{"id":334,"date":"2018-11-11T22:27:20","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T06:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/?p=334"},"modified":"2018-11-11T22:27:20","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T06:27:20","slug":"response-to-daniels-unit-7-activity-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/2018\/11\/11\/response-to-daniels-unit-7-activity-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Response to Daniel’s Unit 7-Activity 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel, thank you for your post<\/a> on activity 1, was really well summarized and the question you posed got me thinking about my organization and how they apply ethical leadership.<\/p>\n

The question Daniel posed was:<\/p>\n

“Through reading the material and watching the video, does your organization have any of these “focuses” in place? What is something that you, or your organization, could do better to promote an ethical and moral culture?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am privileged to work in a wonderful organization that has its basis, values and purpose in the Christian faith, which is a faith I also am personally convicted to follow because I have found a relationship with Jesus.<\/p>\n

As a Christian organization we have a “code of conduct” we have to read and sign every year. There are also expectations because of our Christian faith that the kind of lives we lead in ministry are meant to be a “witness” or an “example” to those we lead. I am thankful for this and that we have policies and procedures in place when the “code of conduct” is breached. Generally, I think my organization does well in keeping a standard of ethical and moral culture.<\/p>\n

Watching the video and reading the material, made me wonder if there are maybe some ways we could improve this even more. There are two issues I have recognized in my organization, that I will discuss more below as possible areas to improve in:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Potential lack of accountability–sometimes our ministry job can be “remote” or very “individual”, which can lead to situations where staff do not behave “ethically” or potential issues are ignored\/overlooked.<\/li>\n
  2. Potential assumptions are made that because we are Christians, we all know what is ethical and therefore behave ethically.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    1. Potential Lack of Accountability<\/strong><\/p>\n

    I think when it comes to having stronger “accountability”, deeper relationships and in the context of mentorship is really key. Currently in my organization, having a mentor as a staff member is considered “optional”, but encouraged. However, because I lead a team, I made it mandatory thing for my staff, as I do not think “optional” is a good idea for people who are leading others in a ministry. Having a mentor (s) is important when it comes to living a life of example, integrity and accountability; especially at times of the year when we work more remotely. So far enforcing that my staff find and retain a mentor has been a positive thing and I think organization wide it should be required.<\/p>\n

    2. Potential Assumptions about Christian Behaviour<\/strong><\/p>\n

    I know this does not just happen in my Christian organization, but sometimes in ministry or church settings, it is just “assumed” everyone knows what it means to live out an ethical Christian life based on the Bible. However, the reality is for some people they could have grown up with different ethical “norms.” Those “norms” could have been in a Christian context, different cultural and\/or religious context or in an unchurched environment, and now perhaps they have come know Jesus, but are still growing in knowing what the Bible teaches and what it means to live out a Christian life. Also in Canada we live in a multi-cultural society and depending on the individual’s family and culture of origin, that is an added factor to how they view ethical behaviour. I have learned when it comes to Christian “code of conduct”, never assume, even if the person grew up Christian, it is important to “communicate the obvious.” Cross-culturally, there can be different interpretations of what is ethical even amongst Christians. This way expectations are always clear and there is no breakdown of communication. Also if the person does not agree or has a different understanding, then we can discuss it, figure it out and grow.<\/p>\n

    Monica<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Daniel, thank you for your post on activity 1, was really well summarized and the question you posed got me thinking about my organization and how they apply ethical leadership. The question Daniel posed was: “Through reading the material and watching the video, does your organization have any of these “focuses” in place? What is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":445,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-unit-7","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/monicagrace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}