TRUST

Trust. Why do we have to even have a problem?            

A couple of weeks ago I had four nights at one of Scotland’s greatest hotels. When I have a break it is one of the few opportunities I take to enjoy a daily paper, and a complimentary copy of ‘The Times’ provided that fix. In there was a short article by Gupreet Narwan, titled; “Directors demand a code of conduct.” It was reporting on the view of the Institute of Directors of the need for an ethical code of conduct help restore trust in business.

I’ve had to read this article more than once, as it highlights a problem that is somewhat alien to me. For those that don’t know, I was a police officer until 2017. Whereas I accept that some people will never trust coppers, for me, the office of constable was, on the whole, held by worthy individuals who you could trust.

In later years, the College of Policing has introduced the Code of Ethics. Although I’m a firm believer that ethical behaviour isn’t something that you should have to measure against a checklist, the Code does provide third parties a reference point as to how their police officers should behave. The other professional bodies I am now a part of, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council both have codes of conduct, so how can it be that the one that underpins the operation of our businesses operate without one? Furthermore, how have they even been allowed to do so for so long?

I’ve been a director. It isn’t a role to be taken on lightly, but on a number of occasions in my coaching work I’ve found young incumbents who perhaps haven’t really understood the magnitude of their responsibilities. And even where they do, some of the examples set by their more senior peers have been woefully lacking in integrity. Indeed, in one organisation where coaching business ‘dried up’, I’ve a hypothesis that it was because it was highlighting some questionable practices which were propping up the bottom line. A code of conduct would have given the coachee a much stronger basis for challenge.

Coaching disrupts. But that has to be seen as a force for good. If it makes you question your approach, and your behaviours, it offers a shot at redemption. Some people can live comfortably with pushing the edge of the ethical envelope, but there comes a point where it is likely to get ahead of you. At that point, who is really in control?

The absence of a code for Directors is a shocking omission in a business world which is coming under ever more scrutiny. Maybe as an interim, it is something your own organisation should look at drafting for itself? Values have a part to play in all this, but codifying expectations leaves little room for doubt.

If you haven’t got a code – get one!

Derek Flint Cert.Ed., MCIPR