Presentations are tailored specifically to the audience and make ethical seminars interactive and entertaining. Requesters can choose one or more topics from the list below. The time for each of the topics ranges from 30 to 120 minutes based on Requester’s requirements:
“How to Create and Sustain an Ethical Work Environment”
“If unethical behavior goes unchecked, it becomes the new standard.” Unethical work environments are not created overnight. Such environments are normally created by allowing a slow deterioration of workplace ethical standards. For example, if a leader knows someone is sexually harassing another person and it’s allowed to continue, the leader just set a new standard. If the leader allows her people to surf sexually explicit websites on the job, she’s just set a new standard. The same logic applies to any unethical behavior leaders allow. Leaders set a new standard if they do nothing. Needless to say ethical employees will never tolerate such an environment and will eventually leave. The objective of this topic is to show leaders how to create and sustain an ethical work environment. In short, it shows leaders how to take the bull by the horns and create an ethical environment employees will appreciate. This session links long-term productivity to the establishment of an ethical work environment. The session also specifically highlights the importance of addressing four areas that can cause immediate damage to an ethical work environment: sexual harassment; abuse of authority; ethnic jokes; and, cyber abuse.
“Why Ethical Leaders Must Consider Issues from Different Angles”
Remember how the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was treated soon after the Katrina disaster? He wasn’t treated well at all. Few, if anyone, gave him the benefit of the doubt when he stated he had clearly communicated the possible degree of the destruction before the hurricane hit. We all learned some five months later from videotapes that the Director of FEMA had indeed communicated the potential danger to the highest levels of our government. The objective of this topic is to show leaders the importance of considering issues from different angles, thus avoiding the “ready, fire, aim” mentality. As with the example above, the Director of FEMA, like countless others, made errors (blaming others, etc). However, the real lesson for ethical leaders is the importance of considering issues from different angles and to resist the temptation to make snap judgments about people and situations. This interactive session shows leaders the damage snap judgments can cause to an organization and how avoidance of snap judgments can help the leader create an ethical environment.
“How to Best Identify and Educate Those Who Try to Discourage Leaders from Making Changes”
Making changes in an organization is never an easy task. Machiavelli in the book The Prince stated it accurately, “It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.” All leaders have heard it before: “This new program will never work”; “Why change, we’ve done it this way for years”; “What a dumb idea”; etc. The objective of this topic is to address one of the most difficult areas in ethical leadership - managing change. The session shows how to identify and educate those who try to discourage leaders from making needed changes. There are well-meaning people who will attempt to discourage leaders and their people from making changes. “Fear of change” is normally the reason for the opposition. Ethical leaders have a responsibility to identify and educate these individuals on proposed changes. The session specifically highlights: (1) Why change is difficult and why people resist; (2) How to identify and recognize “stumbling blocks”; and, (3) How to ethically manage resistance to change.
“Treat Everyone with Respect: A Prescription for Leadership Success”
One beautiful evening in Washington D.C., a suited gentleman publicly and loudly scolded his waiter for forgetting the dinner rolls. The majority of the people at the tables around the suited gentleman immediately felt uncomfortable,as he over-reacted. The waiter was visibly shaken and embarrassed. When the waiter returned to the area without the rolls again (don’t know whether this was intentional), the suited gentleman laid into him once more and asked the waiter if he knew who he was and went on to tell the waiter the businesses he controls. The suited gentleman, after delivering his solid berating, then asked the waiter in a sarcastic tone, “Who are you?” The waiter calmly replied to the rude gentleman, “I’m the guy who controls the dinner rolls.” There are few things more uncomfortable than watching someone treat someone else with disrespect. Whether it’s a leader at any level dealing with his subordinate or any person in a more powerful position dealing with a person with less power, watching or hearing acts of disrespect is uncomfortable for everyone -except for the person engaging in the disrespect. The objective of this topic is to stress the importance of leaders treating everyone with respect and allowing competent individuals to do the jobs they are hired to do. This interactive session highlights numerous examples of how leaders impact productivity, sometimes unknowingly, by disrespectful behavior. The session also shows how treating people with respect is the cornerstone of ethical leadership and how the guy with the rolls matters.
“How Leaders Must Set the Example for Ethical Leadership”
The objective of this topic is to show leaders how to set the example for ethical leadership. Leaders set and control the ethical climate in the majority of institutions. This fact requires leaders to lead from the front and set the example for ethical leadership. In a lot of instances, ethical leadership involves controlling the environment. An essential part of controlling the environment is having self-control. Robert E. Lee once said, “I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.” This session shows leaders how to exercise self-control to avoid falling victim to unethical behavior. This interactive topic highlights the importance of setting an ethical leadership; meeting institutional objectives; and, taking care of the team.