Real Skills for E&C Professionals: Creating a Successful Network of E&C Ambassadors ✨

In our Real Skills Series, we explore what we traditionally call "soft skills".  Ranging from communication to leadership to problem solving to creativity and governing how we interact with teams, we don't really learn them at school or university. 

And yet, no matter how savvy we are technically, these skills can make or break our success as a human working with other humans in any organization. Even though they are harder to measure and quantify, we definitely know when they are not there and it is usually not a very pleasant experience. I would like to refer to them as "Real Skills".

In our last blogpost, we explored delegation within our teams (Real Skills for E&C Professionals: delegating & empowering our E&C Team). In today’s blog post, we would like to explore the even more complex ability to delegate within the organization and to influence other teams to help our E&C agenda. 

We never have enough resources. We need to make the most out of what we have, with the goal to impact our organizations effectively and help create a culture of integrity. 

Delegation is both critical within our team and within the organizations to ensure the deployment of an effective program, supported by a strong culture. Integrity is everyone’s problem: how can we make sure that the organization takes its fair share? 

There are many ways to work on influencing other teams and getting allies internally. In today’s blog post, we will focus more specifically on the establishment of a network of Ethics & Compliance Ambassadors within our organization, with a focus on making this community a resounding success that impacts culture durably.

Why do we need a Network of Ethics & Compliance Ambassadors?

How can we effectively support thousands of employees in various locations in doing the right thing when faced with an ethical dilemma, all of it in real-time?

That’s the million dollar question, and it can be answered with a Network of E&C Ambassadors who act as local champions for Ethics & Compliance, playing a crucial role in promoting and upholding ethical standards. 

We may explore the idea of creating a Network of E&C Ambassadors because:

• We need advocates to spread the business integrity message;
• We want to better integrate Ethics & Compliance into the business operations;
• We don’t have the budget to hire full time people in every location;
• We would like to fill in the gaps and create a greater presence on the ground;
• We are concerned about the ivory tower effect: in the head office, our central team can sometimes be disconnected from the realities of the ground;
• We would like to improve the communication of initiatives and the effective implementation of our program;
• Lastly, we would like to create and nurture a strong culture of business integrity.

All of these are very valid reasons to make the creation of a Network of E&C Ambassadors one of our priorities on our path to taking our maturity to the next level. 

As mentioned by the Institute of Business Ethics:

“Research indicates that organizations with a more mature ethics programme and more engaged senior leadership are more likely to have developed an ethics ambassador network” (Ethics Ambassadors: promoting ethics on the front line, Institute of Business Ethics).

Chicken or egg? That is the question. Needless to say that the benefits of a Network of Ambassadors are numerous, not only for our E&C Team but also for the organization as a whole, as it can enable:

• Proactive Issue Resolution: our network can detect and address business integrity issues at an early stage on the ground;
• Enhanced Awareness: the network helps foster a culture of integrity, making local employees more conscious of their actions and decisions;
• Increased Accountability: ambassadors encourage accountability at the level of each business unit in the organization, and have a direct line to the central Ethics & Compliance team, thus reducing the chances of wrongdoing going unnoticed;
• Local Expertise: ambassadors are well-versed in the specific needs and challenges of their business units, making them valuable resources for our central Ethics & Compliance Team, as well as for the local employees;
• Reputation and Brand Protection: and of course, a strong commitment to ethics and compliance, by ensuring a presence in each Business Unit will contribute to enhancing an organization's reputation and minimizes the risk of reputational damage.

The DNA of the E&C Ambassador

Who are they?

“Ethics ambassadors can be defined as employees that assist senior management in promoting an ethical culture based on shared core values within the organisation. Although they liaise with full-time ethics practitioners, they are not part of the ethics function - they are employees who work at different levels within a company and often take up this role in addition to their day-to-day job.” (Ethics Ambassadors: promoting ethics on the front line, Institute of Business Ethics)

Where do they come from?

They may come from HR, Internal control, legal, finance, health & safety. Generally, any function that can help support the E&C Role. What’s important, in my opinion, is:

• That they have enough seniority and sit at the management level of the Business Unit locally;
• That they are named by the local management of the Business Unit and report to that General Manager;
• That we avoid conflicts of interests as much as possible, hence the preference for a non operational role (that being said, you could also create Champions for some topics within business functions but beware of conflicts of interests and adjust their roles accordingly);
• That they have the willingness and a bit of time to dedicate.

What is their role?

The role of Ethics & Compliance Ambassadors may include:

• Bringing local knowledge and culture to the table: from adjusting global policies and procedures to local language and reality, all the way to acting as a local point of contact for the employees.
• Advocating: Ethics & Compliance Ambassadors are key to spreading the message about the ethics program, and communicating on all initiatives on the ground, to the relevant people. They train and raise the awareness of local teams.
• Representing: Ethics & Compliance Ambassadors are your eyes, your ears, and your voice on the ground, as they are very close to the business locally.
• Facilitating: in particular getting local engagement & enabling people from different backgrounds, cultures and functions to collaborate locally.
• Recording & reporting: recording suspected ethical misconduct, ambassadors are also the trusted advisor on the ground.
• Enabling the Tone at the Top and at the Middle: by keeping the integrity programme top of mind with leaders locally, Ethics & Compliance Ambassadors enable effective tone at the top and at the middle, in each Business unit.

Is any expertise required?

“Whilst they do not need to be ethics experts, ethics ambassadors should have substantial knowledge of the company's ethics programme and be able to point staff in the right direction for further guidance if necessary.” (Ethics Ambassadors: promoting ethics on the front line, Institute of Business Ethics).

Let’s check out the E&C Ambassador Network of a CAC-40 French company:

 “The Ethics & Compliance team is supported by a community of Ethics & Compliance Ambassadors. The E&C Ambassadors are all volunteers whose role is to disseminate Alstom's culture of integrity within the group through Ethics & Compliance Awareness sessions. The E&C Ambassadors come mainly from the Legal, Finance and HR functions. They have direct contact with the Ethics & Compliance team that provides them with the support and tools necessary to achieve their mission. They are points of contact for any questions about Ethics & Compliance.” (Alstom website).

So, now that you’re convinced that having a network of E&C Ambassadors can bring value to your organization and help you maximize your impact, you will find below some ideas to create a successful, impactful and meaningful community!

A step by step guide to create a successful E&C Ambassador Network

Step 1 - Define the goals and objectives of the E&C Ambassador program

First, being clear on the goals for our Ambassador Program will enable us to find the right teams and skill set, and also to report on the success of this program. Let's ask ourselves the following questions:

• What do we want to achieve?
• Do we want to increase the awareness and culture on the local level? 
• Do we want to be closer to the ground to enable employees to resolve ethical dilemmas? 
• What KPIs can we use to measure that goal?

Once we know what we want to achieve, we can measure this engagement with appropriate KPIs.

For the example above, increasing the awareness and culture on the local level could be tracked by KPIS such as:

• number of concerns reported;
• % of employees trained conducted locally;
• number of consultations given;
• Number of tone at the top communications.

Being very clear about what we want to achieve will enable us to be on point with our plan, get the right people on board and track the right KPIs to report back on the success of our initiative.

Step 2 - Make a plan & get management buy-in

Now that we know why we need a network and how we will want to measure success, let’s make a concrete plan, by answering the following questions:

Where in our organization do we want these ambassadors to be? 

• Are we aiming at having one ambassador in each BU from a reasonable size? 
• Do we want ambassadors everywhere where we have a certain number of employees? 
• Would we rather start with the regional levels and risky markets? 

Depending on what we can get, let’s prioritize.

How many ambassadors do we need? 

This depends on the number of employees and your international presence as a group: “a 2019 benchmark study by ECI suggests there should be one ambassador for every 200 employees”(How to effectively launch an ambassadors program by Julia K. Bailey, JD, MBA, and Matt Silverman). Don’t hesitate to make a plan that grows the network over a few years.

What will be their role?

We need to be clear about the role, as well as the term of engagement of our network. Check out Step 4 below for a detailed answer to this question.

When we are clear about our plan, we need to get buy-in from top management. This is critically important given that the ambassadors will come from other functions and departments. Securing the buy-in of senior leadership will thus be key for the success of our venture. If you have an Ethics & Compliance Committee, I’d present the plan there to get buy-in and then ask each Region or Market General Manager to name an ambassador based on specific criteria.

Step 3 - Identify the right people

Ideally, we want business leadership locally to help us find the right person in each Business Unit, carefully selecting based on their performance and commitment to Ethics & Compliance.

We may want to ask ourselves these questions, with the General Management of each Business Unit in scope:

• Are they high performers?
• Do they represent the values? 
• Are they in good standing with HR? 
• Do they have their manager’s support? 
• Are they in a director-level position? 
• Are they interested? 
• Do they have the time to dedicate?
• Are we avoiding potential conflicts of interests with this nomination?

Once we have found the right people, we will of course provide them with specialized training to empower them with the necessary knowledge and skills. 

Step 4 - Be crystal clear to everyone about the roles, responsibilities and term of engagement

The roles and responsibilities of E&C ambassadors within their respective Business Units should be crystal clear. We need to make sure everyone understands their role as Ethics & Compliance ambassadors.

“You should be clear about the limitations of the ambassadors’ role, including: (1) act as part-time representatives of the compliance and ethics program; (2) be proactive partners, helping create greater awareness, provide guidance to colleagues, and update compliance/ethics leaders on issues and concerns coming from the local or department level; and (3) should not be expected to provide all the answers, act as subject-matter experts, nor provide legal advice.”(How to effectively launch an ambassadors program by Julia K. Bailey, JD, MBA, and Matt Silverman)

What should be the term of engagement?

Furthermore, the term of engagement should be clearly defined, and preferably, not too long: these employees should be ideally in the ambassador role for 1 or 2 years:

“This allows for more people over time to be part of the ambassadors program, helping to quickly grow a compliant culture” (How to effectively launch an ambassadors program by Julia K. Bailey, JD, MBA, and Matt Silverman). 

How much time should they spend on the role? 

Somewhere between 5 to 10% seems about right. To be honest, whatever you can get is amazing. 

Imagine 5% of a 40 hours week (2 hours a week), multiplied by 70 ambassadors: this is 140 hours a week, or 560 hours a month dedicated to Ethics & Compliance. It is the equivalent of 3,5 full time headcount! You just supercharged your team, with skilled professionals who are well integrated in the field organisation. That's invaluable. 

Step 5 - Engage & Support

We will want to foster a sense of community among ambassadors by organizing regular meetings, workshops, and training sessions. 

Generally, we should ask ourselves:

• How do I make my expectations clear to the network?
• How do I make sure they convey the E&C  message well?
• How do I make sure they report concerns?

Getting started

First, to get started, our initial launch meeting should include material related to expectation & skills for the role, including:

• The goal of this initiative;
• How the E&C program works;
• The ambassador’s roles and responsibilities;
• Some basic training on Business integrity;
• What Interpersonal skills are required for the role;
• A charter of behavior to represent and enable business integrity.

I recommend using the above to create a starter package, ready to roll-out to new ambassadors easily so that they can get started anytime. Make it scalable: record the intro meeting and so on so that you can re-use, reduce, recycle and save a ton of time.

Animating along the way

Then, along the way, you will want to continuously train and grow this team, help them understand their role and also stay updated on regulatory changes as well as share best practices. Ideally, the community should meet quarterly, which provides an opportunity for ensuring the key messages, goals and initiatives are fully integrated in a continuous manner. 

You should also be in touch regularly with various tasks to perform locally: they were named because we need their help to adjust policies to local requirements, help raise awareness and so on. 

And here, we need to be clear and reasonable with the few key actions that we need them to perform: select wisely what is a priority, time the actions appropriately so as to not overload them, and so on. 

We also need to make it as easy as possible for them to help us. Remember: they are not working full-time on Ethics & Compliance. We are more likely to have them help us if it’s a breeze to do so: talking points prepared in advance, slides to present, clear legible explanations on what to do are critical to make this a success.

Let's take a concrete example: you just updated your anti-corruption policy and would like to effectively deploy it locally. To do so, you reach out to your network, attaching the policy in English as a word doc, and asking them to:

• Confirm with local advisors that these rules work under the local laws of their country / suggest any adjustments as may be required locally (see attach international contact list for our law firm network of advisor that you can use to do so);
• Translate it in the local language and send the final translated copy back to you;
• Once done, ensure all employees receive a copy locally and enable tone at the top from the General Manager locally (see draft email attached to introduce the new procedure);
• Organize a training sessions (see slides attached to present);

In short, we want to provide them with full packages, ready to use and deploy, that enables them to shine locally, and you want to keep track and document who has done what and when so that you can report back on the progress of your Ethics & Compliance program. 

To do all of the above, you may benefit from automation and tooling. Check out what we do at Upright Solutions, as we know the pain of coordination all to well and, to solve it we have created a bespoke Program Management Solution to make it a breeze to roll-out your initiatives to your Network and keep track of who has done what, when and where, in real time!

Two ways communication channel & open door policy

We also want to establish effective communication channels between ambassadors and the head office to ensure that Ambassadors can quickly report issues or seek guidance. 

It is key for the central team to be responsive and follow up with the ambassadors regularly to check if they need any help, and regularly ask for feedback. 

They need to feel supported for the network to be a success.

It is also a good idea to develop a well-defined process for the ambassadors to report and escalate ethical or other concerns, as well as report gaps or require policy deviations or adjustments. This should include protection for whistleblowers and clear guidance on when and how to escalate issues to the central team.

Work on recognition & incentives

It’s always nice to be recognized. Being named an ambassador should be something to be proud of!  Think about a rewards and recognition program, as incentives can help maintain their motivation and commitment to the role, below a few ideas:

• Create a performance program to recognize their effort and achievements on the ground based on KPI tracking;
• Launch a peer nomination program, to recognize any significant contributions based on a few key points that are important?

Be patient, monitor & adjust along the way

Regularly evaluate the performance of the network based on the KPIs you have set, and the impact of their work within their Business Units. Ask for feedback from them regularly so that you can keep adjusting the E&C program over time. 

Lastly, it is key to be patient: understanding that their day-to-day responsibilities may need to take precedence over any projects you need them to complete will go a long way (and is another reason and incentive for you to make it as easy as possible for them to help you).

Keep going, and I am sure that in no time you’ll get a high functioning network. You have just multiplied your team and message, with team members who are well integrated in every single Business Unit of your group. Keep going. You will soon be able to witness culture being shaped and integrity awareness raise!

Conclusion

Delegating Ethics & Compliance responsibilities and establishing an effective network of Ethics & Compliance Ambassadors is essential to maximize our presence on the ground in our organizations. It empowers employees, lightens the load on the central Ethics & Compliance Team, and contributes to creating a strong culture of integrity. I promise that it’s worth the initial effort!

Follow Upright Solutions on Linkedin for more inspiration to lead your E&C Team and initiatives.

Love from Copenhagen 💜