SOS Course 20 Unit 1 Ethical Leadership

Module 1 Ethical Leadership and Diversity The strong tendency to favor men over women in filling high-level leadership positions has been referred to as the glass ceiling Most scholars consider integrity to be a requirement for ethical leadership Three Important Documents The Presidents commissioning power is the direct source of authority for Air Force officers Three important documents: US Constitution, Oath of Office, Commission Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) 1-1. Leadership and Force Development Leadership is the art and science of influencing and directing people to accomplish the assigned mission In the Air Force, leadership contains three main components: core values, competencies, and actions Tactical Leadership - Skill sets required at the tactical level include knowing the technical and tactical competence of individual Airmen (part of Competencies: Personal Leadership) Integrity is the willingness to do what is right even when no one is looking Personal Excellence - Airmen seek out and complete developmental education, stay in top physical, mental, and moral shape, and continue to refresh their professional competencies A Basic Guide to the Air Force Core Values: The Little Blue Book Personal Excellence - Military professionals must seek out and complete professional military education, stay in physical and mental shape, and continue to refresh their general educational backgrounds The willingness to do what is right even when no one is looking is integrity Leading from the Front, Rear, and Center: A Squadron Commander's Approach Leading from the Rear - robust on-the-job training program Values and Ethics (Chap. 15 in Strategic Leadership and Decision Making) Individually or organizationally, values determine what is right and what is wrong, and doing what is right or wrong is what we mean by ethics. To behave ethically is to behave in a manner consistent with what is right or moral. Values should match ethics. Officers should be ethical in their private and professional lives. These are based off values and ethics which are part of ones personal convictions. In Search of a Twenty-First-Century Air-Leadership Model: Fodder for Your Professional Reading Where can future aerospace leaders find guidance and inspiration? One route is to reap the benefit of past experience through a vigorous professional reading program

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SOS Course 20 Unit 1 Ethical Leadership

Module 2 Leadership and Its Importance (Chap. 1 in Understanding Behaviors for Effective Leadership) Leadership is a process used by an individual to influence group members toward the achievement of group goals in which the group members view the influence as legitimate Managers are often viewed as organizational engineers who apply rational problem solving, use objective technical criteria, and manipulate standardized building blocks in organizations to achieve well-known goals For a leader to be continuously effective over time and in different situations, the leaders behavior must vary with the situation The actions of leaders are designed to influence people to modify their behavior Leadership Behaviors and Processes (Chap. 2 in Understanding Behaviors for Effective Leadership) Participative Leadership Behavior - When leaders use this approach, they involve followers in the decision-making processes Power is usually considered the ability of one person to cause another person to do something An individual has authority if he or she has a legitimate right to require another person to do something Influence is often defined as the use of power or power in action Contingency Models of Leadership (Chap. 3 in Understanding Behaviors for Effective Leadership) Contingency or situational theories of leadership - a leaders impact on followers depends on (is contingent on) both the leaders behavior and the characteristics of the organizational situation (followers characteristics or behavior) Five contingency theories of leadership Fiedlers Contingency theory of leadership, Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership Theory, Path-Goal Theory of Leadership, Multiple Linkage Theory of Leadership, Normative Decision-Making Theory of Participation (not Two-Factor theory) Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed a contingency model of leader effectiveness that recommends four possible combinations of task-oriented and relationship-oriented behavior depending on a subordinates readiness to perform a particular task Group oriented decision processes - Encouraging participation by all group members (part of Path-Goal Theory) Leadership (Chap. 6 in The Armed Forces Officer) Leaders model courage, physical and moral Revisiting Leadership in the Armed Forces Tactical leadership based on example and demonstration promotes group cohesion Qualities of a military leader Conspicuousness, Courage, Example, Integrity, Broad Vision, Sense of Responsibility, Creative Thinking, Harnessing Leisure, Modesty, Meditation, Group Dynamics, Motivation, Discipline

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SOS Course 20 Unit 1 Ethical Leadership

Leadership from Flight Level 390 Good leaders must convince their teams that what theyre doing is important The essence of leadership - getting ordinary people to do extraordinary things Writing and Speaking (Chap. 20 in The Armed Forces Officer) As it was with these commanders, so it is with leadership at every level: Men who can command words to serve their thoughts and feelings are well on their way to commanding men to serve their purposes Foundational Qualities of Effective Leaders: A Different Perspective A servant-leader can be found in the trenchesdeveloping and nurturing those interpersonal skills with the men and women who carry the load The foundational quality of effective leadership is a thorough grasp of followership servant-like attitude An effective leader is first an effective follower. By exhibiting the quality of dynamic subordinacy, the great leaders are better prepared for the servant-leader role The best opportunity [to learn about his troops] was found in his backyard Principle-centered leaders cultivate a garden of cooperation, fairness, roles, and vision. They recognize the worth of each individual in the organization, and they know and understand the meaningful, worthwhile contributions each person can make when given a chance. They recognize that the talents of many far surpass those of one, and they foster a climate characterized by that synergy. People with vision possess that unique ability to see beyond the present They think outside the box They become the paradigm bustersconstantly looking for better ways to do business Leader-Follower Dynamics When a leader receives only positive feedback, [qualities that contribute to success] can be reinforced to the point where they become dysfunctional The key to personal balance for leaders is the quality of their relationship with followers

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SOS Course 20 Unit 1 Ethical Leadership

Module 3 Responsibility, Accountability and Discipline General Curtis E. LeMay was once asked to provide a one-word definition of leadership. After some thought, he replied, Responsibility Along with responsibility must go accountability. Without accountability, having to answer for what one has not done, either good or bad, one has no responsibilities. If an officer has no responsibilities for which he or she will be held accountable, followers will find it difficult, if not impossible, to place their confidence and trust in that leader Air Force Standards and Accountability [Air Force standards] require that people display the extraordinary discipline, judgment, and training that their duties require and the American people expect The purpose of a performance report is to provide an official record of an individuals performance and performance-based potential Failure to ensure accountability will destroy the trust of the American public The principle that good order and discipline are essential to combat effectiveness has not changed throughout the years In several instances people failed to meet Air Force standards and these failures are not now reflected in their records Administrative actions which are not visible to promotion boards do not document the fact that Air Force standards were not met Darker Shades of Blue: A Case Study of Failed Leadership This is the story of failed leadership and a command climate which had degenerated into an unhealthy state of apathy and non-compliance - a state which contributed to the tragic crash of a B-52 at Fairchild Air Force Base, on the 24th of June, 1994, killing all aboard Leaders did not keep open channels of communication A culture of compliance must be inculcated and constantly nurtured to prevent the downward spiral into disaster Six Cardinal Rules of Accountability in the Era of Core Values One of the best tools weve got to drive the process of internalizing core values is accountability Worse than refusing to accept responsibility is lying (not telling the truth) We need to think in terms of loyalty to our core values. If we do, then all other forms of loyalty will naturally result Six rules of accountability: Accountability starts at home (self), Know to whom and what to be loyal (core values), Accountability means knowing who to blame (hold others responsible), Confession is good for the soul (tell the truth), Be consistent, Accountability is forever

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SOS Course 20 Unit 1 Ethical Leadership

Module 4 Keeping Your House in Order Officers ... meet the standards of moral and ethical rectitude demanded by the public and the standards of the profession The ease of establishing credit card accounts and running up excessive short-term indebtedness at a high interest rate is a genuine threat to new officers, new families, and enlisted subordinates Work/Life Balance: Challenges and Solutions Work/Life Balance a state of equilibrium in which the demands of both a persons job and personal life are equal The path to determining culture readiness may be as formal as using an employee survey assessment or as simple as a thoughtful judgment made by the organization Thomas Becket, Ollie North and You: The Importance of an Ethical Command Climate More often, during both war and peace, less serious crimes or unethical practices are condoned or go unnoticed due to faulty leadership [King] Henrys troubles arose largely from his own failure to develop what we call today an ethical command climate Ollieism the problem of subordinates acting unethically or illegally to get a job done or please the boss and their leaders failing to take steps to discourage such behavior occurs far too frequently Such make it happen leadership often fosters unethical gamesmanship among subordinates The principal legal questions surrounding the Iran-Contra affair was covertly selling arms to Iran to gain release of the hostages held by Iranian-influenced groups in the Middle East diverting profits from these sales and soliciting private funds by members of the Reagan Administration to aid the Nicaraguan resistance building a web of deceit to keep the US Congress in the dark about both the Iran and Contra initiatives Conditions that tend to underlie the development of unethical or illegal practices in organizations include frustration, misguided loyalties, inattentiveness, and several other kinds of temptation What do these three otherwise unconnected events have in common? First, they were all illegal actions undertaken by loyal subordinates who apparently believed that what they were doing would please their supervisors The only way military leaders can eliminate or mitigate the effects of these conditions is to work deliberately and proactively to establish and maintain an ethical command environment The Early Retirement of Gen Ronald R. Fogleman, Chief of Staff, United States Air Force I had become ineffective as a spokesman When you sense that you have lost the confidence of the folks youre dealing withalmost to the extent where the service will be punished thats one reason to leave He had simply lost respect and confidence in the leadership that [he] was supposed to be following The Ethical Use of Military Force The ethical element involves a judgment as to whether achieving our goals by military force is in keeping with America's fundamental respect for human life -- the lives of our military personnel and the lives of people of other nations We had an ethical responsibility to exhaust all possibilities for a peaceful resolution: to make war the last resort and not the first resort wanted to prepare our forces so that victory could be assured with minimal loss of life Page 5 of 5