Personal Leadership

My personal ethical leadership style incorporates traditional principles of moral management and tacit knowledge that I have learned through my experiences and leadership observation. Another critical factor in my style of leadership is my own personal moral foundations. Fundamental principles of moral management that I will incorporate include remodeling, positive reinforcement, and punishment, as well as ethical communication. Role modeling is important as it sets visual and identifiable expectations as the norm. Remodeling is a great method of management as it combines observation as well as experiential learning. I think it's the phrase “Do what I do, not as I say”. This illustrates that our actions are more credible than our language. If you as a manager follow your own ethical policies and standards then your colleagues are incentivized to replicate your own actions. It's also a learning style that tends to be more implicit. You don't actively have to explain that you are practicing ethical behavior and justify all of your actions, these are behaviors that are adopted by those around you naturally over time.

Another traditional principle that I would incorporate into my leadership style would be the individual mechanisms of positive reinforcement and punishment. This is an example of a traditional Foundation that I've observed in previous work environments. During my time working at Walt Disney World, I observed rewards and positive recognition that employees “Cast Members” can receive from management. There were daily tasks and activities that were offered as a reward such as collector pin trading, magical moment tasks such as surprising a guest with a treat or merchandise, or being able to go outside and enjoy a parade or firework show viewing on your shift. While the line of management that I will be working in will have different rewards, there should be tasks that are more desirable than others that can be given to incentivize and motivate. This might be a creative extracurricular project or an opportunity to enjoy a service that the company offers as a reward. Punishment is a way to hold people accountable for ethical conduct. There should be some sort of consequence or lack of reward when behavior goes against ethical expectations.

The last traditional moral foundation that I want to implement into my leadership style would be communicating through the company code of ethics. I will find ways to implement this into my management style through a variety of different methods. One simple thing that I would ensure to do is to have an ethical quote that I identify with in my email signature. This is a simple way to demonstrate my values when communicating virtually. Many workplaces have more opportunities for telecommuting. Business is now being conducted both in person and over Zoom and email, and I can still translate moral management and expectations regardless of the environment. Communication in person will be as open as possible. I would like to be extremely clear about how ethical conduct is a priority. I will be respectful and careful that my actions and responses to any question of ethical misconduct are raised. I will ask frequently if my employees believe that ethical misconduct is taking place in the workplace. I will value the voices of those that feel comfortable speaking up about it. This is important because when people share ethical concerns they're often credible by putting their name attached to the potential misconduct, but also to reinforce behaviors in the cool environment we need to value those that share concern.

When acting in accordance with my own personal moral foundations, I will also be considerate of other perspectives. One of the most uniting foundations is care and harm. Most people want to make sure others are safe and healthy so this can be approached as to why ethics should matter. Something that also is important about ethics is it creates impact and significance which creates job satisfaction in an organization. Employees will have a greater sense of meaningfulness and their work and be motivated to have an honest dialogue about it in the workplace.

My personal management style may be different from other leaders in my industry. Many leaders are extremely compliance-based which is rooted in laws and regulations. While that will be a priority, I would like to take away the reactive nature of that kind of management style. I think creating an environment that's proactive and emphasizes more value-based culture results in higher productivity and loyalty from employees. When I worked at the Walt Disney Company it was extremely values based. This was by design. In the hiring process, we had to take a value and personality questionnaire to ensure that our personal foundations aligned with the culture and reinforced their values. Since this is my background, I have a strong appreciation and expectation for employees to be intrinsically motivated by their values. I want to encourage this by showing commitment to myself as well as creating standards that measure positive performance. As a moral manager, I will have a strong emphasis on goal-setting. The expectation is to go beyond the norm to provide the highest quality experience. Through my positive reinforcement system, I would like to be able to offer incentives. As a manager, I will focus on giving extrinsic motivation in the form of feedback. I want to make sure that there is a strong sense of community and a narrative that is thankful for the work that is put into the company. There should be opportunities to get to know co-workers and a sense of empathy and understanding between management and associates. Depending on the company that I work for, hopefully, I will be able to offer hours that work for employees as well as vacation time or other benefits that are of value. I think that because of my previous work experience my expectations are different from many other potential managers. I think that because I've only worked in companies that have extremely high expectations, such as Nordstrom and Disney, I know that I will continue to expect that matter what company I'm working for.

As a leader in my company, I will be aware of contextual influences that impact my environment. Some of these influences may be conformity bias, framing, and loss aversion. Conformity bias Is a contextual influence that can be hard to manage. By setting up a culture that is rooted in value ethics, it will reinforce the notion that peers do not approve of unethical behavior. ​​The guidelines of framing can create opportunities for unethical behavior to be excused. As a moral manager, I would like to approach discussions with multiple perspectives and frames of view. Not only does this allow for creative and new solutions, but it can also help teach and strengthen your mindset to understand potential threats or problems that may go against the code of ethics. Within the context of loss aversion, as a manager, I will create an environment that focuses on integrity. While it is extremely important to be efficient and successful, that success means nothing if the means to obtain it is unethical. There is always a way that losses can be a learning and teachable moment in which learning can be seen as a long-term game.

I will continue to develop my leadership skills through experience. Even as a student I still find ways to expand my leadership experience. This past weekend I attended a leadership conference on campus that ASOSU put on for students. I enjoy hearing about how to approach relevant cultural issues, as well as exploring how every person has a unique definition of leadership. We talked about principles that were the most important to us as leaders. The one that I shared personally, was integrity. I am motivated to continue my learning process regarding being a leader. Since there are so many different definitions and expectations of leadership, I must continue to hear as many different perspectives as possible and further my knowledge of different techniques. This will allow me to provide tailored management for different facets of my life and my industry. As I graduate and continue to build my career, I would like to continue to go to different conferences and keynotes that inform me of current events and new potential problem-solving strategies.

As I reflect on my personal leadership style, I realize that I will be quickly tested on my ability to maintain and enforce an ethical standard. I understand that it will be extremely challenging to act and follow my insight that I have planned for. I do know that I will continue to learn how to recognize euphemisms, biases, and actions that question my own sense of integrity. I do look forward to the vast amount of experiences in my career where I'll be able to learn and further understand my own leadership goals and moral foundations. I will practice traditional moral management as well as take the experiential knowledge that I have gained through previous work experience. I will have the opportunity to start practicing my own beliefs and applying them to the workplace.