Experts have urged organisations to imbibe the culture of ethical leadership, stating that ethical decisions build a profitable and sustainable industry.

They gave the charge during a webinar series seven, organised by Kaizen Academy Nigeria Limited, with the theme ‘Overcoming Ethical Dilemmas in Corporate Decision Making’, where they urged organisations to avoid regulatory pitfalls and rather anchor their decisions on their core values.

Assistant Director/Group Head, Ethics and Governance, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Akinpelu Akinola, who noted that the essence of leadership was to balance priorities, said organisations must ensure transparent communication, leverage regulatory safeguards, and ethical guidelines.

He said leaders must build systems that would compel their organisations to do the right thing all the time and must trickle down to the employees and other staff members.

According to him, ethical infractions deal with situations where there are grey areas.On the role of corporate governance that protects ethical concerns, Akinola said organisations must adhere to the codes and principles of corporate governance as well as ensure they have governance structures that show that ethical concerns are given maximum attention.

Associate Vice President, Ethics and Compliance, NMC Healthcare, United Arab Emirates, Gbemi Yusuff, said KPIs and other incentives should be used as parameters in measuring ethical leadership.

According to her, ethics should be embedded in companies’ corporate strategies.Yusuff, who spoke on employee whistleblowing and company loyalty, said there should be regular checks on employees to avoid any negative reports.

While lessons are learnt, she said companies should take whistleblowing seriously to ensure employees are not caged but rather open up when there are infractions.

Director, Data Governance and Compliance, IHS Towers, Ayobami Adisa, described whistleblowing as a platform that must be guarded jealously and well protected.

According to him, organisations must have whistle-blowing and non-retaliation policies as well as outright protection of the whistleblower, considering the global loss when uncovered. He emphasised that the whistleblower must be protected, and he or she must see that the company has acted within the shortest period.