ethical presence

This past Tuesday morning I had the privilege of being asked to present to a group of emerging leaders at the Texas Health and Human Services Leadership Development Program.  This program, which has been developed by Chan McDermott, identifies a group of 25-30 individuals who have shown leadership qualities throughout this 56,000 person organization.  My topic was Ethical Leadership, and we had a great time thinking through the issues of how to determine right and wrong in multiple situations - and how to lead others through those same circumstances.  Toward the end of the presentation, I brought to the them idea of ETHICAL PRESENCE...a concept which came to my mind at the time and something which I am still thinking about.

What is ETHICAL PRESENCE?  For me, it is the ability to be in the moment, to be completely present, to be thoughtful, and to be still,,,all of which allows one to be prudent in their decision making and calms others who are in the situation so they can be in a better position for making decisions.  To better understand this, let's look at a couple of concepts:

• ETHICAL BEHAVIOR is (according to Aristotle) doing the right thing in the right way at the right time.  One can know right and wrong...the important thing is being able to act in a way that shows the just the right amount of justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude within any given situation.
• LEADERSHIP is about providing guidance and influence with a group of people to help them obtain a shared vision for the common good.
• ETHICAL LEADERSHIP is doing things and making decisions that influence others to behave in such a way so that the common good can be reached and people are well-served.

So then, what is ETHICAL PRESENCE?  For those in positions of leadership, there are many times when it feels as if decisions must be made quickly and the stress is on to make the "right" decision.  People are watching to see what decision will be made and how the leader will react to the stress that is present.  I believe that how one behaves in these times speaks to their ethical leadership and impacts the ethical decision of those around them - thus the idea of ETHICAL PRESENCE. So what might this look like?  Here are a few examples:

• in a meeting when the team is pushing for a quick decision, have the ability to pause and ask them if more time may be taken to consider the idea or request
• when a colleague is in your face and complaining about you or others, rather than react to their inappropriate behavior, take a deep breath, speak slowly and quietly, and ask them for examples of what they mean
• for those of us who like to process out-loud (call us extroverts), we can change our behavior and process internally for a short time - you may need to ask people to wait while you process, and then just take the time to think before responding
• the ability to say "I don't know" may be one of the best practices of ethical presence available to the leader.  This sends a signal that you are not God, and that you do not expect everyone to have the right answer (or an answer at all) all of the time
• when someone in the group is pushing back at you, rather than arguing your own point, look at another member of the group and ask them what they think - by gathering more information and opinions, you have a better chance at acting more ethically and making a better decision

I have come to realize that in a leadership role (especially when that role becomes more public) people are watching you all the time - and the signals you send by your actions and behavior set the tone for the organization.  How you act in moments of stress and decision making will signal to people what right and wrong behavior will be for the organization - and how others will be treated in those times.  Your presence in those moments will determine the ETHIC (ethos) of your organization into the future...and that can make all the difference in the world.

leadership and governance

During my month of reading in Maine, I stumbled upon several of the important texts in the discipline of political philosophy - those texts that discuss why and how people govern themselves within a community - and why some forms of governance work and others do not.  It was a fascinating time for me to be reading these texts as I assume a new role at Concordia where I can lead the dialogue on this topic.  Reading Aristotle's Politics, Machiavelli's The Prince, and Rousseau's Social Contract (with many more still to be read) got me thinking of the importance of governance and how a leader functions within that role.  Whether you run a family, a church, a business, a nonprofit, or even a university, there needs to be a set of "rules" by which one governs and by which those involved in the family/community/organization know how to function.  When people know how they are expected to live together - and those expectations are actually lived out - life can be fairly peaceful for most of the people most of the time (even when you disagree with the expectations, at least you know what they are).  And the more I read, the more I realized that it is that person in the leadership role that is accountable to ensuring that those expectations are reasonable, understood, known, and carried out in a manner that is fair and just...thus the importance of governance.

So many times we as leaders think about getting better at leadership - those behaviors and skills that enhance our ability to make decisions, think strategically, build relationships, act collaboratively, etc.  What we may forget is that while we need to do all of those things, we also need to function within an organization that includes people and their needs to feel ownership within that organization.  How will your organization make decisions?  How will others be involved in that decision making?  What type of structure is in place for people to have their voices heard? Who owns what decisions - and who holds others accountable to the decisions that are made?  The founders of the United States worked hard to determine a form of governance that would work for a new collection of states, with a wide variety of peoples, who had a large frontier in front of them.  They argued, fought, wrote, debated, and finally decided on a structure that they believed would work for them at that time and well into the future.  Little did we know how amazing that structure would be, now over 200 years old.  If only the governance structures of our organizations and institutions could last that long...

At the end of the day, we as leaders want those who work with us to be happy - no matter what the institution is or does.  The role of political philosophy is to think about what type of governance structure will make the most people happy most of the time.  I do not believe there is one perfect structure that will work all of the time for all of the people...but I do believe that there are ideals that have been around since the beginning of time that need to be present in any form of governance that is going to work.  I believe that people need to have a voice in the decisions that are made for an organization...and I believe that once those decisions are made, those same people expect that the decisions will be upheld and put into practice - and that when others violate those decisions that they will be held accountable.  Sounds easy, doesn't it?  If it was only so...

Leaders - consider the governance structure in your organization and ask if it is supporting the mission, vision and values that are in place.  If so, celebrate that and let people know how cool it is that the governance is working to help accomplish the tasks at hand.  If not, start thinking about how you will be able to align the mission, vision and values of the institution with its governance - and get to work making it happen.  WARNING - this is hard and messy work...it will take time and people will disagree...AND it will be worth all the time and effort put into the process.