Table of Contents >
Chapter 13. Orienting Ideas in Leadership >
Section 8. Ethical Leadership >
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| Contributed by Phil Rabinowitz Edited by Bill Berkowitz |
Checklist
Here you will find a checklist summarizing the significant points of the section.
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.