Tweet

6 Tips on building an ethical company: Actions speak louder than words

Guest post by: David Ingram

Article Overview: Ethics and highly ethical leaders are much needed in the business world today. As a small business owner, you have to stop and ask yourself whether you're conducting your business in an ethical manner. Understanding the basis of being an ethical leader and remembering these 6 tips as you conduct your day-to-day business with your employees and customers will go a long way toward earning and maintaining respect and lasting relationships.

6 Tips on building an ethical company: Actions speak louder than words

Are you ethical? It’s a hard question to ask yourself, but you need to dig deep and try and view yourself as others would – that is, in the most honest light possible. Few people – if any – will say they are unethical or have no moral fortitude. But we all know that these kinds of – as they say in Animal House, “morally casual” – people are out there. Your business ethics will be tested throughout your journey as an entrepreneur, and the way in which you react to situations and problems will determine your reputation as a company. It’s important to set your standards from the start. First, let’s examine the basis of being an ethical leader. Take this description from the Institute for Ethical Leadership: "The ethical leader understands that positive relationships are the gold standard for all organizational effort. Good quality relationships built on respect and trust-not necessarily agreement, because people need to spark off each other-are the single most important determinant of organizational success. The ethical leader understands that these kinds of relationships germinate and grow in the deep rich soil of fundamental principles: trust, respect, integrity, honesty, fairness, equity, justice and compassion. Stephen Covey calls such principles the “laws of the universe.” The ethical leader knows that by acting in accordance with these laws, living in harmony with these basic principles, human enterprise flourishes and is sustained. "Early last century the German philosopher and theologian, Martin Buber, described these successful relationships as “I-Thou” relationships, in which people recognize the intrinsic worth and value of others and treat each other with sincerity and respect. In the language of the 18th century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, this is the principle of always treating the other person as an end and never merely as a means to serve your own personal interests. The ethical leader moves and acts in a world of I-Thou relationships, where in any situation, to the fullest extent possible in the circumstances, the intent is to honor and respect the worth of the other person. "In this way the ethical leader embraces the act of service as described by Robert Greenleaf in his concept of “servant leadership.” The effective leader acts as a servant to others engaged in the enterprise, not in any sense of inferiority, but as one who empowers others to achieve success by focusing on right action. The ethical leader understands the truth of our interconnectedness to each other, and that it is through our willingness to serve each other that we release our combined energy and potential to benefit the greater good of which we are all a part." Second, here are 6 tips to build and maintain an ethical company: 1. Actions speak louder than words. While it’s important for your employees to understand your company’s rep as an ethical firm, make sure that reputation – as well as your community-giving activities – don’t wallow behind the scenes. It may sound (somewhat) self-serving, but you should make sure your actions are visible to customers, who have the final say in your small business’ reputation and overall perception. They’re the ones giving referrals, and knowing you sail an honest ship is of utmost importance. Announce your corporate-giving activities in news releases. Post them on your Web site or Twitter page. Mount banners or certificates from your supported charities inside your office, like we do in the Capital TechSearch board room. Heck, even go as far as pointing them out to clients when they visit. If your clients are ethical too, they’ll give you credit where due. 2. Ethics must start at the top. You set the bar for work ethic and moral ethic at your company. Don’t work hard? Neither will your employees. Moral standards questionable? Your employees will either knowingly follow, or leave the business (if they know better). 3. Always keep your door open. Establish an office environment where employees can voice concerns, including issues with company policy, without fear of recrimination. We see examples every day where people blow the whistle – ahem, Enron anyone? – but no one should have to resort to that. 4. Don’t assume employees know “right” and “wrong.” Clearly communicate from the beginning how you expect them to behave when it comes to internal work and dealing with clients. Set and manage these expectations. 5. Make sure you reward people on the basis of exhibiting company values. Be it money (good) or a burrito (dare I say better?) 6. Deal decisively and immediately with breaches in conduct. It is important to make sure you know the whole, two-sided story before you confront unacceptable ethical behavior. Most importantly, don’t ever compromize your ethics. For a Bedtime Story on the business lessons we learned about not compromizing your ethics, read Chapter 5 of 15 Bedtime Stories That Keep Entrepreneurs Awake at Night. And, remember, if you ever have any doubt on what to do in a situation, always take the high road for lasting success.

Related Articles
  Being a Business Leader
  Ethical Transformation of a Leader
  It’s not only what you say that counts, it’s what you do.
  “Building An Environment of Ethical Behavior. Ten Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach ”
  Business Ethics Guidelines: An Ethical Action Test From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Demonstrating Effective Leadership By Learning How To Walk The Talk One Step At A Time
  Fail Your Way To The Top In Network Marketing.
  Actions speak louder than words
  Be The Example!
  Do Your Values Drive or Derail Leadership? Part 2
  Top 5 Ways To Annoy Your Prospective Customers
  Nine Commitments That Will Emphasize Business Ethics and Company Core Values Are Extremely Crucial To Your Business
  The Critical Importance of Business Ethics For Effective Leadership, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Are your self-promotion tactics ethical or not?
  How to improve your businesses performance
  The Power of Thought to Make it All Happen
  Working with Ethical Gray Areas
  Where Do You Stand As A Leader?
  Sales Training – Salespeople, Let Me Sell You a Bridge!
  Hugging is the Answer

Article Tags: 18th century german philosopher, business ethics, ethical leader, ethical leadership, flourishes, gold standard, human enterprise, immanuel kant, intrinsic worth, laws of the universe, living in harmony, martin buber, moral fortitude, organizational effort, organizational success, philosopher immanuel kant, quality relationships, rich soil, stephen covey, successful relationships
Referred by: http://tractiongroup.com



Related Forum Posts
Anyone know a reputable link building company? - Hi forum members, I am thinking of hiring a SEO company to do some link building for our company. I have been very cautious in my link building strategies up until now but no longer have the time to focus on it. My fear is in hiring some company that will build links unethically, or even worse, in some manner that will look bad on our company. Has anyone used any ethical and affordable link building services and did it help your business? Thanks
Re: Google's April 2012 Update - Yeah, this update is ridiculous. I have several sites. My best one has been promoted through ethical, reasonable white hat SEO (blog comments, by ME on relevant blogs), some forum participation, and article marketing (by ME, on reputable directories). No SEO tools, etc. It took a whole year to get it to the point where it was earning money and ranking for a bunch of different key words. Now it's gone. So I say f*** Google. Funny thing is, a couple of sites that I outsourced (therefore probably had some sketchy link building) have not dropped at all. Doesn't make sense. They better fix this. Can't just play with people's livelihoods once you're this big, Google.
Business Tips - How about: Tips for managers to handle employees more effectively? Tips on how to deal with difficult customers? Tips on how to deal more effectively with suppliers? The only three I have in mind right now, but will try to come up with something else. Chris
Creating an online business - Hi Praveenv, Setting up an online business in itself is not too difficult. All you need is a website and a way to process payment. PayPal is a great example of an easy to use payment processing company. Then you'll need to find a product to sell. There are affiliate programs like Commission Junction or ClickBank where you can find many different vendors who are looking for distributors. Every time you make a sale, you get paid. Going through C/J or C/B is easy because they track everything and take care of paying you. If you are sourcing your own products then you will need a distributor agreement between yourself and the other company. It outlines things such as how much you get paid, what your responsibilities are, are you the exclusive distributor or not, etc. You should speak with a local lawyer to get this agreement hammered out for you. You should also formally setup a company and business number. This is usually done through a local government office but I cannot speak for how it is done in your country. Good luck!
Re: Blog sells for up to $15 million - Action speaks louder than dream. What are we doing about GT suggestion? We can make this work in 2010


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Email Marketing Made Easy #11 - Avoiding Spam

Too Many Sales Reps Are Wimps

Severance and Separation Agreements

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.