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September 2009
By John Guenther and Alison Davis
John Guenther is a managing director at The Bank of New York Mellon, where he leads the executive communication function. E-mail: john.guenther@bnymellon.com.
Alison Davis is CEO of Davis & Company (www.davisandco.com), an employee communication firm that helps companies reach, engage and motivate employees. E-mail: alison.davis@davisandco.com.
Ask an employee to define the word
"ethics," and you'll likely receive an accurate
answer: "A set of principles or rules
that govern conduct."
Then ask that same employee to
define your company's code of conduct
or rules regarding ethics, and he or she
will probably do a good job of articulating
the key tenets, even if the words aren't
exactly right.
But ask that employee to describe
how to apply those ethics in certain
workplace scenarios, and he or she may
hesitate, even if the employee has received
training. Without periodic reinforcement,
ethics can become a set of abstract
concepts, and employees can lose sight of
how to best manage real-life situations.
Although this is a serious issue in any
company, it's especially critical in the
financial services industry. The global
financial crisis, coupled with a series of
recent scandals, has put the industry under
intense scrutiny. As a result, an ethical
lapse is one of the most dangerous threats
to a financial institution's reputation.
How can you ensure that employees
understand ethics on a practical, day-to-day level so that they'll take appropriate
action?
The Bank of New York Mellon, a
global financial services company
focused on helping clients manage and
service their financial assets, started a
comprehensive program called "Doing
What's Right." This includes training
and ongoing communication, such as
messages from senior leaders. But in
early 2009, we realized that we were
missing a key element: managers.
Managers are the essential link in the
chain. If they aren't talking to their
employees about an issue, their employees
will likely believe that issue is not important.
When it comes to ethics and compliance,
that assumption can be dangerous.
Managers also play a critical role in
interpreting corporate information so
that employees understand what it means
to them, and what they need to do differently.
Quite simply, managers make information
tangible.
To leverage the importance of managers,
we created the Communicating
Managers program in 2008, designed to
help managers with the information,
tools and techniques that they need to
engage employees. The program includes
a Web site, Web-based learning sessions
and monthly talking points about key
issues.
Given the business climate at the
time, ethics was an ideal topic for
Communicating Managers. So this past
March, we developed a Web-based session
called "Talking to Employees About
Compliance & Ethics." The objective was
to prepare managers to have dialogue
with their teams about ethics, so that they
could explore situations unique to each
workgroup.
While attendance was optional, it
was encouraging when more than 1,000
managers—nearly 25 percent of all managers—signed up for the workshop.
The session not only provided
advice, but it also set an expectation that
managers would communicate with their
teams within 30 days. And after the session,
managers received a guide to reinforce
what they learned and give them
easy-to-use meeting tools.
The feedback was positive, according
to follow-up surveys. After the sessions,
94 percent of managers agreed that they
felt prepared to communicate about
ethics. "This workshop provided the tools
I need to effectively communicate," said
one manager. Another responded, "The
session was relevant to our institution and
our success. The material was presented in
a way I could easily relate to with examples
and follow-up material to cascade to
our team."
Our next Employee Engagement
Survey, scheduled for this fall, will provide
additional data on the effectiveness
of the "Talking about Ethics" session.
Here's what we have learned so far:
- Build something useful, and
they will come. Because managers are
so pressed for time, you might think that
they won't pull themselves away from
work long enough to attend a learning
session. But when the topic is important
to them—and when it's something that
employees ask them about—then managers
will participate. The key is to select
issues that matter both to the company
and to the managers.
- Focus on the personal benefit.
In this case, we helped managers recognize
that a lack of communication with
their staffs on the topic sent the wrong
message that ethics is not a priority in
their area. And if their employees feel
that way, then it could set the stage for
ethical lapses, which would reflect poorly
on the manager's leadership. This gained
managers' attention, and won their commitment
to carry the message forward.
- Create communication tools to
fit managers' styles and schedules.
Before creating the Communicating
Managers program, we conducted focus
groups with managers throughout the
company. They told us that they have
limited time to present information to
their teams. For "Talking About
Compliance & Ethics," we designed a 15-
minute agenda that included a quick
review of the ethics process and a choice
of several case studies that managers
would use to facilitate a discussion with
their team. Feedback indicated that this
agenda fit managers' needs. As one manager
wrote: "I currently have weekly
team meetings and save the last 15 minutes
for [ethics]. Today's information will
help me structure that time better as well
as serve as a checklist that I cover everything."
- Set clear expectations for what
managers should do. Managers don't
have time to guess—they appreciate
knowing exactly what's expected. Our
program provided specific guidelines
("Hold a 15-minute meeting within the
next 30 days") while also allowing managers
to adapt the content according to
their needs.
- Accept the fact that not all
managers will utilize the full program.
Some managers may not believe
that they need the extra support. Focus
your energy on helping those who want
to improve, while working through senior
leadership to emphasize the importance
of employee communications as a
key competency for managers.
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Reposted with permission from Public Relations TACTICS
