Month: April 2018

On sharing ethical decisions

It is in the best interest of employees to do what is expected of them. Thus, whether we realize it or not, they watch our every move and word to understand what is important to their leaders. What we say about ethics and compliance and how we make decisions will impact employees’ behavior.

Rather than keeping them guessing, the ethical leader will share the decisions she has made. A great way to do this is to hold an open forum where employees can ask question about the ethical dilemmas they face. These meetings can be in person, over the phone, or via webcast. The leader will open the meeting with a story of a recent dilemma and how it was resolved, and then open it up for questions about the story or any other issue.

When done on a regular basis, these meetings send a clear message about the importance of doing the right thing. The associated transparency builds trust in the leadership and the lessons provide guidance to the employees.

Today, think of an ethical decision you made recently. Consider the best way to share that decision with your team. Then take the plunge. It may be one of the best meetings you’ve had all year.

Purpose and performance

Studies have shown that employees perform better when they understand the impact of their work on the end-customer.

For E&C professionals, this includes seeing the impact of our work on our organization’s customers and suppliers. While our immediate work is with employees, they take care of all other stakeholders.

So when I am in Shanghai next month to meet with 40 ECO colleagues, we will hold one session during which an agent and a distributor will talk about the impact of our E&C program on their operations. I hope this will give our team a greater sense of purpose by showing us the important difference we make on ethical business practices beyond our own walls.

The idea was suggested to me by a colleague after we held a similar meeting in Florida last month. While I had never considered it, I immediately saw the void it could fill.

Can you find a way to connect your team’s work to the products and services your organization provides? Doing so will increase your team’s sense of purpose and performance.

Who’s right?

If you and I disagree about what the right thing to do is, it doesn’t mean that one of us is wrong.

It might be both of us.

We need to bring humility to conversations. We should not simply be willing to learn but actively desiring to learn. Interacting with others is a great way to learn.

When we disagree with someone, it’s worth taking a few minutes to ask two questions. Why might this person think in this way? Why am I thinking differently?

When answering the first question, we should offer of the most generous answers. When answering the second one, we should be extremely critical.

And we might both be right.

But who’s right rarely matters. So save the drama for when it really does matter.

Employee recognition: keep it simple

Let’s say you are a leader who wants to recognize and share an ethical choice made by one of your employees.

One of your options is to make a high-quality video reenactment of the story, complete with testimonies and b-rolls and dramatic music. As you think about the time and money this will require, you have second thoughts. You delay action and, eventually, it doesn’t get done.

Another option is to use a phone to record a short video of you thanking the employee for what she has done. Recording and posting it takes a few minutes, it’s free, and it feels real.

Keep it simple so you can do more of it.

The job of an ethics officer

When people ask me what I do at work, I often respond that my job is to answer the question “Should we?” after others have answered yes to the question “Can we?”

It’s a short and flawed answer.

It would be more accurate to say that I am part of a team that creates a robust compliance program and an ethical culture by supporting the work of 500 ethics & compliance officers and the decisions of 25,000 supervisors and 200,000 employees.

The first answer is easier to process at a cocktail party.

Ultimately, an organization does not want its employees to turn to an ethics guru every time they face an ethical dilemma. It wants a system where employees know to ask the right questions and with values to support the right answers.

My job, as part of a larger team, is to create that system.

Not a bad gig.

Disciplinary guidelines

In court, a party can ask the judge to sign an “Order to show cause”. If she signs it, it forces the other party to explain why they should not be subject to the relief requested.

We’ve had something similar in my organization for several years now in the form of disciplinary guidelines. For example, if an employee engages in retaliatory behavior or lies to an investigator, the guidelines points to termination. If management wishes to keep the employee on the payroll, they need explain why the employee should not be terminated (i.e. show cause).

These are guidelines, not mandatory sentences. And, for now, they address only terminable offenses. Recently, I have been thinking about expanding the guidelines to other behaviors that may not deserve termination but, still, harsh punishment. For example, in what circumstances should a supervisor be demoted to an individual contributor.

Having such guidelines allows us to tell employees, in advance, what the consequences of their actions might be. It allows for consistency and fairness, specifically making it more difficult to have double standards for more senior employees or star performers. It can also make it easier for management to determine and communicate the sanction.

However, disciplinary guidelines can also have negative effects. They can support an unfair termination when management wants to get rid of someone and fails to show cause. In some cases, common sense or good judgment can be obscured by the guidelines.

So in this post, I am asking for your help, for your thoughts. If you have disciplinary guidelines in your organization, how do they work? Have you found them helpful? Do you wish they didn’t exist? If you don’t have guidelines, do you wish you did? If so, what would they look like?

Thanks for leaving your thoughts in the comment section. Much appreciated.

Connect personally

Many articles have been written about the challenges that E&C professionals face in the business. A recent article offers three ways to address these challenges and one of these ways got my attention: connect personally. The author, Vera Cherepanova recommends the following:

Do field drives with the salespeople to better understand their job and the ethical risks they face. Use interpersonal ties to develop your trustworthiness. Really listen to employees’ concerns. Even if you have to say “no” to an idea, treat them with respect and show that you understand their perspective.

It reminded me of this saying: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

As an E&C professional, we are seen by many as a profit-reducing center, as the “Department of No”. They don’t believe what we believe, and this is often because we haven’t connected with them on a personal level.

Connecting personally can be done in ways that are not time consuming. We can ask questions like “Help me understand why you want to do it this way.” We can share lessons learned or success stories every quarter. We can provide E&C training that help employees do their job better rather than focus on legal concepts.

Today, pay attention to your interactions with colleagues and ask yourself repeatedly: “How can I connect better with this person (or this group) in just a few minutes?” Do this every day and take some small actions. Before long, you will notice an increase in traffic to your door. That’s a sure sign that you are providing value. Others now believe what you believe.

Paying our taxes

Some taxes are not financial but they are still an expected consequence of, and a burden to, any activity we engage in.

Some employees will ignore the policies we write. Others will cheat on the training we offer. Some will circumvent the controls we establish. Others will lie during investigations.

Just like financial ones, these taxes should hardly surprise us. We should expect to pay them when we create our E&C program. Being mindful that they are a natural consequence of our activities, we can seek to minimize their effects. But they cannot be completely eliminated.

Knowing this, and accepting it, can go a long way in reducing the stress associated with the job of an E&C professional.

HT to Ryan Holiday’s The Daily Stoic.