Ethics Training Reboot

Ethics training is a hot topic right now.  Every company I have worked at in the past decade has provided some sort of "ethics training", "ethics hotline" or "ethical code of conduct."  And usually, it is something I don't hear about again until the refresher training the following year.  Recently though, most companies have been rebooting their program to include some sort of extra step.  If it was an online course, they're adding the hotline.  If it was the hotline, they're adding the course.  If they had both already, they may even be sending management to a workshop offsite.  This, however, is rare. 

The most recent company I accepted a position at unfolded like this.  I read the job description online.  Their emphasis on ethics and integrity couldn't be ignored.  In Human Resources, it's a core value, so when you see it in the company's core values, you tend to have a little more faith that their respect of the department is higher than average.  I applied, interview, and was extremely impressed to meet both the manager, and regional manager for my interview, then get walked around the location by a third manager, all of whom addressed integrity in some regard. After a week, I accepted the job.  

After my first week of working there, I was told by my regional manager to take down all of the ethics hotline posters.  WHAT! I was caught so flagrantly off guard that it was noticeable, so much so, that he followed up with, because we want  you to be able to take charge here, in house, and address issues, then we trust your judgment if it needs escalated.  Oh, flattery will get you everywhere.  Especially when you walk away that quickly! 

I have been in some difficult conversations in my life, but probably none moreso than the one coming.  The one where I have to bring in an ethics coach to teach the ethics cheerleaders about what it truly means to be an ethical leader.  As the new person, you never want to be the know it all, or the one who comes in thinking they're going to change everything.  But when you have a situation such as this, where all members of leadership talk ethics and integrity like a broken record player, but have the employees blowing up the hotline like it's an old condemned skyscraper that needs to come down, then someone has to do...something.  

I guess that someone has to be me.  During the few weeks of this course, I went in with a mindset that ethical behavior is pretty cut and dry, and I don't feel much differently about that.  However, what I didn't expect was that the course would teach us about HOW people learn their value systems and HOW people establish ethics in their lives.  This changes everything.  

Growing up in a poor, undereducated family, my role models were drunks, drug users, corrupted public officials and patriarchal archetypes that really died off about a hundred years ago, or so I thought.  But we were taught not to steal, not to fight, not to make fun of people, and to not be like them.  My brother and I somehow turned out alright.  My mother claims it's because she was always honest with us about the things she did.  No, I don't think that was quite it.  I think we had teachers who cared.  We had friends who saw what we lived with.  We had people on the other side who knew we needed better things to look forward to. We were lucky 

Chris Adkins, in the article, "Getting Ethics Training Right for Leaders and Employees," (The Wall Street Journal, April, 2018), tells readers that we need to realize we learn values differently than we do our analytical skills.  We don't just pick up a book, or take a class, and magically know what ethics means.  We have to socialize the situation.  Values are social constructs and we need to be able to identity socially responsible role models for people to emulate until they understand the foundational principles of ethics.  Even if this starts in the home, it has to continue in social situations and employment situations.  People are quick to erase the good with the bad in every situation so if a negative role model comes around, guess what happens?  All of that practiced behavior falls by the wayside.  Poof!   Just like magic, our habits disappear.