Embrace ethical leadership

Pastor Welcome Thamsanqa Mlungisi Dlalisa

Over the next couple of weeks I am tackling broadly the subject of leadership. This week, however, we deal specifically with ethical leadership. Without ethical leadership, governments, businesses and even families fail dismally. In life, nothing is sustained or lasts long on lies. Without openness, transparency and truthfulness you cannot start anything that can be sustained over time, even beyond your life. What is ethical leadership after all? Leadership is the ability to lead towards a set of results, and ethics answers questions like “What is the best way for people to live?” and “What actions are right or wrong in particular circumstances?”

Ethical leadership is the kind of leadership that is directed by respect for ethical beliefs and values and for the dignity and rights of others. It is thus related to concepts such as openness, transparency, respect, truthfulness, trust, honesty, consideration, charisma and fairness. In the next section, I describe these elements of ethical leadership in more detail:

1. Openness/ transparency

Ethical leadership is based on openness towards your staff, your clients/ customers and all business stakeholders, including trade unions (if your company is unionised) and suppliers. The benefit of ethical leadership is that it creates an environment of openness between all stakeholders. Embracing openness is that it also creates a positive vibe and incredible levels of commitment, especially among workers, clients and their business owners or shareholders.

2. Truthfulness

Ethical leadership is driven from the top level of the organisation. This means ethics are birthed from the top. Once the owner and top management begin to embrace ethics, this tends to run across all other levels of the organisation. Once this happens, ethics becomes the culture in your organisation – leading to ‘truthful relations” between the business owner and other stakeholders.

3. Respect

Ethical leadership leads to mutual respect and trust. This means that, if you as the owner are ethical, you will command respect and trust among your staff. Respect and trust are some of the attributes every successful leader needs. In fact, there is no sustained success without trust and respect. However, this leadership is driven from the top. If you are not ethical as a leader, your organisation will also be unethical and perhaps even corrupt. We all know that corrupt leaders or organisations do not survive or live long.

4. Honesty

Ethical leadership leads to greater levels of honesty in your organisation. The kinds of things that kill organisations – namely, theft, fraud and corruption – are much lower in organisations where ethical leadership is predominant. Honesty is very necessary in business. Without it, organisations die.

5. Trust

Every organisation has stakeholders like owners, staff, clients or customers and suppliers, maybe even trade unions, shareholders or investors. The success of the business depends on the relationships and trust between these. If the union has absolutely no trust in the owners, this causes more and more strikes. If shareholders do not trust management, then the organisation cannot succeed. Trust is a critical aspect of business success.

6. Motivation

Ethical leadership leads to higher levels of motivation among staff. We all know that staff motivation means higher levels of productivity and profitability. Therefore, ethical leadership is key, especially among top leaders.

So ethical leadership is one of those foundations that are critical for running a successful and sustainable business.

In order to help entrepreneurs and the youth of Tembisa to implement what we are learning via these articles, I have set up what I call the JOSEPH ACHIEVERS MENTORING (JAM) programme. The programme is based on Joseph in the Bible, who rose to prominence despite his background. I am encouraging all Tembisa residents to join. This programme is aimed at supporting all residents of Tembisa but it targets mainly young entrepreneurs, young professionals, university students and high school learners. It offers a range of support initiatives including career guidance, training and mentoring. Many have enrolled and are receiving business management training and mentoring. I challenge you to enroll for JAM in order to propel your life or your business to new heights. To register for JAM, send an email to dlalisa.rhi@gmail.com or call the numbers below.

For more information, contact Pastor WTM Dlalisa on 083 395 1165