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Author: Neil Hodge, features writer
The emphasis on executive leadership giving an example to the rest of the organization to follow is deeply rooted in business life. The idea behind the concept of “ upper ‘tone’ is laudable: if the rest of the board of directors, management and employees see the exemplary conduct defined by the head of the company, the values and the example that they demonstrate will be understood and followed by everyone in the organization.
Likewise, the “positive” actions that the CEO undertakes to eradicate business “bad”, as well as the efforts he makes to promote, look at these questions in the same way and adopt the same behavior.
But over and over again, the idea of the CEOs and other members of the C-Suite giving the tone to others to follow becomes laughable, in particular in the light of a band of corporate governance scandals (including the leaders are ultimately responsible) and huge remuneration rewards which have no resemblance to the wages of other workers (sometimes 200 times a typical workers’ salary in the United States), business performance, best practices or even common sense . The behavior of the leaders does not always create with the conduct they are supposed to defend: instead, he often exposes the attitudes they think to be authorized (at least for themselves), but which are disabled with Progressive society.
“Each leader sets the tone, whether he intends to do so or not,” explains Robert Ordever, European Managing Director of the Culture of the Place of Work and the OC Tanner recognition specialist. “Their words, and especially their actions, define expectations as to what is acceptable. The danger zone is the gap between the rhetoric of companies and the actions of leadership. »»
Ivory tower
There are many recent examples to demonstrate the terrible moral compass and / or the lack of self -awareness that are manifested by certain business leaders. For example, the new boss of Starbucks, Brian Niccol, was criticized after revealing that he would make the shuttle nearly 1,000 miles on a business jet from his home to the head office of the company in Seattle – despite the declarations of the company, whether it is a chef sustainability.
The perception of leadership has changed in the past decade
Meanwhile, Chris Ellison, director general of the Australian mineral firm Mineral Resources, said during a presentation of financial results in August that he wanted to “keep captive staff” after complaining that the employees who will buy coffee (rather than getting one at work) costs the business too much money. In February 2021, British President of Big Four KPMG, Bill Michael, was forced to resign when his motivation speech to employees at a virtual meeting left the rails (and became public) after telling staff To “stop groaning” about the impact of the unconscious bias of the pandemic and the pandemic and the decline as a “complete shit”.
The same year, the CEO of Barclays Bank, Jes Staley, resigned after an investigation by the financial regulators of the United Kingdom discovered a cache of email which suggested that his relationship with the financial in disgrace and the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was more close that he had not admitted it. Two years later, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) inflicted a fine of 1.8 million sterling pounds and forbidden it to play a high management role in the financial services sector – a sanction rarely used. Staley had previously struck his joints who struck by the FCA when he tried to release a whistleblower who raised concerns about his job history.
It may not be surprising that such incidents lead some experts to suggest that the concept has its limits. “The tone of the best works all the time in practice, but that the tone that is fixed in practice is that which we could choose is a different question,” explains Diane Newell, Coaching Director of Coaching Consultancy OCM Discovery. She adds that managing the way people interpret and understand the behavior they see of executives and other senior leaders “will never be an exact science”.
Readers
Part of the problem is that the perception of leadership has changed over the past decade, as is the concept of business and executive responsibility. “The C and the board of directors of any organization must recognize that the expectations concerning driving and culture have changed and that expectations have increased,” explains Piers Rake, partner at the Legal Service Cabinet Astraea. Previously, he says, the main stakeholders in companies were limited to shareholders, customers and employees, but wider societal pressures “have led to increased expectations of a wider cohort of interested parties”. This may include “rights holders” – those who can be affected by business operations – as well as groups of activists. “Companies are more likely to deal with an unfavorable or negative press for fully legal commercial activities where they are considered incoherent or in contradiction with wider societal trends,” warns Rake.
Liz Sebag -Montefiore, Director of the HR Board 10thty, says that employees want – and expect – a strong and ethical ethical leadership from above, emphasizing actions rather than words. “A company can speak of ethics, but if it gouge its suppliers, operating staff, treating employees as disposable and treating customers unfairly, they will not inspire a workforce committed in best practices,” said -She. That said, should the Mantra “Tone at the top” be put back? And – if so – what should it replace it? And who should workers and stakeholders seek better leadership?
Melissa Hewitt, head of HR outsourcing in the Morson Group recruitment company, suggests that others have a role in helping managers fulfill their roles with ethical leaders. She thinks that there is a solid argument to raise the HR director on the role of the Board of Directors because “corporate culture and values are part of their procedure”, while regulators should also do more To define clear parameters for the leaders of their sector. In the end, it concedes that commercial factors – rather than ethical – can be the most important short -term influencer because Gen Z recruits (generally people born between 1996 and 2010) are more likely to leave ‘They believe that the organization is not up to the expectations of best business practices, leaving companies a skills gap that they can find difficult to fill.
Room at the top?
Sarah Miller, CEO of Principia, an ethical consulting firm, says that there is already a distance from focusing on a group of fundamental executives to define expectations in terms of ethical leadership. “This is more and more the exception – not the norm – to rely on a small group of executive leaders to shape, defend and model the tone and the tenor of a culture,” she says, partly Because it is such a risky approach. With both higher expectations and a more in -depth examination, she says, the risk of failure of a small number of senior managers becomes more concentrated and exposed, it is therefore preferable to share the responsibility with more – no less – people from the organization, which means counting on intermediate management.
Employees want – and wait – strong and ethical ethical leadership from the top
“Many companies focus on activating the values and skills of ethical decision -making for the best people, with recognition that it is not only the management team which must strengthen and apply regularly cultural attributes characteristics, ”she says. “It is undoubtedly still the” high “, but in a much larger and diffuse understanding that the term has tended to apply,” she adds. Miller believes that this trend is “encouraging” because see how the managers of the environment and / or the line treat ethical dilemmas and how they understand and respect the rules by rules daily, which will have a much more important and deeper impact On a wider range of workers. “I prefer to have a solid tone in the middle” all day, especially in major organizations, “she says. Although there may be recognition in certain quarters that the top tone is scary and must rethink, it seems that the majority is ready to stick to it – largely because it does not seem to be better to replace it.
The devil you know
Kevin Gaskell, former CEO of Porsche UK and president of his technological group, a large -band fiber company, believes that the “summit tone” should work in practice, but its effectiveness “strongly depends on consistency, transparency and authenticity ”. He adds that if leaders are not the best people to demonstrate ethical and correct leadership, “it becomes difficult to imagine who else could effectively set the tone. The leadership of its very nature is hierarchical, and the values and behaviors of those at the top of an organization flow throughout the workforce, “he said. “If the leaders do not embody the ethical standards or the correct behaviors expected from them, it creates a leadership vacuum where confusion, inconsistency or bad practices can easily spread,” added Gaskell.
Even some of those who believe that a “top tone” review is necessary, do it “not for the reasons you might think”, according to Mike Greene, entrepreneur and executive commerce. Leadership, he says, does not concern popularity – it is a question of making difficult decisions, often unpopular for the advantages of the organization. The trend of the difference in ethical leadership with inexperienced majorities or well-being committees is “dangerously erroneous”, he adds.
“The leaders are not only responsible – they are essential,” explains Greene. “They have experience and authority to sail in complex ethical landscapes. Dilute this responsibility is short -sighted and potentially harmful. The idea that intermediate management initiatives or led by employees can effectively establish ethical standards is naive. He often creates inexperienced echo rooms, reinforcing biases rather than challenging them. “Greene believes that” the tone of the summit “works when implemented” with the backbone, and not as a public relations exercise “and demands” the leaders without fear of unpopularity, who understand that the ‘Real world ethics is not always clean or politically correct ”.
For an ethical leadership that resists real pressures, Greene says that companies need “experienced executives who are not afraid to take care of. Do not forget: sheep can be soft and cuddled, but they need a watchdog and a shepherd to protect them from wolves. If you want to be popular, sell ice cream.