By Linda Fisher Thornton There are many ways to understand culture, and some of the definitions are very complicated. My favorite way to think about culture is as an infrastructure or scaffolding that supports the behaviors we want. Culture drives what people do, and is the setting and framework for great work.
Tag: ethical culture
If Every Leader Cared
By Linda Fisher Thornton I wonder what our workplaces would be like if every leader cared. Most leaders care about their own well-being. But what if every leader cared about others? How would things be different? In an organization where every leader cared, wouldn't we experience improved employee engagement and customer retention? Wouldn't it be easier to recruit and retain talented and dedicated employees? Wouldn't we be able to get more done?
With Ethics PREVENTION is the Cure
By Linda Fisher Thornton Have you heard the expression "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?" Eating healthy foods, exercising and getting enough sleep will help us prevent health problems. In the quest for good health, preventive habits make all the difference. It is generally easier for us to establish healthy habits than to resolve persistent problems once they start. There is an important parallel we can draw between human health and organizational health - prevention is also the best way to deal with ethics in organizations.
40 Ways to Build an Ethical Culture (An Ethical To Do List)
By Linda Fisher Thornton Last week I blogged about 40 Ethical Culture Gaps to Avoid. This week, I'm sharing a 'What To Do" list of 40 Ways to Build an Ethical Culture. This list includes many ways to incorporate ethical values into daily organizational leadership. Each one of these 40 Ways to Build an Ethical Culture can improve an organization. Leaders paying attention to all of these factors will reap rewards that include improved employee engagement, better financial performance, increased productivity and job satisfaction, improved competitive position and more. Use this "ethical to do list" to assess your culture. Put a check mark beside the positive ethical actions that you have observed in your organization. Any that you leave unchecked are opportunities for improvement.
40 Ethical Culture Gaps To Avoid
By Linda Fisher Thornton Leaders set the tone for how ethical values are applied. They mentor those they lead, and serve as positive role models. It is not enough, though. for them to talk about ethical values and model what they look like in action. They must also fiercely protect the ethics of their organizations. They are the caretakers of ethical culture.
Why Do People Lead?
By Linda Fisher Thornton Have you ever thought about why people lead? If you could look into the window of their motivations, what would you discover? I have noticed that people want to be in positions of leadership for very different reasons. Some of those…
3 Factors That Numb Ethics Efforts (And 3 That Energize Them)
By Linda Fisher Thornton To build a strong ethical culture, leaders should take a positive, preventive approach to ethics. That would include communicating clear ethical values and expectations and quickly stopping any unethical behavior. But those things are not enough by themselves. There are cultural factors that either enable our prevention efforts or disable them.
5 Ways to Talk About Ethics (Without Being “Blah Blah Boring”)
By Linda Fisher Thornton We owe it to our employees to make ethics real. People learning ethics are often given "blah blah boring" material (and then expected to remember and apply it). I believe that this is not just a mistake, it's a crime! Why? Because ethics is anything but boring. Ethics is really interesting stuff when you dive into its complexities. Today I'm sharing 5 ways to talk about ethics without being "blah blah boring." Feel free to use these as conversation starters with your team, and let me know if they make your conversations more meaningful.
5 Reasons Ethical Culture Doesn’t Just Happen
By Linda Fisher Thornton Don't assume that an ethical culture will just happen in your workplace. Even if you are a good leader, ethical culture is a delicate thing, requiring intentional positive leadership and daily tending. It requires more than good leadership, more than trust building, and more than good hiring. Why does building an ethical culture require so much more than good leadership? Ethical culture is a system of systems, and just putting in good leadership, trust-building and good hiring doesn't make it healthy.
How to Build an Ethical Culture
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Today I'm sharing hand-picked resources about how to build an ethical culture. The most recent one was just published this week by Government Executive magazine. They acknowledge complexity, and are based on performance improvement and ethical principles.
This collection provides practical advice for how to build high trust cultures and keep the ethics conversation alive. Use it to create workplaces where people thrive and where "ethical" is a way of life.
The Trouble With Oversimplified Conversations
By Linda Fisher Thornton
Sometimes in the rush to make a quick leadership decision, we end up "dumbing down" an issue to speed up the process.
"Dumbing down" an issue may make the decision easier to make, but it may also lead us to make choices without considering current information, trends or context. Decisions made that way can cause problems.
Ethics is Contagious
By Linda Fisher Thornton
I must admit that I can't take the credit for coming up with the catchy title of this post. A group of attendees at a recent keynote I delivered came up with it as a way to describe what they had learned. And it makes perfect sense.
Ethics is catching, and leaders set the tone for the ethics of the organization. What would happen if everyone in the organization followed our lead? Would the organization be more or less ethical? What kind of ethics are people catching as they work in our organization?
5 Ways CEOs Can Build an Ethical Culture
By Linda Fisher Thornton
CEOs are in a unique position to make ethics a priority through their everyday actions, but simply modeling ethics isn't nearly enough. Here is a starting list of 5 actions CEOs can take that move organizations toward an ethical culture.
Top 10 Benefits of Working For an Ethical Leader
By Linda Fisher Thornton
What are the benefits of working for an ethical leader? Here are ten I came up with to get you started:
A low stress workday
Building an Ethical Leadership Culture (Webcast)
By Linda Fisher Thornton
I was recently invited to co-present an ASTD Public Manager Webcast “Developing Ethical Leaders and an Ethical Government Brand” with John Umana. While the Webcast which aired on March 19, 2013 was customized for government HR and Training leaders, the content is applicable across industries.
Leading in Context 