Behavioral Ethics starts with a Mindset, not a Skillset!

Mindset first, skillset second.

I learned this years ago when I was studying martial arts. As you know people go through the different stages of skill sets,i.e. white belt, yellow belt, all the way to Blackbelt. When I was up to test for my Brown Belt classification I thought as I looked at what I had to do in breaking boards, defending myself with advanced techniques, etc. That I was scared and going to fail!

The Master teacher knew this and pointed to the wall to read this statement.

“SET YOUR MIND” I read it, shifted my thinking, set my mind, and had the highest score to achieve the  Brown Belt. I knew I had all the skills(3 months of practice, but I didn’t have the right mindset, so what good are the skills? When I set my mind, I broke a tower of bricks, boards, self-defense techniques, etc. all flawlessly. What good would the skillset be if I didn’t have the mindset?

What did I learn? Every day I “set my mind.” In every area of my life. I hope this article will help you SET YOUR MIND as a leader.

When we take a good hard look at what constitutes behavioral ethics, the focus is on the action. But what leads one to action but the reasoning behind it or lack thereof that can lead to serious implications as to why something was done.

This leads me to conclude that one’s needs to have a mindset that leads to good skill sets that end up with the best decision possible.

Here are a few questions to as oneself before making any decision/behavior.

Ask yourself:

• What does it mean to you to be ethical? You need to define it, not just for yourself but for your people as well. You need to embrace and consistently live it.

• What guides you ethically? List the values that you have internalized and prioritized in order of personal preference.

• Have you, as a leader, made it a priority to help and guide your people to think

ethically about their work?

• Are you educating your people in the process of ethical reasoning? Is this training ongoing, practical, and applicable? Remember repetition is the mother of learning.
• Ethical thinking just doesn’t happen; people need to be coached through the process

How does one then, develop ethical credibility? How is it manifested on the job? Ethical credibility needs to embody the qualities of character, trust, empowerment, positive self-esteem, and being values-based and principle-driven.

Keep in mind that ethics is a tough decision with the payout at the end. An unethical decision is an easy one and the payout I upfront.

Logic tends to be that it is better to deal with an ethics issue when it’s first discovered and “pay the price” needed at the time. Isn’t it better to treat a disease when one finds it early and be proactive to resolve it than to wait until it develops into something so costly in so many ways and for so long? Which option is the most credible? Dealing with it as it happens or procrastinating to deal with the issue and so much more than you may have counted on?

I’m reminded of the quote from Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker, School Culture Rewired, ch. 3 (2015) that states:

“The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.”

This means that this type of leader has no ethical credibility at all.

So “the setting of your mind” ethical speaking, involves these reflections and behaviors for you as the leader, to answer and incorporate them into your relationship building with your people.

• Think beyond the immediate, most accessible answer and oneself to think about who or what could be affected by one’s decision.
• Think about the decision reflectively, keeping in mind that no matter what your decision there is always a “Price to Pay,” positive or negative. The choice is yours. If you can’t pay then walk away, review, re-think, and re-commit.
• Knowing yourself is a question of values, in business as in life, you can’t substitute rules.
• Understand that values don’t fluctuate; they are a constant and they are the foundation for the leaders’ persistence and determination.

Keep in mind that people listen with their eyes and not their ears. What are your people ‘hearing” with their eyes? Behavioral ethics is action based on careful thought regarding effects, both positive and maybe negative, how it is explained, behavior needed, and why.

Leaders need to understand that training in ethical thought, theory, and practical application is crucial in getting their people onboard with the knowledge that they now know: what is acceptable and what is not acceptable, what is negotiable and what is not negotiable in their behavior.

Ethical credibility is essential for the development of your people. Leaders need to be authoritative, (not authoritarian), consistently modeling the behavior one expects of their people as your people are observing if what you preach is what you live!

The corporate purpose is the reason that a company exists and it reflects the intersection of one’s corporate mission, goals, and values.

Ethical leadership has five fundamental principles that focus on the purpose:

1. An ethical leader engages people in a meaningful shared purpose, dialogue, and process.
2. The goal needs to be and should be ethically elevating, in that it raises not only the moral awareness of what a corporation believes but what it expects, models, and reinforces for employees’ ethical behavior.
3. The ethical leader is successful in creating multi-faceted, consistent, ethics training options to elevate the corporation’s shared mission for and with all employees.
4. The corporate conscience develops when there is complete and universal “buy-in” to the business purpose, and how it is going to be communicated, internalized, and modeled consistently.
5. If a situation arises when someone reports that someone’s behavior is not living up to the accepted corporate purpose, then this person,i.e.the values- advocate, should be rewarded somehow by the ethical leaders for having lived out the purpose, mission, and values

All of this behavior needs to be principle-based and values-driven. Think about this. How old is your company’s mission statement, values statement, it’s code of ethics, etc? With what has happened in the past few years, things, people, work, and companies have changed. Has your approach to behavioral ethics adapted to the changes?

Ethical leaders need to:

• Have more confidence in values than in personalities
• Take into consideration what others have thought, or done and the consequences, good or bad of that decision.
• Understand that values don’t change and need to be the basis for developing credibility.
• Have the ability to face difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or intimidation by consequences.
• To be able to deal with the consequences based on the foundation of your values. This means customized ethics training for leaders because you can’t give what you don’t have!

Everyone knows that there is only one true North. What is your company’s EthicalTrue North for your employees and how will you, as their leader, mentor them, lead them, and engage them on this level of thinking?

Here’s a technique that I learned when I presented at the USAA headquarters a few years ago.

I sat in on a session presented by the General who was tired of everybody going to him for advice, reporting, etc via phone email, etc, so he came up with a process he called:

JUST DO IT!

His process was if you can answer these four questions affirmatively, then just do it, don’t bother me!!!

Here are the four questions.

1. Is it legal/ethical?
2. Is it good for the customer?
3. Is it consistent with our shared values?
4. Are you willing to be held accountable?

If you answer all four questions Yes, then just do it. If not, go back to the drawing board until you can say yes to all four.

His emails dropped dramatically, his phone stopped ringing every 30 seconds, etc!

Do you see how these four questions are based on one’s behavior that is reflective of USAA’s values?

Maybe you can do the same?? If you could, would that free up some time for you, empower your people to think first by asking these four questions with YES, and if not what to do about it?

This General set the mindset! What does the mindset do? Sets up what skillsets are necessary to answer those four questions.

Set your mind, then just do it!!!