Is your team suffering from ethical burnout?
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"In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And, if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you." – Warren Buffett
Ponder this…
Stress is an unavoidable part of work. High-pressure situations, like demanding financial goals, critical reviews, and fierce competition, are the norm in many workplaces. You probably know that stress is bad for our health and well-being, but research shows that it can also undermine a person’s commitment to ethical behavior. This phenomenon is known as ethical fatigue, and it can make it more challenging to maintain integrity when faced with complex decisions.
When stress destabilizes a person’s ethical compass, they are often unaware of the heightened risk—a dangerous combination when someone is faced with the choice between doing what’s right and doing what’s easy. On a large scale, we can see the effects of ethical fatigue in scandals like Theranos or Wells Fargo, but ethical lapses aren’t reserved for corporate giants. When employees are facing overly lofty goals or meeting too-tight deadlines, the overwhelm can push them toward what we refer to as “ethical burnout.” To prevent this, it’s crucial for leaders to spot the red flags and root out the contributing forces — before it’s too late.
I had the pleasure of collaborating with my dear colleagues and friends, Richard Bistrong and Ron Carucci, to explore ethical burnout in an article for HBR. Here are four warning signs you shouldn’t ignore.
Stretch goals that go too far
Setting challenging goals is standard corporate practice, with proponents pointing to research that indicates they increase performance. But stretch goals are widely misunderstood and misused, and can result in increased risk-taking or unethical behavior. Would Wells Fargo employees have created millions of fraudulent bank accounts and credit card applications if the company hadn’t set overly aggressive sales goals? Probably not. Goals are not benign, over-the-counter remedies for motivation; they’re potent medications that require precise dosing and vigilant monitoring.
Involving your employees in the goal-setting process can go a long way in creating targets that motivate high performance and strong ethics, leaving teams enthusiastic, not exhausted. Your people should know that it’s okay for them to speak up or disagree when your assumptions are wrong or your goals are unrealistic. Solicit feedback from them about the obstacles they face and what they need to succeed. Armed with this understanding, you can respectfully push back on goals that stretch too far, no matter where they originate. Leaders, especially those at higher organizational altitudes, must be vigilant about validating how realistic their targets or requests are and increase their awareness of the challenges their goals present.
“Survival mode” thinking
Many industries and sectors are being affected by downturns and workforce reductions. If that includes your organization, you know that situation can trigger a major stress response. People often wonder if they’re next, which can reduce organizational loyalty as they shift their focus to self-preservation. This survival mindset sometimes leads them to compromise personal and organizational values in a desperate attempt to hold onto their jobs.
If this happens at your organization, don’t ignore it. Acknowledge the elephant in the room, and communicate with your people, reinforcing the importance of integrity, even in times of uncertainty. By talking about workforce stress instead of ignoring it, you’ll have a better chance of keeping ethics strong and top of mind during periods of disruption.
Some clients successfully use “ethics ambassadors,” peers other employees can look to for counsel when they feel ethically fatigued. As Amy Edmondson writes in The Fearless Organization, when confronted with an ethical challenge, we’re most likely to turn to our peers and supervisors for support and direction. Ethics ambassadors reduce the distance between those who are ethically fatigued and those tasked with supporting them, mitigating ethical stress in the workforce.
Too much, too fast
To capture market share, many business leaders feel the need for speed. But too many decisions, especially in a short period of time, can lead to ethical burnout. Under those conditions, people might think, “They keep piling on all the work when I don’t have the time, budget, or skills to do it. I have no choice but to take a shortcut.” While this kind of ethical fatigue is often situational, that doesn’t make it any less dangerous.
Deciding with haste rarely results in faster, better outcomes. As Max H. Bazerman demonstrates in his research, slower thinking is both more deliberate and more ethical. That being said, it’s not intuitive for most of us to make decisions this way. Be intentional about slowing down certain decision-making processes, and communicate to your team that a mandate to move quickly doesn’t override integrity. By encouraging slower decision-making, you give your team time to reach out for help and ask tough questions when they most need to. Speed and thorough deliberation are not mutually exclusive, and they can work hand-in-hand.
Even with the best of intentions, ethical lapses will occur, often under the pressure of shortened timelines. The employee may even think they are helping the company by taking an ethical shortcut. When these missteps occur, use them as opportunities for individual and collective learning.
Unhealthy competition
When people on your team become more competitive than collaborative, that’s a red flag that shouldn’t be ignored. This is a signal of self-focus, which can quickly devolve into, “I’ve done all the work; why should they get recognition?” Ironically, it’s often the highest-achieving employees who are most prone to making these comparisons. Cultural currencies—high-visibility meetings or assignments, access to exclusive perks, or even the square footage of one’s office—can create a zero-sum mentality when used to compare ourselves to others. And when high achievers feel they aren’t getting their due acknowledgment, they can be some of the first to bend the rules.
Many leaders rely heavily on their top performers, but that kind of sustained achievement isn’t sustainable. The adrenaline hangovers can easily lead to unhealthy risk-taking behaviors as they try to maintain their track record. To keep your highest performers grounded in integrity, celebrate their success without ratcheting up every new goal. Distribute work to others on your team, and let your top people support them. This keeps them motivated, but without the need to always be on the rise.
If you spot the warning signs above on your team, it’s high time to step in with supportive, clear leadership. In the workplace, Murphy’s Law is in full effect, and the seemingly simplest ethical dilemmas will always arrive at the worst possible time. Prepare your employees for them early and often—before they grow into headlines you never imagined appearing in.
P.S. Exciting news! My new book Emotionally Charged: How to Lead in the New World of Work, co-authored with Dr. Alicia Grandey, will be released on February 18, 2025! We are currently assembling the launch team, and I would be honored if you’d be a part of it.
Your role is simple, but crucial: pre-order the book and write a brief Amazon review when it launches, however brief. As you may know, the number of first-week sales and reviews plays a huge role in amplifying the book on Amazon and, thus, its success. I’ll provide you with an advance reader copy and a complete cheat sheet of key points from the book to make writing a review quick and easy (promise!). Will you join us? Click here to learn more about the book and to sign up to join the launch team!
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