INTHEBLACK September 2024 special edition - Flipbook - Page 46
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P E R S O N A L VA L U E S
BE TRUE TO YOU
Being true to yourself in the workplace can be challenging when faced
with situations that conflict with your core values, but there are ways to
navigate these situations skilfully and maintain your integrity.
WORDS NICOLA HEATH
I
n the workplace, it is not unusual for employees to
receive requests from higher up that conflict with
their personal values and principles.
This matters, says Dr Simon Longstaff AO FCPA,
executive director of The Ethics Centre, because
humans are driven by values and principles.
“Both are essential, and both do different work.
Values typically allow you to distinguish between
options that you think you might prefer.
“Principles shape how you get those things.
If you are unaware of either of them, you are
potentially at risk,” Longstaff explains.
Longstaff believes individuals should clarify
their own values and principles through
personal reflection, discussions with friends and
associates or thought experiments and tests.
One such test is The Ethics Centre’s
ViewFinder tool, a custom profile that helps
46 INTHEBLACK September 2024 SPECIAL EDITION
leaders determine their ethical decision-making
style and, where possible, seek employment
with organisations with similar values.
“When you work for an organisation, you are
bound by duty to apply its values and principles,
and if they are not consistent with your own, then it
is likely to be a very unhappy relationship,” he says.
THE RIGHT CHOICE
The first step for an employee facing a request at
odds with their personal values is to determine
what is at stake and whether the action is
consistent with the organisation’s values.
“We’ve seen throughout recent history that it is
possible for organisations to make all sorts of claims
about who they are and what they stand for but
require their employees to operate in a way that is
deeply inconsistent with those claims,” Longstaff says.
