Yesterday, I had a discussion with 12 colleagues about ethics and the dilemmas we encounter in our work. Together with Ellen, we concluded that lists and posters with values and rules have little impact. It’s better to repeatedly engage in conversations, using practical examples, about the emotions that arise, the facts of the situation, and the moral principles (values) that are unconsciously and implicitly guiding (or not).
During the two-day Ethical Leadership training, you will learn interactively how to recognize, address, and solve ethical dilemmas. The focus of this training is not on the quality of the judgment but on the quality of the moral decision-making process. Moral deliberation is a process that requires attention and time. We aim to delay making a judgment for as long as possible. How well can you listen to the viewpoints of others?
Overview
This practice-oriented workshop consists of two half-day sessions. The first session is an interactive introduction to ethics. We explore ethics as a practical discipline—no dry theory, but a lively investigation into role models and heroes in your field. What values do they represent? Using well-known and lesser-known stories, we identify the issues at play within the organization.
In the second session, the focus is on participants’ own experiences. What is happening on the work floor? This session is set up like an intervision meeting. We work on cases that participants bring in themselves. They are given concrete tools: various methods for analyzing and solving dilemmas.
Key Principles
The training is based on the following insights from ethics, organizational studies, and psychology:
- Ethical leadership is not just the responsibility of management but of all employees within an organization.
- Everyone encounters moral dilemmas at work; the key is to recognize, acknowledge, and address them in time.
- Ethics is not simple. Moral dilemmas are often complex and require ethical analysis. This goes beyond gut feelings.
- Intersubjective dialogue or intervision is essential in this process.
- Undesirable or “unethical” behavior within organizations is not about “bad apples” but about a “rotten basket.” The management system and company culture apparently do not provide sufficient safeguards against undesirable behavior.
- Ethics, or good behavior, cannot be managed through codes of conduct or rules on the wall. It’s something we must work on together.
- Ethics is fun.
Location: Ethics in two days is an in-company training
Duration: two half-day sessions
Number of participants: 8-12
