You Can't Just Talk The Talk Of Ethics

In today's fast-paced, often cut-throat business environment, ethics is, maybe, not the first thing that comes to mind. If you turn on the news, you see examples of people in power abusing that power, and countless others suffering because of it

Understanding your addictions and being able to give a firm 'no' is essential to maintaining your ethics. You may feel forced to do things at work that don't sit well in your gut, and learning to speak up for yourself is important.

Ethics Is Not Just For Business

The political climate worldwide is ever-changing. The business community must continually adapt to new laws and new leaders. This change can leave many people feeling bitter and unhappy, especially if they didn't vote for it or aren't able to vote in the first place.

Suddenly, armchair patriots (on either side of the issues) come out of the woodwork. They protest on forums; they protest on social media. Everyone spends all their time thinking up snide comments to post to Internet strangers. Sure, words can have power. But action speaks louder than any Facebook post.

As people band together around the world to protest issues in their communities, you should remember that actions are the real deal. If you claim to have certain values and a sense of integrity, you have to act like it. Just saying that you do isn't enough.

You Have To Walk The Walk

It isn't enough to have values. You have to demonstrate those values. Having a high ethical standard means having the self-awareness to understand if society is judging you correctly and if you are leading the principles that you feel are right.

Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics.

Jane Addams      

It is profoundly important that management promotes an ethical environment. Your employees are your most valuable asset, so to be part of a greater organisation, you need to ensure that your staff's needs and values are well-defined and acknowledged.

How Ethics Relates To Performance

Ethics is one of the 4 pillars under the competency of Performance in the . Taking time to reflect on the values and principles that are important to you and knowing how to act in unknown situations can help you improve your Performance as a leader. 

will teach you the act of deep reflection and help you be cognizant of the congruence between your values and actions.

5 Tips For Ethics

1. Understand your addictions  
2. Find a mentor or role model  
3. Learn to say ‘no’  
4. Learn self-regulation  
5. Ask others what is important to them  

Ethics means re-examining team values and how they are supported or hindered. But no medical machine can measure a person's values or how much imagination a person has within them.

Only you can look deep into yourself and determine the answer. Then you have to decide if you talk the talk or walk the walk.