Respond to…
The principles of ethical leadership began a long time ago. The five principles include respect, service, justice, honesty, and community (Northouse, 2018). Respect to followers is a principle that all leaders should follow. When you give respect, you will receive respect. Followers who feel respected pay attention more, follow through with directions, communicate better, and become better followers. Service to others begins by providing your followers with whatever tools and resources they need to get their job done. A leader who follows a servant leadership style will almost always find success. When the followers have everything they need, there is no excuse for not performing as they should. Justice deals with fairness. If a leader treats one follower in a different manner than another, there will be consequences. Followers are always paying attention, even when you do not suspect they are. Treat everyone fairly and just, and there will be less issues down the line. Honest falls in line with integrity. Leaders with integrity are respected, clear and concise, and easy to follow. When you know where the leader stands, it’s easier to understand what is expected and required. Community involves bringing everyone together. To gather a community and create a true team experience, a leader would need to enact the other four principles. When the group works as a team, tasks become much easier to complete.
Of the five principles, I believe respect and service are the two most important factors. If you have ever been the leader of a large group of followers, you would understand. One of my first leadership positions put me in charge of 45 subordinates. My approach and leadership style were all wrong from the beginning. I tried being very task-oriented and directive. I had mild success in some areas and failed miserably in others. When I observed another leader, I saw they used a different approach. They served their followers first and considered their own wants and needs second. They gave respect to everyone equally. That small gesture went a long way. Even with less experience, their group out performed everyone else. When I began using those principles actively, my performance turned around completely.
Northouse, P. (2018). Leadership theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Respond to…
Ethics and principles focus are the expression of leaders, and what makes them who they are. By watching the behaviors of someone in leadership, you can see what the nature of their ethics are. The main principles of ethics are to respect others, build community, be just, honest, and serve others (Northhouse, 2018).
What I believe to be the most important ethics of leadership, are to respect others and to be honest. When respect is given from a someone in leadership, they are more likely to receive the same respect from their team. If you genuinely show respect, it will be noticed and reciprocated. Respect to me includes serving others and being just with them. if you respect others, you listen to their opinions and will be fair with them. In many ways, this is putting them before yourself and taking their point of view into consideration.
Once someone knows you have been dishonest with them, it can be hard to bounce back. The time it takes to build trust is incomparable to the time it takes to break it. In order to create a team, you need to be honest in all forms of beauty.
It is hard to choose two because they are all equally important. Each one builds off the other and it is important for all successful leaders to have a little bit of each.
Reference
Northhouse, P. (2018). Leadership Theory and Practice (8th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.