Lessons in integrity and ethics. What culture do you bring to your business?
Time and time again I see a company’s culture and values failing to serve the business and the staff working in it - from my experience this applies to most government departments and many large corporates - but also to many small businesses. What values does your decision making convey? The Donald Trump model of decision-making is certainly entertaining - but the clear message is ‘If you dare to disagree with me I will fire you…’ That is a sure way to surround yourself with idiots who cannot or will not think for themselves…
Culture is a powerful force and where the status quo does not allow for honest internal communications, businesses can end up facing disaster or costly steps to recover in courts of law.
One of the biggest safety scandals facing a private company today is that of Boeing after two fatal crashes of the 737 Max aeroplane. killing 346 people. An investigation blamed the ‘culture of concealment’ at Boeing along with the plane maker’s unwillingness to share technical details.
The Boeing 737 Max has been grounded since March 2019 after the two crashes and the US investigation was highly critical of both Boeing and the regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). “Boeing failed in its design and development of the Max, and the FAA failed in its oversight of Boeing and its certification of the aircraft,” the 18-month investigation concluded.
The 250-page report goes onto say (the crashes) “were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing's engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing's management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA."
"Cost-cutting… that jeopardised the safety of the flying public", a "culture of concealment over issues with the aircraft’ and "troubling mismanagement misjudgements" are just a snapshot of the stinging charges against Boeing.
Boeing admits “mistakes were made” and now wants to focus on getting the 737 Max back in the air. However other investigations are outstanding including a giant lawsuit from relatives of those killed in the second crash in Ethiopia. It appears that the culture at Boeing was one of lying and deceit. Nobody had the courage to speak up and in the end 346 people died.
Another example is Volkswagen’s now infamous engine emission’s scandal which began with a ‘no failure’ culture. The diesel engine developed in 2015 was failed to meet emissions standards. Rather than fix the issue, VW covered up the problem by installing software in 11 million diesel powered vehicles worldwide, designed to beat emissions tests by using phony data. These ‘defeat devices’ made the cars appear safer for the environment than they actually were.
Why would such a venerated brand make such a poor decision which ended up costing the company more than $33.3 billion in fines, penalties, financial settlements and buyback costs as of June 2020. The answer lies in the culture cultivated by its leaders.
CEO Martin Winterkorn was a demanding boss who abhorred failure. Former executives described his management style as authoritarian and aimed at fostering a climate of fear. Winterkorn also set ambitious goals for public growth including that of becoming the world’s largest carmaker. He aimed to do this by breaking into the U.S. market in a big way: The company sold 5.04 million cars in the first half of 2015, thereby briefly holding the title.
But achieving Winterkorn’s goal at all costs had a big price, which eventually included a notice of violation from the Environmental Protection Agency, a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and dozens of class-action lawsuits against VW.
The culture of VW discouraged open and honest communication, one of the checks and balances to identify and address cheating, fraud and safety issues. A culture with high standards that accepts failures as growth opportunities, on the other hand, benefits both the company and employees.
While multinational corporate failures can seem quite removed from our own personal businesses it remains important to reflect on our own personal principles and the core values we bring - and display - to the workplace.
Clarifying our own core values can guide us to make better decisions with our time, energy, relationships and business goals. Core values around honesty, integrity, generosity, work life balance, family time and education can determine the type of leadership and culture you create. It’s very hard to be an authentic leader without this degree of value-awareness.
As we move forward into a new year after one that tested many of our values and possibly prompted difficult decisions, now is the ideal time to get a deeper sense of what you value most and what message your decision making sends to staff. This could be life changing both personally and professionally…