Published: August 7, 2008
Guest Column By Valerie Fried, PHR
Integrity in the Workplace
“But where was I to start? The world is so vast, I shall start
with the country I know best, my own. But my country is so very
large, I had better start with my town; but my town, too, is large. I had
best start with my street. No: My home. No: My family; never mind,
I shall start with myself”
Elie Wiesel (Souls on Fire)
Have you ever had a heart for something, but really didn’t know where to start? I found myself grappling with this very thing back in 2003. The idea was a fairly straight-forward one. As a businesswoman, I wanted to promote and uphold integrity within my workplace, and I was interested in finding others who desired the same end.
So many of us in the professional world find ourselves straddling the maintenance of our long list of rules, regulations, compliance checklists and federal mandates while also combating the corporate scandals, corruption and threat of financial collapse that seem uncomfortably prevalent these days. Recent studies show that we’re back to the pre-Enron days of corporate misdeeds. While many say that they believe in ethics, too often they fail to show this in real terms. Do businesses really have to sacrifice integrity to make a profit? Is there anything we can do to make a difference? This is where our story began.
Our Beginnings
Five years ago, I met a dynamic woman who wanted to start a discussion group about business ethics. Along with a few others, we started to talk about what it would mean to take a more active approach to upholding business ethics in our sphere of influence. Out of this came a small discussion group that grew by word-of-mouth to nearly double attendance at every meeting for the first few months. We wanted to be the difference in our workplace, our cities and our state. As we started to grow, we found that there were numerous likeminded people in the business community dedicated to promoting Oklahoma values of integrity in the workplace.
By the summer of 2004, this grassroots effort kicked into high gear when business leaders and educators from Tulsa and Oklahoma City gathered for a strategic planning session. By then, we could see that this subject held significance for many in our state. At that point we decided to formalize into OKEthics and defined our group’s purpose – to help one another in reinforcing standards of ethical behavior while remaining true to our humble roots.
That summer meeting in 2004 also produced the members of our first Board of Directors, all of whom were volunteers. Led by that dynamic and energetic woman who sparked the discussion group in 2003, we dedicated ourselves to developing our mission, guiding principles and membership levels. We were shaping up to be a rather unique organization. Most business ethics groups are comprised of corporate ethics compliance officers. OKEthics on the other hand is truly diverse, covering the vast spectrum of gender, age, experience, occupation and business sector.
By the summer of 2007, the Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium had grown to three chapters and nearly 600 members. And amazingly, this was all accomplished through the efforts of dedicated volunteers.
Ethics really do exist!
Quite possibly one of the most rewarding aspects of this venture has been to see that most business leaders in our area truly do care about integrity in the workplace! In addition to the Consortium’s regular monthly forums on ethical issues, OKEthics also hosts an annual Compass Awards program to share best practices in business ethics. In 2008, more than 300 individuals attended the statewide event that honored companies in the small, medium and large categories. We have also had the privilege of hosting a very successful statewide conference.
One of the most important aspects of our mission is to mentor the leaders of tomorrow. To that end, Ok Ethics established a foundation whose purpose is to mentor students by reinforcing the importance of ethical behavior in the workplace. Through the foundation, several university and college chapters have been established, the first of which being Oklahoma City University. Not long after, the University of Tulsa began hosting statewide student ethics challenge events. Today there are many other active student chapters statewide. Scholarships are awarded on an annual basis through funds earmarked from membership dues.
Where are we now?
Looking back, it’s been a fantastic journey getting to 2008. During one of our board retreats, we actually created a timeline of our journey. The group was amazed to look back over the accomplishments of a few, in such a short time. But getting here was not without some real challenges. As with any new organization, establishing the infrastructure was critical. There were seemingly endless problems with administration, web development and branding. Thankfully by calling upon experts from our membership, we jumped most of those hurdles and survived.
Another challenge was coming to terms with the fact that OkEthics had grown to the point where we needed some reliable help, and they needed to be compensated. No longer could we exist as a totally volunteer organization. Perspective told us, however, that this was actually a great problem to have! We had grown to the point where one or two people could no longer handle all of the duties of the organization. Still we’re not at the place to have a fulltime paid staff. This in mind, we’ve hired service contractors to help us with bookkeeping, web functions and marketing. To fulfill our vision of statewide chapters, and possibly nationwide we’ve also standardized our procedures and published them on our website.
Also, to ensure the future of the organization, we formed a Legacy Team. This team is the next generation of leaders in the business community, and for OKEthics. We engage members of the team in our planning sessions, committee’s, and retreats so they will better understand our processes and guiding principles.
So here we are at the five year mark of our journey. We continue to seek out quality speakers who can candidly share their successes and failures to further inspire us. Without violating the four “P’s” of our organization (no preaching, politicking, profanity, or promotion), our guest speakers and panels have given the members great insight into the everyday business of ethics.
I believe that OKEthics has made a positive impact on our business community. It is a great honor to be associated with the dedicated volunteer business leaders who form this group. We will strive to continue meeting people on all levels of their journey. Our hope and vision is to mentor, support and inspire those who want to keep the compass pointed north and “be the difference”.
For more information visit our website at: www.okethics.org
Valerie Fried, PHR
Executive Vice President
Capitol Abstract & Title Co.
valerief@capitolabstract.com
Also -
Vice President – Public Relations
Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium