SPECIAL LEADERSHIP EDITION
Inspired People. Outstanding Results.
Doing
what’s
right
Dr. Craig
Dowden
reveals the
business
case
for moral
leadership
How to Find Time
to Do “Great Work”
It’s the work we love to talk about
PLUS
•Case studies for leading in difficult times
•Looming labour shortage plays havoc on staffing
•Invite yin energy for more balance at work
CONTENTS
VOLUME 15 ISSUE 4
WWW.YOURWORKPLACE.CA
12
20
27
FEATURES
9
The Business Case for Moral
Leadership
Doing what is right breeds success
12 Leading in Difficult Times
DEPARTMENTS
4
8
31 Flex Time
It’s Time for the Workplace to Grow Up!
34 Self Compassion
An Essential Leadership Trait
Lessons learned from an eco-challenge and an
Olympic soccer team
UP FRONT
THE COMPASSIONATE
EDGE
Power Versus Productivity: Why You
Can’t Always Have Both
36 THE BUSINESS-MINDED
READER
Since we’re all in the lifeboat
together...
17 Your Workplace Conference 2013
Highlights of a leading-edge event
38 WHAT I THINK
20 Suchness
You Might be Right, but You’re Wrong
The best leaders see things as they are
SPECIAL LEADERSHIP EDITION
22 How to Find Time to Do
“Great Work”
Inspired People. Outstanding Results.
Doing
what’s
right
COVER PHOTO: STEPHEN WILD
It has meaning and impact.
It’s the work we love to talk about.
25 Balance: Inviting Yin
Energy into Our Work
27 A Tale of Two Cities
Two mayors. Two disasters. Different results.
29 Applying Positive
Psychology at Work
Embracing the pillars of PERMA
Dr. Craig
Dowden
reveals the
business
case
for moral
leadership
22
5
How to Find Time
to Do “Great Work”
It’s the work we love to talk about
WHAT MATTERS
Looming Labour Shortage Plays Havoc
on Staffing; The Scandalous “ReplyAll”; Successful Outsourcing Calls for
Investment in Skills
PLUS
• Case studies for leading in difficult times
• Looming labour shortage plays havoc on staffing
• Invite yin energy for more balance at work
ON THE COVER: This Special Edition
of Your Workplace explores the latest
trends in leadership
YOUR WORKPLACE | VOLUME 15 ISSUE 4
LEADERSHIP 3
LEADERSHIP
DLIW NEHPETS :OTOHP
The Business Case
for Moral Leadership
»
BY JEN AMOS
“In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy.
And if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.” — Warren Buffet
W
arren Buffet’s words remind us of how important it is to have integrity
in our business lives, and this starts with our leaders. A leader uses his or
her influence to bring about change, and yet when we think of the word
“leader”, many of us imagine someone with authority over others, an individual who is
literally a step ahead of the group. At times, this type of leadership can be self-serving and
disempowering to others.
Moral leaders place the emphasis on the talent of others, rather than on their own abilities. Moral leadership is not about rank, rather it’s doing what’s right. They have a deep
sense of right and wrong, and are guided by their beliefs. We look to leaders for guidance
and inspiration, and moral leadership can be critical to the success of the organization.
YOUR WORKPLACE | VOLUME 15 ISSUE 4
LEADERSHIP 9
Take, for example, Buffet, who is often
described as the most successful investor
this century, and one of the most wealthy
and influential people in the world. At
the same time, he is also a philanthropist,
and has pledged to give away 99% of his
vast fortune. In 2011 he called out the
American government to “Stop Coddling
the Super-Rich” and raise his own, and his
peers’ taxes. This is not exactly the kind of
leadership we are accustomed to from the
corporate sector.
This is in sharp contrast to profit-at-allcosts leadership, such as the now infamous
Enron, which went from billions to bankrupt on account of fraud and corruption.
When you compare moral leaders like
Buffet to self-serving leadership, such as
what may be described at Enron, it starts
to become clear: moral leadership isn’t just
“the right thing to do”, it’s the right thing
to do for your business.
WHY MORAL LEADERSHIP IS GOOD
FOR YOUR BUSINESS
At first glance, the idea of moral leadership
might seem largely altruistic, but there are
benefits to making it a priority in the workplace. In her 2006 book Moral Leadership:
The Theory and Practice of Power, Judgement and Policy Deborah Rhode suggested
that moral leadership led to more ethical
employees and reported: “Companies
observe less unethical behaviour and
perform better when employees see their
company as promoting ethical conduct
and their leaders care about ethical issues.”
In addition to this, Hannah, Lester
and Vogelgesang, in their 2005 report,
have suggested that moral leaders have
more influence than their less principled
counterparts, saying “A leader who is
perceived by followers as morally authentic
and imbued by altruism and virtuousness
will be afforded greater influence and have
increased positive effects on followers and
organizations”. Other benefits include:
• Higher employee satisfaction and
morale
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Enhanced workplace trust, cooperation, and innovation
• Money saved from costs associated
with misconduct and surveillance to
prevent it
Aside from the benefits, there are also
10 LEADERSHIP
risks involved if companies do not adopt
it. In an increasingly transparent global
economy, organizations are under more
scrutiny than ever before. Unethical
practices such as improper expense claims,
price-fixing, or bribery are more difficult
to keep secret, and there is a high price to
pay for indiscretions. All fines and punishments aside, a business leader may follow
all laws and yet be highly immoral in the
way he or she runs the organization. As a
result, these organizations will have difficulty attracting and retaining employees,
customers and investors. In the book, The
Ethical Imperative: Why Moral Leadership
is Good Business, author John Dalla Costa
reports that by the most conservative
estimates, annual losses due to unethical
behaviour are more than the profits of the
top 40 corporations in North America.
POSITIVE IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES
Despite all the evidence, many work-
VOLUME 15 ISSUE 4 | YOUR WORKPLACE
places perceive a compromise between
moral leadership and profitability. Dr.
Craig Dowden, Managing Director of the
Toronto, Ontario office of SPB, an Organizational Psychology Consulting firm, says
this could not be further from the truth.
“In my work the question [I am] asked is
‘Can we be successful as an organization
and do the right thing?’” This perceived
dichotomy of either “I can be successful”
or “I can do the right thing” misses the
mark. By doing what’s right for employees,
companies set themselves up to succeed.
Of the many influences a moral leader
has, Dr. Dowden identified three that are
most impactful at the recent 2013 Your
Workplace Conference:
1. Providing a sense of purpose
A moral leader will give his or her team a
sense of purpose. Most of us want to feel
like we have contributed to something
above and beyond our self, and motiva-
limitations, and openly acknowledge their
errors model humility instead of ego. As
a result, they do not suffer any negative
consequences, and other employees will be
more open to admitting their missteps.
Research has also shown that ego has a
price tag attached to it. In 2006 researchers
reported on a series of experiments called,
“Your Money or Your Self-Esteem: Threatened Egotism Promotes Costly Entrapment in Losing Endeavors.” Students were
given $5 that they could choose to gamble
in a game of luck. Before the game began,
some also received some “friendly” advice
from an experimenter who said they might
want to back out if they choke under pressure. Those who received the tip may have
felt their ego was at stake (“I’ll prove that I
don’t choke under pressure”). They played
and lost more money, and their self esteem
plummeted.
This need to preserve ego can wreak
havoc in organizations. Dr. Dowden says
that the workplace is not immune to this
scenario; employees pursuing favourable
views of themselves can be costly and can
even produce self-defeating behaviours.
3. Practising empathy
tion is vastly diminished when employees
don’t see how their work contributes to the
organization.
Dr. Dowden points to a 2008 study,
“Man’s Search for Meaning: The case
of Legos”, which found that when
participants were given identical wages
and tasks, those in the less meaningful
condition (where they witnessed the
toys they were paid to build being
disassembled) did less work than those in
the meaningful condition.
This suggests that we are not purely
profit driven, and that we need an emotional connectivity to a task, otherwise our
motivation dries up. A moral leader will
ensure that employees are aware of exactly
how what they do contributes to the
organization. As a result they will be more
engaged and more productive.
2. Exhibiting humility
Leaders who admit mistakes and
Empathy, identifying with other people,
and understanding their situation, feelings
and motives, is critical because empathetic leaders can provide employees
with support to deal with the challenges
between them and their goals. By providing employees with the tools they need to
succeed, moral leaders also build a sense
of trust. This strengthens the relationships
between them and their employees, and
even the relationships employees have
with one another. This leads to greater collaboration and improved productivity.
Empathic leaders support their employees, and this in turn benefits the workplace. By thinking of others first, empathic
leaders also serve their own goals.
HOW TO FOSTER MORAL LEADERSHIP WITHIN OURSELVES
Given the many positive impacts of moral
leadership, Dr. Dowden says there are
three steps we can do to foster moral
leadership within ourselves and our
organizations.
1. Identify core values and determine
what truly matters. Knowing where
you stand helps guide decisions — large
and small.
2. Check your egos at the door. Get
comfortable with not having all of the
answers, and embrace the fact that
we all make mistakes. This will diffuse
destructive self-interest.
3. Be curious. Ask open-ended questions
and engage in active listening as
it provides clues to alternative courses
of action.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Moral leadership is about doing the right
thing — for others and your own organization. Morals and success are not mutually
exclusive — in fact they are intertwined. We
not only improve leadership, we also give
ourselves a competitive advantage. YW
Comparison of Moral and
Self-Serving leadership
Moral leaders are sometimes called a
serving leader because they focus on the
needs of others above their own. They do
not brag about their accomplishments;
rather they develop and spotlight the
abilities of others. These leaders are the
moral compass of an organization and the
glue that keeps it together.
Consider the following chart comparing
the traits of moral leaders and selfinterested leaders.
Moral
Leadership
Self-serving
Leadership
Humility
Ego, arrogance
Prioritizes needs
of others
Self-interested
Honest and
straightforward
Deceptive
Honours
commitments
Breaches
agreements
Fair
Unfair
Takes
responsibility
Blames others
Serves others
Withholds
support
Stands up for
what’s right
Lacks courage
YOUR WORKPLACE | VOLUME 15 ISSUE 4
LEADERSHIP 11
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