Ethical
Accountability in Leading Change
Jessica
Bertagnolli
Nursing
Leadership 652
Idaho
State University
Honesty
and fairness are among the top qualities that I value in a leader. Bruhn
describes an ethical work climate as one that contains openness, respect and
dialogue (2004). These are all necessary elements in creating trust. A leader
must maintain an environment that is not threatening and expectations are
known. Honesty, fairness and respect are key concepts in trusting
relationships, and qualities that a great leader should have.
According
to Potter-O'Grady and Malloch (2003), the good leader is vulnerable. As they
point out, I think that the word 'vulnerability' has a negative and scary
meaning to most of us; although, some of the aspects of vulnerability are
valuable for the leader to embrace during the change process. Absence of ego,
trust in others, awareness of limitations, acknowledgement of strengths and
weaknesses are needed for the leader to be open to new ideas and others view
points (Potter-O'Grady and Malloch, 2003). In order for leadership to
effectively lead change they must be open to diversity and be willing and ready
to be wrong, or at least not right. I think that the quality of vulnerability
has its essential aspects for the leader in the change process.
One
of the most important ethical accountabilities of the leader is to walk the
talk. If a leader wants the staff to be open, honest and flexible the leader
must model this. I had the opportunity to go to a seminar put on by Tim
Potter-O'Grady and he talked about how busy nurses are. The message was that at
some point one can get so busy that nothing is accomplished. I think that
Walton, of WalMart, has an invaluable expectation of his employees to look the
customer in the eye, greet them and ask if they needed help (Bruhn, 2004). The
nurse leader must assure that they are not too busy to connect with their
staff, if they expect their staff to not get too busy to connect with the
patient. We in health care have an ethical responsibility to make our patients
feel safe and comfortable during one of the most vulnerable times in their
life.
References
Bruhn, J. (2005). The ethic of the
organizational good: Is doing the right thing enough? Healthcare
Manager, 23(1), 4-10.
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