Why We Need to Do More: The Notion of Ethos

Terri Williams

Trouble keeping or engaging staff?  It’s a common issue, but there may be a simple solution, according to Dr. Paul Bates, who kicked off the educational portion of the Virtual DAC (Distinguished Advisor Conference) agenda Sunday evening with an inspiring overview of what leaders need to do to create a workplace which leads to complete human flourishing.  

Dr. Bates recently conducted research with 32 men and women in the US, UK and Canada to find out about their feelings about work.  He found that while many people take pride in their chosen endeavours, they also experience a lack of harmony in their lives.  “Many people are settling for less instead of flourishing”, he said. 

He outlined a number of leadership imperatives that would help encourage balance between settling and flourishing.

• Leadership always means change
• Human flourishing is the goal – nurturing
• There needs to be a deep focus on ethos – character
• Leaders needs to build adaptive capacity

He went on to describe how leaders can respond to everyone’s desire for purpose and meaningfulness, how leaders need to recognize the person and uphold values and lived experiences.  He also said leaders have to respond to changing ethics and espouse spirituality and hope by promoting fairness, equity and justice. 

His key message was that leaders have to really see the other person.  “They need to take every opportunity to make a point of seeing someone completely”, he said. “When you do, you will immediately see a change in demeaner of the other person”.

Additional Educational Resources:  You can sign up to see the entire presentation and/or take the online course based on the conference Integrated Solutions in Practice Management  for CE credit after the event.