Ethical Behavior: No one is truly listening to you

When leaders in other organizations ask me how they should go about launching an ethics program, they are often enthusiastic. Whether because of an article recently read or a director’s conference recently attended, these men and women have “gotten religion” and cannot wait to go forth and conquer. For those of you who heard me recently recount my discussion with Pam (here), you know that it takes a certain kind of mindset to lead the ethics program. But leaders launching an ethics program within an existing organization are also often convinced that its success will be measurable in a manner akin to counting widgets produced per hour, or similar.

The common refrain I hear is, “We’ve got to get this [ethics] program up and running fast! We’ve already drafted communications, planned all-staff meetings at each facility. We’re going to tell people all about it, so they’ll get on board right away!”

Now I don’t know about you, but when people I don’t really know are rushing toward me smiling, frantically waving their arms, and telling me in crazed fashion that “they’re here to help”, I run the other way. And so will employees when confronted with top-down headquarters-scripted communications and town hall meetings. Many of your employees have been at their facility longer than you’ve been out of college. They’ve seen the “program of the quarter” launch, fizzle and fade more than once. Don’t let your well-intentioned (and necessary) ethics program join the fizzle-and-fade folly.

Here’s the rub…your employees aren’t really listening to you most of the time. Unless you directly impact a man or woman’s paycheck, schedule, assignments, or working conditions, you are likely immaterial to their day-to-day professional landscape. An employee can only speculate what a remote company executive does each day, but he/she can surely tell you what his/her boss is doing, not doing, saying, not saying, etc.

If your line supervisor breaks promises, falsifies expense reports, or takes office supplies home for personal use, his/her employees not only know about, but they resent the supervisor for it. That very same supervisor could talk about ethics all day long, handing out buttons and pens galore, and the employees will smirk and roll their eyes.

Bottom line is that it’s not what you say about ethics that will strengthen ethical behavior in an organization, but what you and your fellow leaders model. The measure of success for a newly-launched ethics program will be that future moment where ethical behavior has been modeled so consistently from the CEO through the ranks to the shop floor, that when one employee sees another employee about acting unethically, the first employee holds the second employee accountable.

No words or fancy slogans will be necessary from that moment on…

An Effective Ethics Program: It’s Really Not About You

Recently a colleague at another organization had sought my input regarding her plan to initiate a formal ethics program. Pam’s organization had grown both organically and through acquisition, and with it new and more delicate issues had arisen. As its senior human resource executive, she had begun to sense that the burgeoning and increasingly diverse employee population could no longer simply rely upon an employee handbook and online training modules to guide day-to-day ethical decision-making.

Pam had done her homework. She understood the basis for developing a comprehensive Code of Conduct; establishing a Fraud & Ethics Hotline; and senior leadership setting the “tone from the top.” But where Pam got stuck was identifying the individual who would lead the Ethics Program and provide its “face” and its “voice”.

We delved into the importance of objectivity and consistency in all program activities and all communication issuing forth from the Ethics Officer. Pam recognized that such communication will range from informal dialogue to formal drafted opinions. We weighed the advantages and disadvantages of various professional backgrounds from which she could draw forth a qualified individual. Successful Ethics Programs  have been led by professionals with backgrounds as diverse as Legal, Internal Audit, Human Resources, Technology, Education, and Theology.

We agreed that the common thread of objectivity must prevail. An effective ethics leader is neither solely an advocate for the employee nor for the organization, but is instead an advocate for the shared values embodied in the organization’s Code of Conduct and associated policies. Thus, an ethics leader doesn’t bring his/her own personal opinions, viewpoints, morals, or theology to bear when reviewing a matter, but instead adheres to the organization’s documented guidelines.

Quite frankly, when an ethics leader acts in accordance with the organization’s culture of shared values, he/she will occasionally have to issue a formal opinion that will contrast with his/her own personal opinion. The outcome is about the good of the organization—not about personal preference or moral judgment. It’s not about you.

Over the course of time, this consistently objective approach will result in a library of ethics opinions that will provide predictability and precedent for leaders, employees, and successor ethics leaders to rely upon. Employee trust in the impartiality of the program will accrue through this neutral approach, further strengthening the organization’s culture of compliance.

And with that, Pam set off to recruit the ethics leader that would best represent her organization.

Untamed, Unruly and Unstoppable?!?

"There's a way to do it better—find it."  ~Thomas Edison

"Success is on the far side of failure."   ~Thomas Watson Sr.


Does the title above accurately describe your professional style? Or that of your Team? Your Organization?

Why not?

Much has been written regarding the unfortunate passing of the iconic Steve Jobs. Does your own leadership experience and outlook embrace the passion for your Organization's mission that was evident as Steve Jobs spoke to those 2005 Stanford graduates? Do YOU fondly recall your own failings with the same enthusiasm that Steve Jobs exuded when describing his ouster from Apple ten years after its founding?

Are you failing enough? Are you encouraging your Team's members to fail more often?

The financial services industry continues to evolve at breakneck speed. Online bill payment, account aggregation, bank-to-bank online transfers are now "old" technologies. Single location institutions have launched mobile banking. As soon as your Public Relations Team can place a piece on the PRNewswire, a dozen other competitors or peers simultaneously issue similar independent press releases.

Despite infinite media attention and blogs devoted to the "rise of regulation amidst Dodd-Frank" and all of the other horror stories about "new fees" that abound, a select few of your competitors are conceiving, testing, retooling, retesting and preparing to launch tomorrow's customer-friendly product or service. What are YOU doing to lead your Organization to the front of that cadre? Is your Board of Directors inspired...or mired in risk aversion?

Every merger has an acquirer and an acquired (regardless of how the Communications Team attempts to portray it). Yesterday's mergers were often about growing the footprint, expanding the brand to new markets, leveraging complementary channels for optimizing profits and controlling redundant costs.

Is your Organization untamed? Are you confident enough in your professional Team to accord them a percentage of their time to be unruly enough to identify, develop and launch the products and services that will satisfy tomorrow's customers/members?

Your Organization, under your leadership, will either be the acquirer--or the acquired--in tomorrow's merger. You will either be seeking to acquire an institution through which your Organization can channel its innovative products, services and servant leaders to WOW! new customers/members...or you will be explaining to your employees why many of them will need to seek employment elsewhere?

YOU are the Leader that everyone in your Organization is looking up to. Are you the Leader that everyone in your Industry is looking up to and attempting to emulate?

If not, then perhaps it's time you moved out of the way to allow that Leader to emerge...that Leader who will ensure that your Organization and each of its fully-invested Teams become and remain: UNSTOPPABLE!