Twitter and trust

When Facebook was found, again, to have improperly shared the personal information of millions of its users last year, it had to be dragged in front of the US Congress to explain itself. Facebook said that “mistakes were made” and that “they should have done better.” Somehow, that left me feeling that they weren’t really sorry about the angst caused, and perhaps that they had done it on purpose.

When 130 Twitter accounts were compromised last week, Twitter soon issued a statement stating “We’re embarrassed, we’re disappointed, and more than anything, we’re sorry. We know that we must work to regain your trust, and we will support all efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice. We hope that our openness and transparency throughout this process, and the steps and work we will take to safeguard against other attacks in the future, will be the start of making this right.”

Twitter’s statement alone restored my trust. It made be believe that they were truly caught off guard, that they originally had defenses in place that they believed would protect its users, and that they will not rest until the problem is fixed.

When trust is broken, we can make two types of statements. One that will build trust, or one that will further destroy it.

Is your ethics training useful?

Try the test below:

How difficult was that?

That’s the feeling employees get when they complete the quiz at the end of most online ethics training. They listen to the story of a fictional employee who overheard a colleague say he was willing to pay a bribe to get a contract and the quiz reads “What should Joe do? (A) Report what he heard to Legal; or (B) Nothing because he’s not personally involved in the wrongdoing.”

I’m exaggerating a bit for effect, but not that much.

That kind of training does not help employees recognize ethical dilemmas, does not show them how to take action, and thus is a huge waste of your budget.

Consider instead a live session between a manager and her direct reports (video call is great). Change the script so that it’s not clear that what Joe overhears is a promise to pay a bribe. Make the conversation about what Joe should do and how he should do it. Then shift the discussion and talk about how employees in your company, not Joe’s fictional company, should react in this situation. Who should they talk to? How can they reach them? What should they say?

The purpose of ethics and compliance training is to help employees be compliant and ethical at work. Is yours achieving these goals?

On exceptions

If you have a rule that your child must go to bed at 9 PM every night, and one night they ask permission to stay up late, you need to be careful about how you grant that permission. You must make it clear that it is an exception and that the rule hasn’t changed. Otherwise your child will come back with the same request night after night.

At work, things are different. As a leader, you can’t allow employees to break a policy, not even once. Or allow employees to ignore one policy but follow the others. Once you open the door to breaking a policy, you have lost all power to enforce any of them.

If a policy must be broken or ignored, then a leader ought instead to revise it or delete it.

How wrong we are

Since becoming the father of three kids, I’ve often given thought to the fact that so many professionals complete 40+ hours of continuing education each year to maintain their professional license, and yet most parents don’t spend a minute in any given year to learn about parenting.

I suspect it’s because we believe that our experience as children has taught us how to parent. And because we’ve never seen a book about parenting in our house growing up.

How wrong we are.

A similar thing is happening in the world today with White people and racism. We think that our experience as Whites informs our understanding of the Black experience. We’ve never read a book about racism, anti-racism, White fragility or anti-Blackness. We don’t think we’re racists.

How wrong we are.

As I write this post, 4 out of 5 New York Times bestsellers are about racism and anti-racism. They were not written for Black people. If you are White and aspire to be an ethical leader, you owe it to yourself to pick one up and learn. I recommend you start with Me and White Supremacy.

Becoming a parent conveniently reveals the hardships of parenthood. But White people can’t become Black for a revelation of racism. We must instead educate ourselves, and stop being wrong.

The Work

Once in a while, I invite readers of this blog to share their thoughts on a post I’ve written by using the comment section. Few ever do.

Every now and then, I post a Tweet for my followers that read “Have a business ethics question? Tweet away!” No one ever has.

But at work, when I schedule a Q&A session with the ethics officers that I support (currently numbered at ~250), I get a full house and we often run out of time before we run out of questions.

Why the difference? It’s because I have done The Work with my team. The work of getting to know them personally, of listening to their needs, of trying to fill those needs again and again until we succeed, of celebrating their achievements, day-in, day-out, for 15 years.

Today, schedule a meeting with those you support and ask two questions: “how are things? and “what can I do to help?” If the answers are “fine” and “nothing”, you have to do The Work.

What drives you?

In these pages, I have often warned of the dangers for management to drive performance via emotional and economic pressures.*

It’s worth reminding ourselves that if we work for an organization that drives performance primarily through pressures like reserved parking spots, office size, weaponized dashboards and bonuses, we can choose not to let these things drive us.

What drives your performance? Would you be as excited to do you work if there was no promise of a bonus or a plaque at the end?

If not, might it be time to contribute elsewhere?

* Based on the findings of Primed to Perform.

Power and prejudice

To Kill a Mockingbird was published 60 years ago today. In light of the racism still permeating our society, it seemed fitting that I add it to my book list.

I won’t pretend that the character of Atticus Finch is perfect. No man is. But he is the type of father I would like to model. I would like my kids’ school principal to be like him. I would gladly work for him. And I certainly would vote for him.

That last action is important. Our duty as citizens is not simply to vote, but to vote for ethical leaders. To elect a leader is to put her in power. And racism is born out of prejudice from those in power. If we want to eradicate institutionalized racism, we must elect better leaders.

Find an unheard voice

Many of us are learning for the first time about the “unheard voices” in the world.

We are learning that they exist in the billions and that they have been silenced, on purpose, for centuries.

The sense of shame and powerlessness could be overwhelming. Let us not succumb to it, like so many others have done in the past. Their inaction preserved the status quo and we want no part of this for ourselves.

Simply look around you and find an unheard voice. Just one. Introduce yourself. Listen. Start a conversation.

Then help.

Let’s go for a walk

We’ve all been in the office of a professional and felt intimidated and rushed. Whether it was a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant, we felt mildly stupid and taking too much of their time. Often it wasn’t something they said; it was simply all the diplomas on the walls and the big words they used and the speed of their speech.

Let’s make sure that we don’t make employees feel the same way when they seek our help as ethics & compliance professionals. For example, they should not feel bad about the fact that we can spot from a mile away a conflict of interest that is invisible to them, or that they didn’t know how to make a “noisy exit” during the inappropriate sales discussion at the trade show.

I once had a mentor who always took time to listen to me. Whenever I was facing a difficult situation and needed advice, he’d say “Let’s go for a walk”. Such comforting words! I knew I would get all the time needed, all the attention necessary.

Perhaps we can’t go on a walk with every employee seeking help. But we can make them feel seen and heard. Sometimes, that’s all they want.

Ease the stress

As the pandemic wears on in the United States (thanks in large part to people who selfishly refuse to wear masks), workers are exposed to ongoing stress.

This stress weakens their ability to respond to challenges at home and at work, challenges brought on and exacerbated by the pandemic itself. More people than ever need help and no one is at their best to provide that help.

Stress leads to pressure and pressure often leads to wrongdoing. Now is the time for leaders to check in with their team members and ease work-related pressures. Create space for your employees to take care of their kids stuck at home, to support their spouse who lost a job, or to bring groceries to their elderly parents. Don’t treat them as cogs in a machine but as human beings who, like you, are struggling.