When in doubt, ask. We’ve all heard this before, and for good reason: it’s valuable advice that can help us in all aspects of life. When evaluating your workplace, you may wonder how smart people wind up making unethical decisions. Below, I answer a few common questions I think we can all learn from. After all navigating business ethics creates positive payoffs for business 
enterprises.
Q: What motivates unethical behavior?
A: It’s important to realize that few of us set out to act unethically. We are hard wired to do the right thing. When you ask people a question that they are unprepared to answer, they typically tell the truth. This is an example of our natural instinct. However, when faced with a burden, either internal or external, circumstances may change. I refer to this burden as a “need,” and it throws off our natural balance. The pressure or temptation to solve the problem or “need” can result in unethical behavior.
Q: How do I keep from crossing the line between right and wrong?
A: The difference between right and wrong is relative. However, when the pressure to act unethically presents itself, how do we make the best decision possible? The answer is ethical training. I know this is easy for me to say. After all, I teach ethical training. But when you want to learn how to ride a bike, you find a teacher. Once learned, through continuous practice ethical behavior becomes second nature. When I explain the three components of how smart people make poor decisions, you begin to recognize them in your daily life. We then have the power to make better choices.
Q: How can I minimize poor decision-making in my organization?
A: As a leader in your organization, it is important for you to look past simplistic ethics and compliance documents and the traditional seminar your employees are required to attend. Instead, make ethics come alive for your employees in an engaging way. Consider this: why do smart people make unethical choices in the first place? Training employees to recognize and prevent potentially devastating choices is key. In turn, showing them how to make the right first choice is the most powerful tool in creating a healthy ethical culture. Our objective in comprehensive ethics training is to create “ethical muscle memory.” In other words, create the natural tendency to do the right thing – the ethical thing – without thinking.
Answering your questions is just the beginning of how we can work together. Let’s move your organization in the right direction.
For more information on how to create a culture of ethics in your organization give me a call!
By the way…just want to say that I’m creating a videoblog that will be available soon. I’m putting past editions on a memory stick and got a great deal from https://www.usbmemorydirect.com/ – highly recommend them!
