Business Ethics: What would your team do?
Take a brave look at your Business Ethics!
Mini Business Ethics Survey
How confident are you in your team’s handling of business ethics?
Before you read this blog…
- Please fill out this mini survey about your ethical needs and practices. Be brave. Be specific.
- https://goo.gl/forms/atSulR9fzEc7dzYH2
Even the best leaders struggle with ethical dilemmas. Your professional reputation is about who you are, what you do, and how you do it. It takes seconds to create a first impression, months to sculpt a reputation … and an instant to destroy it.
What do colleagues, clients, and vendors say about you to your face and behind your back?
When asked, “Are you ethical?” Most people say, “Yes.” A more meaningful question is, “How ethical is your team?” As leaders, it is your job to set the tone by what you do and don’t do, say and don’t say.
Are you or your organization doing anything to encourage unethical behavior?
If someone two levels below you misbehaves, how confident are you about knowing what to say and do? What if it’s someone two levels up? A peer?
Ethical Workplaces
An ethical workplace invites, supports, and stimulates individuals and teams to work within agreed-upon conduct guidelines for the greater good. Ethics exist because good behavior does not always pay. In the real world, virtue is not always rewarded. As is often seen in the news, illegal and unethical behavior often pays well. While virtue does not guarantee success, it is necessary for success. Professional ethics your mission and goals.
Vows, pledges, oaths, policies, agreements, and procedures are formal ethical guidelines. Informal guidelines, or social mores, often go unwritten and unspoken. When we violate a cultural more, we know it from the disapproval expressed by others. Talk during a movie; other viewers will quickly advise you verbally and nonverbally that you have violated a commonsense ethical code of conduct.