A leader is someone that is able to effectively communicate with people in a way that inspires and motivates them (Ward, 2020). A leader must be personable for those to follow their lead and provide them with an example of how to hold ones themselves accountable for their individual work (Ward, 2020). My leader of choice is the Vice President of Health Services for Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio. She is very persuasive when it comes to getting others to do what is needed to keep the organization moving in the right direction. She has great communication skills and is willing to do what it takes to get the job done. She does not mind jumping in to help others learn and develop. She provides a personable and compassionate approach to the mission of the organization. She has held different roles within the organization, she has been with Planned Parenthood for over 25 years. She is very educated not only with her degrees, but within different departments of the organization. She does have subordinates that she is responsible for that hold different positions in different departments that help keep her informed of how things are going. These four to five subordinates cover the entire organization. From the time I have known her within the organization is she was the Director of Business Operations, and a few years ago she became the VP of Health Services.
Her positive attributes are empowerment, integrity, decision making skills, good communication skills, inspire others and confidence. She has every quality of a good leader; she can communicate well with all departments through different chains of communication. She gives us the tools that empower us as leaders under her to make good decisions and able to keep the business operational. She is trustworthy and shows integrity in all that she does. When it comes to working in a reproductive health care world that you have those that are for you and against you, you must be one tough cookie, and that she is. She has good decision-making skills, because she is always looking for ways to get new services off the ground. She is committed to the mission and driven to the work no matter what stacks up against her. When we had to do lay offs she was the one making tough decisions to do so and she stood in front of each one of those individuals and had these tough conversations, she did not leave this for someone else to communicate. She holds herself with the upmost confidence and uses her compassion to inspire others. She is highly respected and well liked. Overall, what makes her an ethical leader is her confidence, integrity, and her compassion for the mission. She is supportive of all employees and is without judgment.
How she models ethical leadership behavior to others is by jumping in and helping when things get tough. She does not leave hard work for us to deal with alone, she is always front and center. When it comes to meetings, she is always present and always providing her well educated opinions and decisions. She allows us to make our own decisions and if we do something that is wrong or incorrect, she can talk about it and turn things around opposed to accusing ill intentions. She trusts her leaders to lead without micromanaging them. I do try to follow in her footsteps to model positive, ethical leadership. How I would model positive ethical leadership is to lead by example. Do not do anything that I would not allow my team to do when it comes to their job. I back them up 100%, however, if they are wrong about something I have them fix the issue and learn from it. I have learned that as a leader it is okay to make a mistake, just admit and move on. I have learned that confidence goes a long way when providing feedback to an employee. I have learned that without compassion for the mission it is hard to do this work everyday with confidence and grace.
The three most important qualities in a leader that models positive, ethical leadership behavior is fairness, respect and leads by example. The reason that I feel these are the most important qualities to have are because of employees wants in needs in a career is someone that is fair, someone they can trust and respect them. A leader that leads by example encourages and inspires others to do what is right within the organization. Employees look up to that leader and want to be like them as they become more invested in the organization. This leads employees to want to do more for the organization and lead them to grow and develop into different roles.
References
Ward, S. (2020, 09 17). What is Leadership? Retrieved from The Balance Small Business: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/leadership-definition-2948275