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Ethical standards are the topic of many recent headlines in the media following the misconduct of various companies and the public attention it has drawn. Most recently, Toyota faces an unprecedented legal battle regarding the discovery of an unsafe component in the throttle systems of one or more of their models. There have been reports of at least one fatal collision related to the faulty component. Toyota admits they may have violated their own ethical standards with respect to prioritizing production and profits over quality control. Some of the best examples of ethical lapses come from star athletes. Mr. Woods certainly lost focus on his values and became terribly lax in making sound decisions.
The focus of this article is not to point out companies facing ethical problems—the media appears to be doing that job. I want to discuss how we as professionals and businesses can stay true and remain focused on the highest ethical practices. Over the course of my nineteen years in law enforcement, I can say for certain, a steadfast adherence to the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics is an ongoing practice for me and is the reason for this article.
We have all been in situations where we are forced to make difficult decisions. Maybe even a scenario where the decision is complicated by having two correct answers (two rights). How do we ensure we are making the best decision when this is the case? How are we sure which right answer is actually the best choice?
Now assume you are faced with this possibility and you must make this choice in a fraction of a second—a split second. Doctors, members of our armed services, police officers, and anyone who may have to decide what action to take to save a life, has been faced with this type of choice—many do this on daily basis.
For these very challenging times, I personally feel a person has to be in good “ethical shape” to make these split decisions. When I mention ethical fitness, some of you may not be sure what I mean by that. Ethical fitness is very similar to that of an exercise program—what physical exercise does for your body and reflexes—can be done mentally as part of a program that helps in decision making when time is critical and lives and safety may be on the line. It does not take long for me to convince someone how much sense it makes.
At the police academy I quickly realized why a good quality exercise program was so necessary for a law enforcement professional. The area of Los Angeles County where I work is very active and physically challenging. As a member of my department’s SWAT Team, we are often required to carry heavy tactical vests and additional equipment for long extended periods of time, and often into locations that we have to climb to get to. You soon realize if your physical fitness is lacking after a few hours of tactical operations. And if you are struggling to make it, that is not the time to come to the realization that you need to be more fit.
Getting back to my point on “Ethical Fitness”; I feel it is just as important, or even more important than physical fitness. I mentioned earlier the difficult decisions that we encounter. An ethical fitness program, which helps our minds stay sharp for the split second decisions we have to make is very similar to a workout routine. I regularly read our law enforcement code of ethics to ensure the values and principles are always fresh in my mind. I continually review the values and principles that are important to me in my personal life. I ask myself why those values are important and how they have an effect on the ethical standards in which I live and work.
My ethical fitness is just that … continually exercising my mind with respect to standards and how they affect my values. I rarely pass up an opportunity to view current world events where leaders deal with tough decisions that have a connection to ethical standards. I place myself in the shoes of that particular leader and force myself to think of the possible solutions, which then balanced with my values. This forces me to always think about my values, the standards that I work and live by—and these are my ethics benchmark. In doing this I get an ethics workout that helps me remain attuned to what is the right thing to do, the right way to act and becomes my moral and ethical compass that guides me.
I truly believe ethical fitness helps you stay sharp and to make those split decisions supported by your values.
Complacency is often the root cause of unethical decisions. Using my law enforcement career as an example; officer safety is one of the most important skills and rule sets to maintain if we expect to survive, much less have a career as a police officer. We spend hundreds of hours maintaining our weapons proficiency and continually practice use of force skills. Every officer knows how dangerous domestic violence calls can be, as well as stopping vehicles for violations. The unfortunate problem (and challenge), that creates dangerous situations (often life threatening or sad to say, life taking) is complacency. Even though we have spent hundreds of hours in training, we still allow ourselves to become complacent after we have conducted multiple vehicle stops without an incident and have responded to several domestic violence calls without any trouble. It’s become routine. Naturally then, we start to take shortcuts with our tactics while handling these types of calls. Eventually something unfortunate will happen and an officer ends up being seriously hurt or killed. Complacency can kill you.
Complacency affects all of us, if we let it. At the beginning of this article, I talked about Toyota facing some difficult problems that appear are related to unethical decisions. I am willing to bet there were some short cuts taken along the line and possibly some procedures that were not followed. Usually the violations or improper acts start out small and innocuous. They might even appear to be a quicker way to get things done. This short cut may go on for months and manifests eventually as a standard operating procedure, albeit a wrong one.
Complacency can lead to additional shortcuts to normal procedures and could even start to save money (which can draw an organization and individual even further into rationalizing it as a “good decision”). You can be sure though, there will be a problem and a price to pay for taking those types of short cuts. It is still too soon to figure out what types of mistakes Toyota made, but I am confident that “complacency” will be discovered as a contributing factor to their problems.
Ethical Fitness eliminates complacency if you are continually reviewing your ethical standards and values. In your organization, make sure you include regular discussions about your core values and procedures to follow that ensure those values are met. If you do that, then complacency should not be allowed to surface.
Ethical Fitness does not have to be expensive, and can easily be implemented to help ensure everyone subscribes and is “onboard” with such a program. One block of initial instruction, during in-house training event, will help establish a strong foundation for an ethical fitness program that can easily be continued.
Bottom line, ethical fitness must be a part of your companies DNA (and in reality, we need that as individuals too). Those who do have that as part of them will realize the benefits—it’s a smart way to “do business”.
Please contact us if you have any questions or need any assistance with structuring a suitable Ethical Fitness program for your company or organization.
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