What ethics are and what they are not.

Our story starts with us, doing whats right and knowing the difference between whats right and wrong. The ability to recognize our natural ability to do this can build and maintain a significant amount of trust within your relationships!

During one of the courses I facilitate in my day job, one of my learners started the class in what one would call a facilitators nightmare.

This particular portion of the class had the participants write down a situation in their workplace that they constantly deal with in which they would like to improve. There were approximately 12 participants in the class and as I looked around the room, 11 participants were viscously writing down ideas.

One of the learners for this purpose we will name “Ryan” looked at me with blanked stare as we both locked eyes together. I approached Ryan and asked him how he was doing with his task. He said, “good Trevor”. We both looked down at his blank page, so I proceeded to ask him “what is something you do each day that is important to you that you would like to improve at work?” Ryan replied back “nothing is important in my job”. I already knew where this was going and it was nowhere good, so I asked Ryan what prompted him to sign up for the course. He let me know that his manager signed him up and he didn’t know why he was there.

We ended up having a heart to heart conversation about how his manager must have believed in him, wanted to invest in him and wanted to grow him. Finally, we chatted about how his role of detailing cars contributing to the larger role of the business. We chatted about morals and what commitment he has made to his manager and to himself by being in that training session that day. From that moment on, Ryan was effortlessly the most engaged learner for the rest of the day. He did what was right and he did it not just for himself but for the better good of the entire training session that day. It might not have been his most favourite day, however, he made the most of it.

I share this story to reflect on our ability as humans to recognize the difference between right and wrong. Sometimes we let our emotions get in the way of this ability. We need to build a sturdy personal foundation of who we are, that drives consistency.

I challenge you today to define and write down who you are and what is important to you at your core. Use this to guide your daily activities, set clear expectations for yourself. Commit to provide the best experience to those you interact with.