Archive for category: Knowledge Nuggets

Remember: Our reaction to ethical dilemmas is primarily determined not by our sense of right or wrong, but where we are on Lawrence Kohlberg’s three levels of morality development. This week, we will examine the import of the first level;Pre- conventional Morality Development. At this level, we exhibit two reactions to any ethical dilemma. The first; stage 1, deals with the fear of consequence being the motive for an ethical decision, as opposed to a sense of right and wrong.

Let’s look at an example:

Kunle  is newly promoted into the treasury department. He now has access to the company safe. He is tempted to temporarily use some money from the safe to pay off an urgent loan. Kunle decides not to take the money, therefore presenting himself as a person with high morals? Not exactly.  Kunle has not taken the money due to the fear of being found out and the impact that would have on his career. This is the typical behaviour at  stage 1 of moral development.  Our actions at this stage look ethical, but our motives are not.  Look forward to our discussion on stage two, next week.

Remember: The greatest thing you can do as a leader is to inspire your team. While coaching, leading and directing all form an important part of your formal authority as a supervisor at work, today we would be calling out some of the inspirational behaviours which leaders should exhibit in the workplace.

• Good supervisors do not act superior. They value their subordinates and treat them with equal respect.
• They avoid throwing their weight around. People are happy to be around them and they are easy to relate with.
• Boastful statements are never made by good supervisors. They draw on their experience to teach their subordinates, and make their boast in them instead.
•  At no instance do they make mean, cutting remarks, or attempt to put down their employees. Rather, thoughtfully stated feedback and words of encouragement are the norm.

Why are we calling these out? Constantly implementing the options above creates a relationship between you and your team members and driving teams through relationships creates a bigger impact compared to driving teams through transactions.

Hence, constantly make effort to be one who is approachable, easy to be around, encouraging to share ideas with, and watch your ratings soar as a real team builder, manager and leader… … …Today!

Remember: Before embarking on a team task, it is of utmost importance that all team members agree to a systematically laid out action plan. A concise, unambiguous plan that is fully supported by your team mates will help you avoid disappointing outcomes as well as provide a definite line-of-sight for the project.

A good action plan must provide answers to the following questions:

• What is doable? How much improvement activity can we manage over the next few weeks?

• What is fair? How can we ensure that everyone on the team is an equal partner in our improvement project?

• Where do we need help? For what areas will we need the help of other work groups or managers or external resources? How will we go about getting the help we need?

• What could go wrong? What obstacles are we likely to face and how can we prevent or work through them?

Ensuring that all these questions are answered before embarking on any project creates buy-in from all team members while also securing participation on all fronts. An action plan will also serve to lay a realistic framework before work is embarked upon.

Embarking on a team project this week? Create a mutually agreeable team action plan before kicking off the project… … …Today!

Remember: Over the past two weeks, we started discussing the concept of ethics and we also began exploring the pay-offs of ethical business behaviour.  Today we shall conclude on this series, with the final three ways by which operating ethically can yield great gains for your organization.

Why bother with ethics?

3. Employees are more loyal to an ethical company.

If you’re working for a company that lies, cheats, and steals, you’re apt to think that the company will do the same to you, and you’ll probably be less loyal to them as a result.

 

4. Ethical companies are more productive.

At one time or another, most of us have taken a sick day when we’re really not sick. This is, in essence, lying to and stealing from the company. Studies have shown that employees in ethical offices take less time off and are more productive when they’re in the office.

 

5. An ethical office means less legal costs.

If your staff are in the habit of lying to, cheating, and ripping off their customers, someone is going to get caught eventually and it could likely mean a big legal headache for the company. For a company, nipping unethical behaviour in the bud can reduce your chances of a lawsuit, boost your company profile and save you some money.

As we conclude this series, one major question you must always ask is – “Can our company really influence customers with the way it conducts its business?” Ponder on this… … … Today!

Remember: The art of giving feedback in such a way that it comes across as constructive and non-threatening is an art that can be learned. Today, we will close off our discussion on feedback with a summarized model that provides you an avenue to pass across your message correctly, objectively and in a non threatening manner – the BIA Feedback Model.

BIA is an acronym for Behaviour, Impact, Action. What this means is that when giving feedback, you start by spelling out the specific BEHAVIOUR of the receiver which you would like to address.  (What I liked / did not like about what you did is…). You then move on to explain the IMPACT of the behaviour exhibited (What I was concerned about was…). Finally, you offer the receiver an alternative ACTION to rectify or further improve the called out behaviour for future cases (What you might do instead is…).

Let’s take an example: You have noticed that Feyi has been habitually late to work and you would like to give her feedback on this using the BIA model. You could deliver your feedback in this manner:

“Good morning Feyi. I would like to give you feedback on something that I’ve noticed a couple of times, yesterday most recently, Feyi. I’ve noticed that when we start work at 8am, quite often, you might not be there. (Behaviour) My impression about that would be the signal that it might be sending to other members of your team who might need you to start their own morning activities.  I wonder whether you might not have people needing you as part of their own start- of- the-day process and thereby giving them a challenge. I also wonder whether this does not impact on the profile that you are building for yourself which is one of reliability because if people are going to describe you as reliable, my impression is that they might also look at how consistently early you come to work. (Impact) I would encourage that whatever the reason for this, you look at the examples I’ve given of the impact that this consistent lateness could have and maybe fashion out some actions that you might want to take to address this, be it leaving home a little earlier to avoid the morning rush, or taking a different route to work.” (Action)

 

The beauty of the BIA model is that it enables you clearly spell out the impact of the behaviour exhibited by the receiver while offering suggestions to remedy or further improve upon the called out behaviour. Next week, we would be exploring another interesting topic – Ethics. Till then, model your feedback using the BIA Feedback Model to pass your message across clearly… … … Today!