2021 ECI Working Group

Today’s business environment continues to be fast-paced and driven by the exponentially increasing speed of information. That, along with evolving technology, remote work and other factors, has created a constant state of change for almost all of us. Often, change is more sweeping and includes organizational restructuring, refocused business strategy, mergers and acquisitions, ‘right-sizing’ or up-sizing employee headcounts based on adjustments to our business products and services. This change and its uncertainty can lead to stress — for the individual and the organization.

The one constant that should underlie the potential chaos and uncertainty of change is a strong, inclusive, speak up CULTURE.—rooted by your organization’s core values. This strong culture is part of a mature ethics & compliance (E&C) program and can create calm in a storm of crises and challenges.

To ensure that it does that effectively, E&C leaders should have a seat at the strategy table of every organization because a positive culture reinforces and supports solid business strategy. Employee trust—and the resulting support of corporate strategy — creates stronger, focused motivation for organizational success. Conversely, no matter how strong the strategy or how brilliant the personnel, if the undergirding is a weak culture (lacking integrity and trust), strategy is at risk of atrophy or failure.

Our working group has completed a rather comprehensive review of the impact of myriad crises and stressors on the work environment and assessed the role of the E&C professional for each. Our white paper, “Positioning Ethics and Compliance as a Strategic Leader in Times of Stress or Crisis” notes,

“In ordinary times, E&C professionals are guardians of their organization’s reputation, working in concert with other functional partners. Ethics professionals provide business ethics guidance and respond to allegations of employee misconduct, protecting organizations from such internal risks as fraud, harassment and conflicts of interest. Their Compliance counterparts defend against risks related to non-compliance with the laws and regulations governing the organization…. Organizations that partnered with their E&C teams—as they contended with multiple crises — saw how E&C can serve as a key contributor and resource in extraordinary times as well.”

E&C professionals are battle-proven over the last two years. We worked with functional partners to prioritize—as we should — employee mental and physical health during the pandemic. And we understand, more than ever, the impact of stress and crisis on our colleagues and leaders. Successful organizations have risen to the occasion to provide resources and raise awareness about nurturing positive health habits. In fact, to support this best practice, our working group prepared a resource-rich toolkit to assist you, as the events of the last two and a half years have shown us “leaders must evaluate the impacts of personal stress, including an assessment of their [employees’] physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.”

The same evaluation is necessary for an organization’s culture. The crises of the last two years have compelled many organizations to check the temperature of their corporate culture. Is the culture’s pulse weak from a lack of integrity and trust? Is there a fever rising from an internal battle between compliance and risk? As we said, “The goal of a preventive program, building a culture of integrity, emerges as the single most important aim an E&C function can offer regarding crises. The best defense against these situations is to have created a strong culture of ethics that can withstand these challenges and respond to company needs.”

Working Group Members

The ECI Working Group that created Positioning Ethics and Compliance as a Strategic Leader in Times of Stress and Crisis included:

Chair
and Members:

How to Get a Copy of the White Paper

To get your copy of the Positioning Ethics and Compliance as a Strategic Leader in Times of Stress and Crisis whitepaper, choose one of the following:

If you are a member of ECI

The white paper is freely available to you, just log in first to verify your membership. The paper is also displayed on the Working Group page with our other white papers.

If you are not a member of ECI

If you are not a current ECI member, you will need to complete this short form.  Hit submit and your copy of the paper will be emailed to you immediately.

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By: Editorial Team