I just taught a National Fire Academy class on "Exercising Leadership Ethically" to fire department leaders at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth, Georgia. It is interesting that different people can have contrasting views on what is ethical. Most of the class time was focused on how to form an ethical decision and the last part of the class was about how to defend your ethical decision when there is more than one right option.
As leaders, we want to be given the chance to lead by our own values, which might require the open-mindedness of others who see a different way, one that they perceive is better or more ethical. Do we allow our leaders to lead as their ethics guide them, even if we disagree?
An ethical dilemma involves Right vs. Right decisions, usually not easy ones. Constructive Dialogue helps leaders and those being lead to understand one another, to define ethical dilemmas and make ethical decisions that will produce a desired outcome. There is always more than one way to reach an outcome. HOW you decide and communicate your leadership decision is key to your ethical leadership success, not WHAT you decide.
Contact us for ethical leadership consulting.
Last week I audited a class that I am going to teach for the American Management Association, called "Customer Service Excellence: How to Win and Keep Customers." This class focused on developing positive and proactive communication skills, working with your own and others' personality styles, and assessing auditory-visual-kinesthetic processing in customer relations.
What struck me as most impressive, although the whole class was very good, is understanding that you have internal and external customers, who both deserve customer-level treatment. I did not expect internal customer discussion in this class, based on the title, but I think that it provides an essential understanding of how to succeed in any organization, whether it is for-profit, non-profit, public service, etc. Your internal customers, or co-workers, can make or break your success personally and in the delivery of products or services to your external customers.
I have worked in organizations that talked about being a team, but individually had no interest in working as one, with leaders who did not value building their teams for success. I didn't stay long in those organizations, as they were dysfunctional and, subsequently, on a downward spiral. Internal customer service is vital to an organization's success -- the better it works, the better the organization performs.
If your organization's employees are not serving their internal customers and productivity is less than desired, I can conduct this training class at your organization's location(s), to train all employees how to work effectively with one another in a positive and proactive manner. It not only improves employee morale, but can really help the organization's performance.
I was recently invited to attend a Train-the-Trainer event for the American Management Association (AMA) to teach their Emotional Intelligence classes. I have enjoyed reading the books "Emotional Intelligence" and "Working with Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman (also called EI or EQ), in which he states that organizations around the world identify their star leaders as having stronger EI traits than IQ and technical skills. Emotional Intelligence fundamentals of self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and relationship management are the keys to success in your life, personal and professional. Take time for introspection and assessment of how you are managing these factors in your life -- it may help you excel in your career, improve your marriage, or become the leader that you would want to follow.
