#33 - Moral courage and integrity as key leadership traits!
15 Oct 24
The key skills of 'moral courage' and 'integrity' can be thought of as the bedrock of sound leadership.
Without these traits being embedded, life as a leader becomes extremely difficult.
This is because teams gel and bond through the existence of trust, reliability and honesty. If any one of these key ingedients is missing then people will just not believ in you.
Ultimately, always do the right thing, and maintain your integrity!
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#33 - Moral courage and integrity as key leadership traits!
What?
People can spend a lot of time arguing over which traits are key to be successful as a leader.
But mention the traits of 'moral courage' and 'integrity' and I suspect that you will reach an almost unanimous consensus.
Quite simply 'moral courage' is defined as:
'...the ability to stand up for and practice that which one considers ethical, moral behaviour when faced with a dilemma, even if it means going against countervailing pressure to do otherwise'.
And 'integrity':
'...is the quality of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or earnestness of one's actions. Integrity can stand in opposition to hypocrisy'.
The two qualities are very similar, but in my opinion one simply cannot exist without the other.
Why?
When in a leadership role, you are in a position of trust. Trust takes time to build in a team, and in fact is the very cement that bonds a team together.
In order to build trust, followers need to be provided with examples that the leader is honest, is consistent in behaviour and has a track record to always do the right thing.
Sometimes that means speaking truth to power, maintaining a position and not being swayed by others when all around are shifting theirs, or simply standing up for your team.
The bottom line is that leaders are always on show. Their behaviours and actions are always in the spotlight. Rightly or wrongly reputations are built and lost on track records.
How?
So how can those key traits of 'moral courage' and 'integrity' be developed?
Of course the answer is, mainly through the acquisition of hard won experience.
But you have to start somewhere, and the following 10 pointers should help:
- Be consistent in your behaviours and treatment of others,
- Set and maintain standards,
- Stand up for what you believe is right and be seen to be consistently firm but fair,
- Challenge people who try and introduce shortcuts or circumvent process/governance,
- Speak truth to power and hold your position based upon facts,
- Call out bad behaviour - always,
- Do not allow yourself to be bullied into changing your professional opinion unless your position is countered by clear facts,
- Stand up for your team and individuals and fight for them, as long as they are doing the right thing,
- Be approachable and open to people so they can air their concerns,
- Have the moral courage to be factual so that you report what you see. This applies particularly when it comes to appraisal reports!
Remember moral courage takes guts and your integrity is not negotiable.
In Summary
I hope that you enjoyed reading this newsletter and that it has given you food for thought.
Of all the leadership traits, 'moral courage' and 'integrity' trump the lot.
Without these key traits, people will simply not trust you. And all great teams are built on trust existing at all levels.
Have the courage of your convictions, and maintain your integrity - always!
Have a great week!
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