Traits of an Ethical Leader

Leadership is often riddled with diverse responsibilities and duties. Leaders are looked upon by people for guidance and motivation in different spheres and aspects of life. Therefore, every leader should possess proper traits and character so that they can live up to the expectations of the followers. Thus, there is need for effective scrutiny of those aspiring to become leaders so that it can be established that they possess leadership qualities that can guide people to the next level. This is because, a leader is considered a role model whose actions can be emulated due to increased visibility and high degree of interaction with other people young and old within the community.

There are various traits that must be exhibited by any ethical leader. Honesty and truthfulness are some of the character traits that every ethical leader should possess. These qualities are essential to an ethical leader to ensure that the followers shall willingly obey the leader’s directives and opinions. This is because they believe such directives are issued for the welfare and benefit of the majority. The followers must also feel that they are secure when dealing with their leader. The effective building of trust and honesty between the leader and followers is therefore an essential quality as it guarantees success. It enables the leader close any gaps that may exist between what he says and what he does (McQueeny, 2006).

Another paramount leadership trait for an ethical leader is integrity. An ethical leader must demonstrate firmness for truth and objectiveness. This is because the followers expect their leader to take a stand on diverse issues and demonstrate courage for their convictions. An ethical leader must adhere to core set of beliefs so that he does not lose his consistency and credibility over issues. Consistency is required for every ethical leader especially in facing difficult situations. Consistency and credibility are demonstrated through the leader’s commitment to the issue at hand in action and word. It displays his integrity of being a fervent supporter of ideas even in the face of obstacles (Seidman, 2010).

The ability of a leader to demonstrate compassion is also considered another trait in ethical leadership. It enhances the ability of a leader to meet the needs of their followers in a proactive manner. Leaders must have capacity to empathize with the situations that their followers are in. the compassionate qualities of such leaders is demonstrated through seeking constructive and ingenious ways of meeting the needs and aspirations of their followers. It proves that they have a genuine concern for the welfare of others.

Another impeccable quality for an ethical leader is emotional intelligence. It enables the leader to identify and manage his emotions and those of followers in different situations and environments. Emotional intelligence allows the leader identify various strategies in responding to needs and aspirations of his followers alongside his own. Emotional intelligence facilitates the ability of a leader to manage and avoid conflicts that may come up from time to time.

Emotional intelligence allows a leader to develop self awareness (Reilly, 2006). This is the ability of recognizing personal feelings and having prior knowledge on how such feelings impact on others. Self awareness allows a leader to identify his main strengths and weaknesses. This facilitates the ability of a leader to consult with others if issues at hand are confounding or beyond his personal grasp. Identity of personal strengths and weaknesses allows the leader to act with humility and decorum towards others. It increases the confidence and trust amongst other people i.e. followers. Leaders that have developed self awareness maintain journals of their thoughts and plans that facilitate implementation of proper strategies in face of challenges. Self awareness also allows leaders to manage their emotions properly.

Emotional intelligence also allows ethical leaders to develop self regulation characteristics. Such leaders never compromise their values or make emotional decisions. They demonstrate a valuable characteristic of being in control of situations. Self regulated leaders have a clear knowledge on their values that guides them in their daily decision making tasks. Such leaders also hold themselves to account even when mistakes occur. They never shift blames. They demonstrate a higher ability in committing themselves to admit errors and oversights that might have been made. Such leaders appreciate their contributions and responsibility in anything they do or sanction.

Emotional intelligence also facilitates the acquisition of self motivation qualities for ethical leaders. Self motivated leaders aim at exhibiting consistency in working towards their goals and aspirations. They always do this when maintaining high levels standards. They also display immense levels of optimism that increases chances of success. Such leaders normally inspire their followers and act as role models to majority of these followers (Fischer, 2011).

An ethical leader must also demonstrate respect towards others. Such leaders have high regard to the dignity, autonomy and worth of all people. This eliminates any forms of discrimination or unfair treatment of any member of society under such leadership. They appreciate the diversity that is presented by the human race. These leaders are effective in creating an enabling environment that upholds the dignity of others. They do this by creating an enabling environment through enactment of various policies and legislation that upholds such principles. They are also at the forefront in educating their followers on the value of upholding such principles and benefits that accrues to the society.

In order to develop trust and honesty of followers in his leadership, an ethical leader must demonstrate courage. This is because most of his decisions will not always be favorable to all. Some oppressive and corrupt elements in society will always view such a leader as obstructive to their evil intentions. This implies that an ethical leader faces various obstacles and challenges that can be threatening and frustrating. It is therefore essential for the leader to demonstrate courage and conviction of his actions. Courage facilitates the ability of the leader to articulate and embody moral principles without fear of any retribution.

Ethical leaders must also demonstrate a higher degree of being conscientious. It allows them to lay a strong foundation in their followers such that high ethical standards become established as an organization or community culture. Such leaders are also highly focused on enforcing the established social principles and rules that are tailored towards enhancing high ethical standards in society. The leaders also demonstrate immense flexibility in ensuring effective attainment of set standards in all actions of duty performance. Their flexibility enhances their abilities to influence others to adopt change efforts that may be required for effective maintenance of integrity in operations (Burns, 2008).

Communication is also an essential quality of any ethical leader. This is because communication allows the leader to articulate his policies, thoughts and convictions in a manner that ensures compliance. This is because the followers can understand the highlighted needs for adoption of such policies. The leader must be an effective communicator so that he can change the mindsets of some of the followers that may be resistant to change. The leader must be able to communicate with zeal and optimism in such a way that he spurs motivation and enthusiasm of his followers. They develop the necessary buy-in since they can reason and connect to the outlined vision of their leader.

From the above elucidations, it is evident that ethical leaders are desired in every community to their ability to put aside personal and biased nuances for benefit of the majority. This is due to their ability to rally support of the majority towards pursuing specific goals and objectives that ensure development and growth in the community. It is therefore necessary for an ethical leader to demonstrate needed qualities and competencies so that his leadership can add value to his followers and the community in general. This is because lack of these ethical qualities can lead to loss of confidence and eventual lack of trust in leaders. This can come at high costs since leaders that lack traits such as honesty and integrity can be sued before courts of law. Every leader must therefore aspire to acquire and develop these qualities so that he can increase the possibility of attaining success more proactively. Failure to this people may cast aspersions and lack of confidence in their leadership that in most cases can be self demeaning to the leader.

Annotated bibliography

Burns, J. (2008). Leadership: Ethical Traits. New York. Harper Press.

Burns provides various dimensions on the qualities of an ethical leader. This is because it is proper for every leader to cultivate a culture of morality in the organization. Such a culture leads to trust and builds confidence on the followers in their leader. The author explores the need for flexibility in any organization and reiterates that flexibility only thrives in an environment where the leader has high integrity and has noticeable ethical actions based on honesty and integrity; such a leader is then able to act as a role model to his followers. The author also explains that an ethical leader must also demonstrate a liking for openness and concern for other people. However, this must be followed by holding his followers to account for ethical conduct in all their engagements.

Fischer, A. (2011). Attributes of the Ethical Leader. New York. Jossey-Bass.

The author delves into the various pitfalls that befall organizations and societies due to leadership from hypocritical leaders. He enumerates the various scandals that have been witnessed in corporate history that are mainly attributable to lack of ethics in leadership. The author avers that an ethical leader must be focused on establishing and sustaining an ethical culture in the organization. This implies that his messages to followers must be consistent and based on ethical values such as integrity and honesty. In this regard, the author singles out emotional intelligence as a key quality that any leader should possess. It allows the leader to evaluate behaviors exhibited by his subjects and identify proactive measures to take to maintain ethics in the organization.

McQueeny, E. (2006). Making Ethics Come Alive. Business Communication Quarterly, 69(2): 158-170.

McQueeny is explicit on the various qualities that ethical leaders must possess. Trust and honesty are singled out as being the most critical. These qualities make the leader act as a role model to his followers. It leads to evolution of an ethical culture in the organization where most roles and processes that are overseen by the leader and his followers have ethical foundations. The author explains that most organizational leaders that possess trust and honesty of their subordinates are more likely to experience success compared to others that do not exhibit such qualities. This is because most of the operations in such entities are founded on ethical foundations that create proper relationships that spur productivity.

Reilly, E. (2006). Ethical leadership. Educational Leadership and Administration, 18: 163-173.

The author asserts that it is imperative for any leader to possess emotional intelligence. This is because this quality reinforces his ability to develop self awareness qualities that are key ingredient in being ethical. It facilitates the ability of the leader to develop sensitivity towards the feelings of others and the author claims that this can help establish strong teams. This is because such a leader develops honesty especially when providing guidance to his followers and is not quick to ridicule or shift blames to others. The leader identifies the dangers of presenting himself as perfect since the followers may not be confident with his guidance.

Seidman, D. (2010). Leadership Traits and Ethics. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

Integrity is presented by the author as a central quality in any ethical leadership. This is because it accords the leader the urge to follow laid down principles in execution of his mandate. It eliminates favoritism and self centeredness that the author claims have led to failure of many leaders. The author explores the need for leaders to be consistent in their issuance of directives and to always accept their failings. It breeds a culture of honesty and openness thereby making an organization overcome most of its contemporary challenges and obstacles. It also brings a culture of creativity and innovativeness since every follower in such organization feels free to experiment and try out his or her ideas. Such environments eradicate fear in the followers of being reprimanded for their failures.

References

Burns, J. (2008). Leadership: Ethical Traits. New York. Harper Press.

Fischer, A. (2011). Attributes of the Ethical Leader. New York. Jossey-Bass.

McQueeny, E. (2006). Making Ethics Come Alive. Business Communication Quarterly, 69(2): 158-170.

Reilly, E. (2006). Ethical leadership. Educational Leadership and Administration, 18: 163-173.

Seidman, D. (2010). Leadership Traits and Ethics. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.