Here is an excerot from an article written by Alaina Love and featured by the BloombergBusinessweek website (August 6, 2011) To check out all the resources, sign up for email alerts, and obtain subscription information, please click here.

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Completing ethics training is just the beginning of an introspective process

U.S. businesses far and wide have instituted formal ethics training in an effort to discourage acts that pose legal risks, affect compliance, or compromise corporate and social responsibility. But even with the best intentions, the training often leaves unaddressed the moral dilemmas leaders face in real-life situations. Acting with integrity and moral purpose is not accomplished purely by adhering to a prescribed system of checks and balances; it’s a far more involved process of honoring personal and organizational values while considering the far-reaching consequences and implications of actions.

For example, when the person at the top won’t accept accountability for the actions and the impact of the decisions made throughout the company—as witnessed in the recent Murdoch abdication of responsibility for the News Corp. hacking scandal—it sends a signal to the rest of the organization about the importance of acting with integrity. When political leaders jeopardize the credit rating of the U.S. with sandbox squabbling over self-serving partisan agendas, it shines a blinding light on the dwindling integrity of our political system and makes a mockery of America in the global community.

Leaders in business and politics should go beyond the defined do’s and don’ts of the organization’s ethics policy and ask themselves the following questions.

[Here is the first of three questions. To read the complete article, please click here.]

1. Do I Exhibit Clarity of Intent?

Employees have to waste too much time searching for hidden agendas in order to decode leadership intent. As a leader, you must create a vision others can believe in and walk the proverbial talk. By doing so, you create a culture of safety, predictability, and trust in which employees can thrive. When you operate without clarity of intent, you become the alchemist of chaos.

Ruth’s experience is a prime example. She served as a senior leader with responsibility for a growing business within the portfolio of a large private conglomerate. The organization’s founder had recruited her, assuring that his dream was to invest in the business and allow it to compete with the best in the industry. Within 18 months of taking the job, Ruth had recruited and ignited an outstanding team. She submitted strategies and plans for state-of-the-art facilities and gained approval for moving forward. What followed, however, was a frustrating year of limited progress. Despite repeated promises from the founder to support her plans, he never came across. In truth, he wanted her to shore up a limping corporate asset to prepare it for sale. Learning their employer had hoodwinked them disengaged Ruth and the best members of her team; they all resigned from the organization before they could realize the founder’s plans.

Today’s volatile business environment has prompted organizations to adopt a nimble stance and prepare to morph at a moment’s notice. But leaders must ask, what is the vision we are pursuing and how does every action we take support that vision? Are we clearly and honestly communicating with employees? Are we creating realistic expectations within the workforce?

Note: Marc Cugnon, chief executive of Purpose Linked Consulting, contributed to this post.

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Alaina Love is a consultant, writer, speaker, and the president of Purpose Linked Consulting, a leadership and organization development firm. She is co-author of the new McGraw-Hill book, The Purpose Linked Organization: How Passionate Leaders Inspire Winning Teams and Great Results.