Activity: Cultural Safety 1
Ethics involve the philosophical reasoning behind our decision-making, specifically, referring to the quality of our decisions rather than the number of daily choices, which take into account values, principles, beliefs and purpose (Centre, 2020).
When I think about whom I have encountered in my life that possesses the four desirable traits of an ethical leader as found from the survey conducted by Kouszes and Posner (Posner & Kouzes, 1993). I struggled to think of anyone. Then I thought of my millinery teacher and mentor, whom I had the privilege of learning much of my millinery trade, along with a particular dancing teacher when I was much younger whom I believe both behaved with honesty, were forward-looking, inspiring and competent (Posner & Kouzes, 1993).
Unfortunately, I have encountered more people without such desired traits, such as a manager in my first fashion industry role straight out of college after moving to Sydney whom I discovered was being dishonest with our boss. What I uncovered as a young woman fresh out of college put me in a very unpleasant situation and pushed me into quite a serious wellbeing crisis. I also discovered that another co-worker knew about the situation but was too scared of the manager and pleaded for me to keep it secret for fear of her job security. The whole situation made me physically, emotionally and mentally unwell, to the point that I could not get out of bed. After 3 days of being frozen and unable to get out of bed, I called my boss and requested a meeting where I told her everything.
After this, I felt relieved, but my boss asked me to carry on as normal while she investigated the claims; it was during this period that I found it incredibly hard to take on any direction from my manager as I had lost all respect for her. After several weeks of waiting for my boss to confirm back to me, my manager noticed an increased negative attitude from me towards her and reported it to my boss. I had another meeting with my boss and explained how I found it incredibly hard to work under my manager as I could no longer trust or respect her. Soon after this, everything was confirmed and revealed, and my manager was fired from her position. I was offered a higher position, but after a few months, I still felt so rattled by the whole experience that I gave my notice and moved back to Queensland. My boss was incredibly thankful to me and expressed how she had never had an employee show such honesty and loyalty to her before and that she would always have a job for me. I left feeling that I could hold my head high even if I felt completely battered by the experience.
When asked if I view myself as capable of leadership; I feel honesty is one of my strongest traits followed by being very capable. I also believe I am a forward thinker due largely to my foundational work experience within the fashion industry which is always looking forward and towards innovation which I love. Being inspirational is an area I do believe I need further development and growth in, despite being passionate about creative arts and understanding that I have a lot to offer; it is my reserved/introverted nature that tends to hinder my confidence when presenting myself in an inspiring manner.
My understanding of cultural safety is that it offers an incredibly important space for people of diverse cultures to feel valued, respected, heard and celebrated. This safety includes a non-judgemental approach and welcomes knowledge sharing while embracing and celebrating pride in culture and identity.
References
Centre, T. E. (2020, 14 April 2020). What is Ethics? The Ethics Centre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u399XmkjeXo
Posner, B. Z., & Kouzes, J. M. (1993). Psychometric Properties of the Leadership Practices Inventory-Updated. Educational and psychological measurement, 53(1), 191-199. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164493053001021
