Your ethical framework should agree with that of the ethical framework, vision, and mission of the organization or initiative.
___Ethics should be a topic of discussion.
___Ethics should be out in the open.
___Ethical thought must be connected to action.
___Ethical leadership is a shared process.
Specific components
___Put the good of the organization and the general good before your own interests and ego.
___Encourage the discussion of ethics in general and of the ethical choices involved in specific situations and decisions as an ongoing feature of the organizational culture.
___Institutionalize ways for people to question your authority.
___Don’t take yourself too seriously.
___Consider the consequences to others of your decisions, and look for ways to minimize harm.
___Treat everyone with fairness, honesty, and respect all the time.
___Treat other organizations in the same way you treat other people – with fairness, honesty, and respect.
___Collaborate inside and outside the organization.
___Communicate.
___Work to become increasingly culturally and interpersonally competent.
___Take cultural sensitivity and cultural competence seriously.
___Work to be inclusive.
___Take your leadership responsibility seriously, and be accountable for fulfilling it.
___Constantly strive to increase your competence.
___Don’t outstay your usefulness.
___Never stop reexamining your ethics and your leadership.