As usual HCI Community Leader blogs share what we're reading, especially when a webcast topic "was no more than a gleam in our eye," meaning, how a collection of articles, discussions, and ideas gave birth to webcasts coming up. So here's the convergence of ideas on leadership this week. The emotionally intelligent leader is value-driven and has effective interactions with talent at all levels; they’re out there. Just ask Alex Brigham who is presenting Ethics as Business Advantage Mar 4 (rebroadcast through Mar 8) and Steven Stein who is presenting How EI Competencies Lift the Bottom Line Mar 11 (rebroadcast through Mar 15).
Especially when the going gets tough, people fall back on their values. Demonstrating genuine relationships with talent and leading by example is high on engagement metrics; and being a model of values and encouraging talent to represent the company’s values is also good business.
Did you know:
- A Stamford survey of 800 MBA graduates from 11 leading North American and European schools revealed that a substantial number of MBA’a were willing to forgo some financial benefits to work for an organization with a better reputation for corporate social responsibility and ethics. A supporting poll by DBM of career management professionals in 26 countries found that 82 percent cited leadership ethics as becoming a major factor in the battle to attract top talent.
- Collaborative decision-making is part of ethical leadership, and good for the organization because when multiple perspectives are valued by “leaders who use ethical collaboration keep their circle of advisors more open and fluid. The objective of the ethical leader is to reduce the risks taken by the organization,” states this Workforce Management article Five Standards of Excellence Practiced by Ethical Leaders
- When people believe they work for an ethical company, 55% are truly loyal to their organization; in contrast to when employees do not believe they work for an ethical company, only 9% are loyal, see ‘When Can You Afford Not to be Ethical?’
- 26.8 percent of the 500 largest U.S. public corporations in their annual report to shareholders, commit to ethical behavior- see The Link Between a Corporation's Financial Performance and Its Commitment to Ethics
- Who made the list of the most ethical companies in 2009? See Ethisphere’s list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies
If you’re asking yourself the proverbial chicken and egg question, "where do leadership ethics come from?" emotional intelligence comes to mind. Emotionally intelligent leaders wear their ethics on their sleeve; they have a service orientation, challenge bias and intolerance, are politically aware of forces that shape actions, arouse enthusiasm for shared vision and collaboration, are a change catalyst to challenge the status quo, and protect the company’s reputation (all of these characteristics are embedded in Emotionally Intelligent competencies, listed by the EQ Institute ).
“The issue is not whether ethics can be taught, it's whether the ethics we're teaching through our actions reflect the ethics that we intend to teach,” stated HBSchool professor Thomas R Piper. In Susan Dunn’s article Corporate Ethics, Intentionality and Emotional Intelligence Dunn quotes Emerson: "Your actions speak so loudly I can't hear a word you're saying." Dunn challenges, “It's your shop. How do you intend for it to be?” And Dunn offers these tips:
- Get clear on your motives.
- Align your behavior with your intentions.
- Don't let your emotions "hijack" you.
- Don't let other things distract you.
- If you say it, mean it, and back it up.
- Care about HOW people accomplish what you ask them to do.
“It's a high calling, leadership--with privilege comes responsibility,” says Dunn; she calls this “intentionality.” I like that word as the essence of personal and business ethics. What do you think? When it comes to ethics and emotional intelligence, what leadership practices have you observed to be effective? I hope you’ll attend the two webcasts coming up Mar 4 (rebroadcast through Mar 8) on Ethics as a Business Advantage and Mar 11 (rebroadcast through Mar15) on How EI Competencies Lift the Botton Line and ask our expert presenters questions on your mind, as well as post your comments below Of, course, if you're an Executive HCI member or Enterprise HCI member, you can download these webcasts on demand :-)
Photo courtesy of stephenccwu
