Survival

Looking back at our discussion, I realized how much turned around the ethics of survival. How we behave influences whether and how we survive. Our concern with "real time" seemed to focus on both our staff as individuals needing to make decisions in an instant, as well as the role of the organization itself. That was central both to  "whose ethics" we were talking about, as well as the reputation of the organization itself. The trust me...prove it syndrome.

We need staff who can think for themselves but also think within the ethic of the organization. For journalists that can be a tension between the gatherer of evidence versus the gatherer of news  or in the army personal conversion to an ethical code versus the institution's need to enforce it. And the fact that an increasingly ethical decision maker becomes a very dangerous person in the places where we need them most: Dafur, Bosnia etc

Ethics is not a matter of box ticking but encouraging people to think out their responsibility when right meets right.  Our challenge is how to both empower and enable our people without paralyzing them, building on the interest that is there and constructing an organizational environment in which thinking/subversion is celebrated. Ultimately, our authority will derive from the way we live our ethical commitment.Our "audiences" will be looking for integrity of behavior and whether we live our values. We in turn will be encouraging them to accept their responsibility to exercise their citizenship

Comments

[Tim]

I would think about this as part of 'creative leadership' - the skill of enabling others to act with the freedom they need to work and live to their potential. I've posted more on this at altfunction.net. Thanks