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In our last blogpost Never enough resources? A few ideas to maximize the impact of your Ethics & Compliance Program, we discussed how to make the most of the limited resources we have. Today, we want to focus on how to effectively position our E&C function in the organization.
I speak to Ethics & Compliance Teams every day, and, sadly, still quite many corporate Ethics & Compliance teams face the challenge that they can be seen as a naysayer, that they are not informed of all that is going on in their organization, or called after the midnight hour to “confirm something”.
How can we communicate and position our E&C function in a way that will earn the trust of our organization so that, in turn, we are enabled to effectively manage risks and protect the organization?
This is about communication. Why do we exist? Like a brand, we need to find who we are and our core mission, so that we can communicate our greater purpose: why are we here? As Simon Sinek puts in in this awesome TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action:
“Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100 percent. Some know how they do it [...]. But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do.” (Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action).
According to Simon Sinek, great companies such as Apple are great because they communicate from the inside out rather than the outside in. People buy not what you do but why you do what you do. Apple’s “why” is to challenge the status quo, and they also happen to make computers. Want to buy this? Heck yes, I want to challenge the status quo too!
And this is biology based: when we speak “What”, we speak with and to our neocortex: all thought based, rational and so on, but not the actual decision maker in the room, or in the head.
When we speak “How”, and especially when we speak “Why”, we speak from and to our limbic brains. Our "limbic brains are responsible for all of our feelings, like trust and loyalty. It's also responsible for all human behavior, all decision-making, and it has no capacity for language.” (Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action).
This shows we need to communicate with that part of our audience’s brains to get them engaged in our journey. We actually may need ourselves to reconnect with our WHY before we are able to do so. It is normal that sometimes we lack the drive, the energy to recall why we are here and to actually make a difference.
If these moments get too frequent or become your day to day, you may want to visit my friend Maria, who has turned her life upside down to become a shaman in the beautiful mountains of Peru and now helps humans find their purpose in life, I definitely recommend the experience and the views:
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But if it’s once in a while, it’s OK: all we need to do is to reconnect to our purpose. And we are quite lucky purpose-wise to work in Ethics & Compliance! Why did we become Ethics & Compliance professionals in the first place? What do we believe in?
“People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. If you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe.” (Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action).
What do we believe in? Let’s ask ourselves: Do we believe in a better world? In a world where people can live in peace, without the threats of human rights abuse, corruption, absence of justice, violence, and all of us on a planet that will be and remain liveable for us humans? That sounds quite nice, doesn’t it?
How do we contribute to the above with what we do as an organization?
And, furthermore, can this contribution actually improve our bottom line and our business? If you’re still doubting, or dealing with people that are doubting that being an ethical company with a strong E&C program is also good for business, you should have a read on this research paper from Haugh, Todd and Bedi: “ the first [article] to provide empirically sound, direct evidence that corporate compliance can create positive revenue enhancing value for companies.” (Haugh, Todd and Bedi, Suneal, Valuing Corporate Compliance (March 7, 2023). Kelley School of Business Research Paper , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4380918 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4380918).
This also fits so nicely with the expectations of the new consumers, the adults of tomorrow, of whom 73% report that the climate crisis is terrifying them and impacting their mental state (‘Terrified for my future’: climate crisis takes heavy toll on young people’s mental health - The Guardian, 30 Mar 2023). They are also the ones who won’t buy from organizations who do not care.
It’s actually a way bigger question than our E&C remit, it is about our roles as consumers, the role of our organizations. The truth is: it is quite likely that all of us will soon need to change our lifestyles and modi operandi quite significantly, both as organizations and humans.
This context offers a great opportunity to position our Ethics & Compliance role and program against, and lead the way to normalize that “Why” talk, and finally to walk the talk. Change is coming, and soon it will have to be our organizations leading the way if we want to stay relevant in the wider ecosystem and competitive landscape.
Once we are clear about our purpose, our Why, we need to deliver it effectively, so that we can at any time, pitch what we do, why we exist and why we need resources. We want to be effective and sharp.
We want to craft our pitch so that we practice it enough to be extremely powerful in its delivery. For this I recommend reading the awesome Pitch Anything, from Oren Klaff (Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal).
Generally, to make a good pitch, you will need to:
This is an example of course, but you get the idea, you can take this methodology and adapt it to any specific initiative that is coming up, or any situation where you need to convince someone.
Remember, it’s a PITCH, so it needs to be:
Now that we master how we talk about what we do and speak the the right brains of our audience, we can leverage this and communicate about it so much that people integrate it.
Our WHY and our PITCH should infuse all our communications, especially to the broader organization. Make sure to speak to the limbic brains of all the employee to raise the Ethics & Compliance awareness.
No longer should we fear the elevator ride: this is the perfect opportunity to deliver our elevator pitch to everyone we encounter in there. The more we repeat it, the more the message will be integrated by everyone in the organization.
Second, we should leverage the Network effect, by ensuring all of our E&C team members, champions and correspondents, do the same. This will not only keep everyone motivated and aligned as this is a great purpose, but also enable them to communicate this message over and over again to keep ensuring the message integration in the organization.
Of course, these are just a few ideas, and mastering the message comes along with meeting as many people as we can, being present, attending internal events and showing very concretely the face of the function 🙂. Showing humans that we too are nice humans always works to connect.
I hope these few points inspired you to think about how to position your Ethics & Compliance function and Program, reconnect with your inner excitement and practice your pitch so that you will always make great use of this elevator ride again. Follow Upright Solutions on Linkedin for more inspiration for your Ethics & Compliance Program!
💜 Love from Copenhagen
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