An organization that sees the benefits of a transformational leadership style, must also recognize managerial implications. According to Wang, G., Oh, I.S., Courtright, S.H., & Colbert, A. e. (2011) \u201corganizations need to pay particular attention to intervention programs that enhance their manager\u2019s leadership style. Organizations should focus on selecting and promoting individuals that are more likely to become transformational leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Transactional leadership in an indigenous community has not worked well. With a history of mistrust, motives are questioned and it becomes very difficult to find ethical leaders under this management style. Transformational leadership is inclusive of employees and encourages employees to work for the greater good of the company. A shared vision is bought into by employees, thus motivating them to go the extra mile in accomplishing tasks. The challenge however, remains in finding transformational leaders that are also familiar with working in indigenous communities. The good news is that transformational leadership can be taught and so an indigenous community has the ability to invest in training its future leaders. Therefore in an effort to become a better leader to my indigenous community, I believe that if I can find employees with good ethics, I can train them to be transformational leaders.<\/p>\n
The five principles of ethical leadership are:<\/p>\n
Selecting only two of the five principles as most important over the others is challenging. Depending on the situation, any one of the five principles could be emphasized as being important. As a leader in an indigenous community, and for my situation however, I would suggest that being just and honest are the two most important qualities of an ethical leader.<\/p>\n
Indigenous communities have dealt with dishonesty and unfairness for more than 300 years. This has spanned over generations and in some respects still happens today. It has only been through recent case law that indigenous communities are gaining back some rights. The era of residential schools, the 60\u2019s scoop, murdered and missing woman, land title rights and other social injustices have caused generations of mistrust. This distrust extends to those working for indigenous communities as it takes time for the community to know what ones true intentions are. Some community members in an indigenous community will never trust anyone, despite their good intentions.<\/p>\n
Equally though in an indigenous organization must strike a balance in terms of the treatment of the indigenous employees and the non-indigenous employees. If not handled properly it has the potential to create a divide amongst staff and ultimately a loss of confidence in leadership. For example, an indigenous organization can apply in British Columbia for a Human Rights exemption that allows preference when hiring indigenous people. This does not mean however that the promotion automatically goes to the indigenous person. What it means is that all things being equal, the organization can give preference to the indigenous person. There are equally, responsibilities of the organization to ensure that the employees are aware of this policy and in practice see that it is applied fairly. Ultimately it is important that all employees understand the desire to build capacity with indigenous people, not as a means to be given preferential treatment, but rather to level the playing field due to years of suppression of a race.<\/p>\n
How else might an ethical leader further develop trust and create a culture of fairness with their non-indigenous and indigenous employees? Are there other ethical leadership qualities that one might see as also being important in an indigenous community and in selecting future transformational leaders?<\/p>\n
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership, Theory and Practice. Seventh Edition. Chapter 13, Page 341-347, Principles of Ethical Leadership<\/p>\n