JUDY JULISON
is the community association executive director at Del Webb Corporation's Sun City
residential development in Huntley, ILL. Sun City is a 2000acre, master-planned
community for active adults with 6,000 single family homes and additional multi-family
housing units projected at build-out. The community features a diverse range of
recreational amenities including the 100,000-square-foot Prairie Lodge Recreation
Center with indoor and outdoor pools, fitness and weilness center, full service restaurant,
banquet facility and sports pub, and a variety of program rooms dedicated for arts,
crafts, computers and other leisure time activities. An 1 8-hole golf course, lakeside park
and concert pavilion, outdoor tennis and bocce complexes, natural wetlands,
neighborhood parks and walking traits are also located on the property, Julison formerly
worked for a period of 24 years in various capacities at the Arlington Heights Park
District, including the district's superintendent of administrative services and
superintendent or recreation prior to accepting the position at Dei Webb in 1998.
Everywhere we look, we see evidence of eroding values. How would you rate your agency's ethical standards? Or your own?
BY JUDY JULISON
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If you do nothing else, embrace the ideals of the Golden Rule and personally hold yourself to a higher value system. |
On June 10 of this year, I received my diploma for a graduate degree in Business from National Louis University. It was a very happy day. The two-year period preceding it had found me compromising opportunities to enjoy my favorite things while absorbed in books about management and leadership, and rarely traveling anywhere without a fluorescent yellow high-lighter.
As a capstone to die program, I participated in a course on corporate ethics. Along with 15 fellow classmates, we listened as each other shared examples of both its absence and its presence in the workplace. We talked about empowerment and commitment to employees. We discussed responsibilities to our stakeholders, and the communities in which we live and work. We talked about enriching the quality of life and the values that guide decision-making processes of both our business and ourselves.
Everywhere we look, in the newspaper, on the television and even inside the people we love or have chosen to place our trust, we see evidence of eroding values. Quite often, the evidence manifests in the workplace. Although many organizations communicate the importance of ethical thinking and ethical actions, they don't always practice what they preach. The fervor to get ahead, the passion to achieve financial objectives and the ever so present temptations in life often pose conflict with die moral development and be havior of our leaders, employees and ourselves. Implications of actions are sometimes ignored or simply overlooked by both those with infinite wisdom and assuredly those without. The applications cited by my National Louis classmates confirmed that this is true.
Ethics is about integrity. It's about taking pride in what you do, demonstrating compassion and respect for the people you serve and those who live and work around you.
Ethics is about mutual cooperation, perseverance and striving for quality and excellence in the products, programs and services you deliver. It's certainly about practicing "the Golden Rule" and doing unto others, as you'd want done to yourself.
Think about it. Take a look at where you work. Take a look at the ethical practices of your leadership and fellow employees. Assess the projects undertaken in just the past year and question if you've accomplished great things.
Ask yourself if you feel a sense of pride and if you feel valued in your role at the agency you represent. Ask the same question to your board, your co-workers and the partners who support you in your quest. Take a look at what you're agency has done for your community and consider if the contributions to your village, schools, and charities are ample.
Now, take a look at your customers and products. Along with programs and services, memberships and merchandise, you sell leisure time experiences. Ultimately, you sell lifestyles. Can you genuinely acknowledge and can you appreciate that you work for an agency that places as much or greater emphasis on delivering them as they do on positioning, promoting and selling them?
November/December 1999 /21
Do you enrich the lives of the people you serve and can you see it in the faces of the children at your pools, the families in your parks, the crafters at the wheels and the athletes on your fields? Do you meet or exceed their expectations? Do you create quality and value in what you provide and do you hold true to your promise?
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Refine (your mission statement), walk its talk, and impose it on your organization until you feel it in the air. |
Finally, take a look at yourself. Thinking and acting ethically requires showing respect and consideration for your fellow employees and being willing to recognize their positive contributions. It's fostering an environment of teamwork and support, while striving for excellence in everything you do. It's sometimes helping the colleague next door when your in-box is flush with the ceiling tile.
Ethics is about demonstrating principle and professionalism in the way you perform your job and the manner you conduct your business. Its knowing the difference between right and wrong and when to decline a vendor's offer. It's distinguishing a Rolex holiday gift from the one-pound Fannie Mac's. It's leaving the Post-it notes in your top desk drawer even when you need them at home.
What basic values and ethical principals do you live by? Which of the same characterize the culture of your organization and how do they integrate? Is there congruency between the two and in what you say and what you do?
Successful organizations and effective leaders have a common thread and principal focus. They understand the influence of ethics, live their values and demonstrate authenticity in character. They consistently deliver exceptional customer service and embrace a philosophy of continuous improvement. It is readily apparent. They have clearly identified the values and goals of the organization and have mastered the ability to effectively communicate them and align them with the values and goals of the individual.
Ethics isn't about mission statements. But if your agency doesn't have one, develop one that reflects your values and commitment to the people you serve both in and outside your organization. If you already have one, hope that you can find it. Read it close, interpret what it says and feel free to call me if you need a fluorescent yellow high-lighter.
Be certain the mission statement defines your purpose and that it accurately reflects a goal you car proudly aspire to achieve and a value system you can admirably endorse. Refine it, walk its talk, and impose it on your organization until you feel it in the air. As long as you continue to live it and persist to apply it, you'll continue to accomplish great things.
Achieving financial objectives, overcoming the challenges imposed by tax caps, winning Gold Medal Awards and inducing a spirit of overwhelming internal and external customer satisfaction are by-products of striving for quality and excellence in everything you do and demonstrating integrity, respect, compassion and cooperation while you do it. If you think that you or your agency are falling short, reevaluate your ethical practices and refocus your resources around those you serve.
If you do nothing else, embrace the ideals of the Golden Rule and personally hold yourself to a higher value system. The strategy works at park districts and the message is applicable in life.
Today is a new day. Go forth and add to the world.
22/ Illinois Parks and Recreation