Developing Ethical Leadership

Today's world is ever changing. Leading organizations and companies in an ethical manner is extremely important. Developing Leadership that is ethical in nature will have a significant impact on the organization and how it operates.

So what exactly is ethical leadership? Most would define this as a leader having good character and moral fiber. But there is more to this.

Ethical leadership involves leading in a manner that respects the rights of others. Ethical leaders have an interest in their team members and want what is best for the entire organization. It is not self serving.

Ethical leaders are interested in and promote the vision and values of the organization for which they work. Leaders are also interested and take note of their team members values. They are not in this for their own personal interests. They also encourage conversations regarding ethical issues encountered and give their team members a way to speak out if they believe something is wrong.

Ethical behavior in an organization is more than a discussion. It exists in our behavior. In order to promote ethical behavior in the team environment, it is important for Leaders to model ethical behaviors. When the organization's values are shared in conjunction with modeling of ethical behaviors, it communicates a sense of trust with the team. This can impact upon the team itself.

"To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful."

— Edward R. Murrow

Developing Leadership involves ethical behaviors. It starts with a self assessment of one's values and behaviors. It will be a key to success as a leader and will develop a higher level of ethics in the organization itself. This will improve the image of the organization and contribute to the overall success of the team.