On The Highs and Lows of Human Nature

Anything on human nature has always fascinated me. Why do we do the things we do, is the question that arises in my mind as I read about feats of bravery as well as cruelty. As happened recently with two incidents - one which left me in utter awe and the other with a feeling of revulsion. 

The High

Monument to William Hartley

Let me begin with the story I found profoundly touching and inspiring. It was a snippet in the Economic Times about how the band on the Titanic played on to lift the spirits of the passengers - even as the ship was sinking. Every one of the seven musicians went down with the ship. On researching more, I discovered that Bandmaster Wallace Hartley, just 33, and the others knew full well that they were doomed. By all accounts, not a one of them ever even donned a life jacket.

We'll never know what was in their minds. But play they did. And played, and played. At first, they played upbeat tunes in the first class lounge. Later, they moved out on deck and played as passengers desperately tried to escape. Finally, they played one last song, and shortly after . . . they were gone forever.

The Low

Adolf Eichmann

Soon after having read this moving story - and the contrast was striking - I read about Eichmann of the Holocaust notoriety. Eichmann was an extermination administrator for the Nazis, in charge of transporting Jews, and in this capacity deported 430,000 Hungarians to their deaths in gas chambers.

He continued to do so even after the official order from Heinrich Himmler, the German Chief of Police to halt the extermination and to destroy all evidence of it. He did this to avoid being called up for active combat duty! Eichmann, it appears,  had abdicated his will to make moral choices, and thus his autonomy. Eichmann claimed he was just following orders, and that he was therefore respecting the duties of a "bureaucrat".Before they joined the Nazi Party and rose through it's ranks, Adolf Eichmann, a school dropout was a sales clerk and his boss Himmler a chicken farmer. What could have made these two perfectly ordinary human beings do such monstrous things? 

To Question or Not to Question. That IS the Question

Hannah Arendt, a cultural theorist has an explanation believes that the great evils in history, including the Holocaust particularly, were not perpetrated by by rabid fanatics and sociopaths. Rather, they were  ordinary folk, who unquestioningly accepted twisted theories and political propaganda of a state or an organization as being perfectly normal.

Even if this theory were true (she has been attacked by critics as being extremely naive), what could have prompted Wallace Hartley and his team of brave musicians to play as the Titanic sank? Hartley, (he planned to stop working on ships after his Titanic gig) and his band were no victims of political or any other propaganda. Nor were they moved, affected or influenced by the power of the panicking passengers. They just played on and went down with the ship. They were not under orders nor did anyone tell them to.

In the corporate arena, one often hears of executives kowtowing to bad business practices (Satyam, Enron, Lehman Bothers etc.). They, like Eichmann, appear to have abdicated their will to make moral choices, and thus their autonomy. On the other hand we have the brave service staff of the Taj in Mumbai, who during the terrorist attack, went beyond the call of duty to escort guests to safety. In doing so, many of them gave up their lives.

What prompts either behavior? God alone knows!

Coaching For Ethical Dilemmas

Recently, I came across an article from Fast Company, The Nine Faces of Leaders which dealt with the attributes FedEx uses to identify it's potential leaders. Among the nine,one was Integrity. Now Integrity to my mind, is colored with shades of both moral as well personal values, as a result of which,  Integrity based leadership-decisions are likely to be fraught with personal and professional  conflict. Having written my last blog piece on the subject of Managing Value Conflicts, I was curious to understand the  definition of this attribute, and since the Fast Company article gave only an edited version, I decided to explore a bit more for the complete version. This, I found, was how FedEx explains this leadership attribute

Integrity; A leader with integrity adheres to a code of business ethics and moral values, behaves in a manner that is consistent with the corporate climate and professional responsibility, does not abuse management privilege, gains trust/respect, and serves as a role model in support of corporate policies, professional ethics, and corporate culture. 

In my experience as a coach, I have found clients having to deal with conflicts managing their personal vs. business values everyday in the memos on their desks, in their engagement with difficult employees and in their negotiations with their clients. Finding it challenging to adhere to a code of business ethics and moral values, they look to a coach to help them work through their conflicts. I have often found coaching in these situations to be less than easy. How, exactly, should I help them clients think through their ethical issues, what questions should I be asking, and what are the factors I should consider? 

Hence my attempt to create my personal framework for coaching clients with ethical dilemmas.Hope it helps you too!

The Five-Step Ethical Coaching Framework
Manuel Velasquez is a professor of Business ethics and the author of a widely used text book.In their article Thinking Ethically: A Framework for Moral
Decisions Making he and his associates describe
five different approaches which philosophers down the ages have developed to deal with moral issues. 

More important, he and his co-authors offer a useful 5-step framework for coaches to help their clients explore ethical dilemmas and to identify ethical courses of action.

Step 1: Recognize an Ethical Issue

1. Could this decision or situation be damaging to someone or to some group? Does this decision involve a choice between a good and bad alternative, or perhaps between two "goods" or between two "bads"?
2. Is this issue about more than what is legal or what is most efficient? If so, how?

Step 2: Get the Facts

3. What are the relevant facts of the case? What facts are not known? How can I help the client  learn enough about the situation to make a decision?
4. What individuals and groups have an important stake in the outcome? Are some concerns more important? Why?
5. What are the options open to client for acting? Have all the relevant persons and groups been consulted? Have?How can I help client  identify creative options?

Step 3: Help Client Evaluate Alternative Actions

6.  Ask following questions to help client evaluate the options:

• Which option will produce the most good and do the least harm? (The Utilitarian Approach)
• Which option best respects the rights of all who have a stake? (The Rights Approach)
• Which option treats people equally or proportionately? (The Justice Approach)
• Which option best serves the community/organization 
  as a whole, not just some members/employees/stakeholders? 
  (The Common Good Approach)
• Which option can lead client to act as the sort of person he wants to be? (The Virtue Approach)

(For details on the Approaches click here)

Step 4: Make a Decision and Test It

7. Considering all these approaches, which option could best help client address the situation?
8. If the client told someone he respects-or told a television audience-which option he has chosen, what would they say?

Step 5: Help Client Act and Reflect on the Outcome

9. How can the client's decision be implemented with the greatest care and attention to the concerns of all stakeholders?
10. How did the decision turn out and how can I help client review learning from this specific situation?

Coaching for Ethical Practices

Dov Seidman is a consultant who helps corporates develop values-based cultures, he believes that in the 21st century, it is no longer what you do or what you know that counts most. It is how you do what you do that has become the greatest source of advantage. We are deep into what he calls the 'era of behavior'. 

By using The 5-Step framework coaches can help their clients to work through their moral and value conflicts, and shape behaviors for conceiving and re-conceiving how they can build for growth.