Virtuous Leadership Requires Transparency, Not Rigidity

Key  Takeaways 

• Personal values do not always align within teams.
• Having clear values does not mean having a fixed mindset.

When I directed an educational nonprofit program, our employees and volunteers wanted to make a difference in underprivileged neighborhoods. Meanwhile, many would quickly become overwhelmed when unexpected challenges arose, such as having to teach in a loud gymnasium or with a co-instructor who had a different teaching style.

Because emotional stakes were high, it was easy to get frustrated.

A year into the role, I realized that if we couldn’t change the working conditions and still serve the same students, we could change the way we approached such challenges. Reflecting on my own leadership, I realized that I was not investing enough in this community of difference makers.

I began a training program that included an easy values exercise — a simple prompt that asked employees to reflect on what mattered most to them and why they had chosen the work. We all shared our reasons. As simple as this exercise was, it made a huge difference in creative problem solving and engagement. It also helped to identify those who were not the best fit.

I’m not alone in seeing these results. Leaders across industries and hierarchical levels find it beneficial to define or revisit their personal values. Advantages include increased clarity in decision making and higher rates of community engagement.

According to The Journal of Leadership Education, clarifying values “helps to guide us in our daily activities and … align what we say with what we do.” There are many ways to get clear about one’s values, and this, theoretically, leads to virtuous behavior.

The problem is that values do not always align within an organization or team. Virtues, as defined by Meriam Webster, are either “conformity to a standard of right,” or “a particular moral excellence.” But who gets to decide what comprises virtuous behavior?

The answer is easy: each individual. Leaders must honor individual choices by adopting a clear stance from which to make decisions.

When managers are not clear about what comprises virtuous behavior within a team, they might attract employees who are not the best fit. Likewise, avoidable conflicts may arise due to misperceptions. If leaders are transparent about values, and encourage team members to do the same, as I learned to do with training sessions, they are more likely to attract and retain similar-minded employees and understand when people need to be reassigned.

When leaders are authentic and transparent about values from the beginning, they are better equipped to identify not only incongruities but also solutions, such as reassignments or reassessment of project roles.

Clear and transparent values do not mean rigidity when it comes to authentic leadership. They provide a solid foundation from which to make informed decisions that work best for the entire team.

Reference: 

https://journalofleadershiped.org/jole_articles/values-clarification-es…