Do you give people in your organization the benefit of the doubt? We often assume that everyone around us, when faced with a decision, will choose wisely. Then we hear a story of unethical behavior in our workplace, perhaps even in our own family. And we wonder how it happened.
Many companies today fail to provide their employees with valuable tools to avoid the slippery slope of poor decision-making. After the fact, we look back for missed warning signs that would have allowed us to prevent the end result. But what if we remove the initial steps that lead down the slope in the first place?
To start, it’s important to know how bad decisions are made. Something in our life comes up that requires our attention, a need. We then discover an opportunity to meet that need. This opportunity may not be ethical. By nature, acting unethically doesn’t feel right. So we rationalize.
It’s just this once. I’ll pay the money back as soon as I can. No one will ever know. If we can convince ourselves that what we’re doing is somehow okay, then we can sleep at night. We become so caught up in this delusion that we do not believe what we are doing is wrong. Then we hit repeat.
So how do we prevent the pattern? Educating your employees to understand what rationalization looks and sounds like is essential. It leads to wiser ethical decisions, which in turn creates a healthier workplace. I believe I can help those in your organization avoid the slippery slope. Give me a call.
