According to Van Buren (2013) the moral implications of leadership behaviour are massive because leaders set the moral tone for their entire organization. The outworking of this means that when a leader operates ethically their staff follow, and vice versa. “Indeed, authentic leaders are described as ‘leading by example’ as they demonstrate transparent decision making, confidence, optimism, hope and resilience, and consistency between their words and deeds” (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). This is echoed by Van Buren (2013) in her discussion of transparency and integrity, which she articulates as cohesion between stated ethics and actions. When this cohesion does not exist, employees’ morale begins to erode, and if this discrepancy continues to escalate it can result in the company’s reputation being publicly damaged (Van Buren, 2013).

Ethical leadership behaviour has the potential to increase staff performance (Van Buren, 2013), and positive emotions exhibited by leaders may contribute to a positive increase in “organizational learning and transformation” (Frederickson as cited in Avolio & Gardner, 2005, Leadership processes/behaviours section, para. 3). Ethics are central to leadership because the leader influences followers and has the capacity to impact an organization’s values because “leadership involves values, and one cannot be a leader without being aware of and concerned about one’s own values” (Northouse, 2016, p. 337; p. 349).

In reflecting on this there are a couple steps I can personally take to contribute to positive and ethical growth within my organization. In her discussion of integrity Van Buren stated (2013): “money held in public’s trust should be well spent and not just well intentioned”. The principle behind this statement is that good intentions are insufficient if they are not followed by action. This principle is true beyond financial integrity. When I reflect on my own leadership I can see where there have been times that I have had good intentions but have not followed those with action. I can be more intentional to put my good intentions into actions by creating action plans and being realistic when evaluating my own time and capacity. This will increase my integrity as a leader and as a result will help my organization grow.

The second thing I can do to enable my organization to grow and flourish is to bring to the attention of other leaders this idea of using our Mission Statement as a filter for our decision-making (Van Buren, 2013). This will bring greater cohesion between our day-to-day operations and our achievement of our mission and vision. It has the potential to create more buy in during the monotonous daily tasks if staff understand how those tasks fit into our mission.

References:

Avolio, B., & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16 (3), 315–338. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.001

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Van Buren, J. A. [BuildingCapacity]. (2013, March 29). What is Ethical Leadership? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2QGoIq5nA