It is an understatement to say that American businesses and organizations are in an ethical crisis leadership wise.
The extensive surveys given these days bear this fact out: over 80% of workers don’t trust the bosses they work for or believe they are telling the truth.
Despite these growing and very real feelings from workers, our leaders typically turn a blind eye and continue to put their own interests first creating one of the great conundrums in business:
Building ethical values and trust in our organizations is good for business, better for the bottom-line, results in less employee turnover, and less lawsuits via discrimination complaints.
In short, workers want their leaders to be transparent, trustworthy, honest, and ethical.
As I often communicate to businesses, there are two directional forces that must change in order to reduce distrust in our organizations and create better ethical cultures: external and internal.
Let’s take a look at the external perspective for a moment.
Is there active communication with our city government and state representatives so they understand who we are, what we do, and the ethical values we represent? Do we pay it forward and give back something to the communities we serve?
Is there active communication face-to-face with our customers so they understand who we are, what we do, and the ethical values we represent? These days more clients want to see evidence of social enterprise initiatives that have a positive impact on human life.
Is there active communication with our key suppliers so they understand who we are, what we do, and the ethical values we represent? My experiences suggest that this area is often understated, underfunded, and simply not discussed or clarified with enough frequency leading to uncomfortable conflict down the road.
Is there active communication with our lawyers, accountants, consultants, Board of Advisors, Board of Directors, or potential investors so they understand who we are, what we do, and the ethical values we represent?
A good question to pose is the following: What would strangers walking for the first time in our organization and spent time with us say our cultural landscape is? Would they see our ethical values and trust in play?
Now, let’s explore the internal perspectives and questions that are critical for organization success.
Does the organization instigate and truly promote open conversation that builds deep levels of trust? Most think they do but the evidence clearly points to the contrary. Ethical words and catchy value phrases are nice to see and hear; but meaningful deeds build moral fabrics that are difficult to tear down.
Are our leaders prepared and committed to building ethical values and trust in the workplace? If not, how will we prepare them to consistently lead and deploy ethical values into our cultures?
How do we and are we aligning our reward systems and messaging that target the ethical values we say are vital to organizational success?
Can we understand and possibly know when everyone in the organization is committed to our ethical values?
The best for profit and nonprofit organizations I know of drive themselves relentlessly always leading with their ethical values. They are accountable, responsible, honest, and transparent in their daily dealings.
While no easy feat for sure, this is the bullseye we shoot for and ultimately attempt to hit.
It is unacceptable to see trust levels trend downward in organizations and not actively reverse them.
We must act now doing our fair share and then some.
The following quote that I penned several years ago seems relevant to the conservation now: “I sometimes trust what I see….more often trust what I feel. I know I have the faith allowing me to discern the difference.”
I depart encouraging all of you to continue monitoring your moral compasses and consult them regularly.
Do your very best each day….no one can expect more or less.
Peace/blessings, Mark
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