THE ETHCIAL EDGE: THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF AN ETHICAL CULTURE
By Russell T. Williams, PASSKEYS FOUNDATION Building A Nation Of Character
In his article, Have You Crossed The Line? Tim Fulton, a nationally recognized small business consultant and management trainer, recalled a critical experience that shaped his business life early in his entrepreneurial career. He wrote, "I was the owner and operator of a small retail business."
Primarily for accounting purposes, I had multiple bank accounts set up. As money came in from customers, funds flowed from one account to another. As a sharp MBA graduate I began to become creative with these bank transfers when funds were low. I would write checks to transfer funds before the funds were actually available. On occasion, I would get caught short handed and would pay a bounced check bank fee.
One day I got a call from my friendly banker. He asked me to come pay him a visit as soon as possible. That afternoon I came to his office. He was not happy. The bank had been keeping track of my creative funding and had decided it was time to put a halt to it. My banker informed me that I was guilty of check-kiting and that was a federal offense. If it continued, they would close my accounts, call my loans and prosecute if necessary. This was a wake-up call like I had not received in a very long time. There had never really been a discussion on business ethics in business school.
"What I had perceived as creative financing the bank had perceived as a felony. I had crossed the line and didn't know it. The lesson for me in this experience was to scrutinize my decisions and my actions much closer prior to taking action."
Mr. Fulton's lesson concerning his revolting development as a young businessman was based on his nearly-empty bank account of ethics training. Basically, he lacked ethical strategic clarity. He had never significantly explored his own ethical barometer that defines the pursuit of integrity. Without such inquiry he lacked self-management skills for ethical competence.
Integrity: All I Can Promise
Contrast young Fulton's lightweight ethical self-inquiry with our nation's Founding Father, George Washington. The year was 1748. Not yet sixteen years old, young Washington diligently pursued ethical exploration as he penned his famous Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior In Company and Conversation. He created one-hundred ten rules. His First: "Every action done in company, ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present." His Last: "Labor to keep alive in your Breast that little Spark of Celestial Fire called Conscience."
Fast forward forty-one years to April, 1789. On the last day of the month, a 57-year-old Washington assumed the Presidency. Earlier in the month, he wrote to his friend Henry Knox about the task set before him. In his letter he stated, "Integrity and firmness are all I can promise. These be the voyage, long and short, never shall forsake me."
What linked young Washington's ethical and moral musings to the wisdom he later provided to a fledgling nation? The link was Washington's sustained ethical reflection applied to the commerce of his daily life.
Just as Washington's wrestling with personal integrity shaped the political integrity of a nation years later, today's professional leaders in American business, industry, media, and education are called to translate their personal ethical exploration to guide organizations to create cultures where personal and professional integrity is alive and well.
Choice Making: The Ethical Asset Of Personal Responsibility
Bill Warner, a business professional with Paladin and Associates, has been helping businesses grow for over 20 years. In his article, CEO Coach-Building An Ethical Culture, he writes, "Executives must establish the ethical foundation for their companies, which will serve as the cultural underpinnings that guide their leadership. Ethical behavior is found in:
- A set of values that spell out the way employees relate to each other and how the company will relate to its customers and business partners.
- A framework of principles for personal and business conduct that is unambiguous and integral to everyone's behavior; so that unethical behavior is not an option.
- Selling ethics to others so that ethical behavior is fostered by exemplary conduct by the company's leadership where decisions and actions send a clear message of what is tolerated and what is not.
- Standing for what is right in everyday actions by rewarding positive ethical behavior and counseling others when a breach in ethical behavior occurs.
Zero in on these four statements to focus on interrelated ideas: the way employees relate; personal and business conduct integral to everyone's behavior; exemplary conduct by company's leadership; standing for what is right in everyday actions. These elements characterize the one fundamental choice that flavors workplace ethical culture: Personal Responsibility. Managing the choice of personal responsibility is the bedrock competitive asset of individual and organizational integrity.
Who is The Choice Maker of personal responsibility? W. Clement Stone, renowned twentieth-century businessman and author, answers that question with crystal clarity, "You always do what you want to do. This is true with every act. You may say that you had to do something or that you were forced to, but actually, whatever you do, you do by choice. Only you have the power to choose for yourself."
In all professional settings each individual has the opportunity to be the Choice Maker of personal responsibility...from Top to Bottom led by the CEO...from Bottom to Top led by the Administrative Assistant. No matter where an individual is placed on an organizational flow chart, the Choice Maker carries a Personal Responsibility Mantra for managing their work life: Daily I practice the choice to stand in the center of my thoughts, feelings and actions.
When an organization is populated Top-down and Bottom-up with individuals consciously engaged in their Choice Maker role as practitioners of personal responsibility, Warner's four interrelated elements are alive and everywhere present.
The CEO: 5 Ways To Walk The Talk As The Choice Maker
The CEO is the key organizational mentor who shapes the culture's choice making skills to the daily practice of personal responsibility. In Ethics 4 Everyone, The Handbook for Integrity-Based Business Practices, Eric Harvey and Scott Airitam present 50 Way to Walk The Talk. Among the 50 ethical nuggets are several mentoring tips for CEO's to foster the culture of personal responsibility.
- Honor Your Promises and Commitments: Set up a "What I Said I'd Do" section in your day planner or personal organizer. Record every commitment you make. Check the list daily as a reminder.
- Talk It Up: Keep ethics "in front of people". Add something about ethics to the agenda of each staff meeting that you conduct. And periodically check your organization's pulse by asking, "How are we doing" and soliciting ideas on what they can do more of, do less of and do differently to make business ethics a way of life.
- Celebrate Integrity: Look for every way possible to make a big deal of performing with honor and integrity. Publicize positive behaviors and results.
- Make it Safe To Be Ethical: Make sure that employees face no negative consequences for doing what they feel is right, for questioning the decisions and actions of others (including yours).
- Set The Ethical Example: The ultimate leadership responsibility is modeling the behaviors you expect from others. Regardless of what's written or said elsewhere in the organization, your behavior is the performance standard employees will follow.Meet the responsibility.seize the opportunity!
Summary: The Choice Maker's Motto
There is a Choice Maker's motto for work place integrity. Here it is: Nothing ever happens to me; everything always happens through me!
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