Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER November 30, 2015 NEWS 3 really the sky is the limit… the open question is 'How much im- pact would you like to have?'" he said. e first thing to do is exem- plify the virtues and values you're looking for, said Elaine Varelas, managing partner at Keystone Partners in Boston — which can help make HR a valued resource for senior management. "I also find that HR people are often a sounding board for their senior leaders… and that becomes a significant part of the role that HR plays." At the same time, there's always that question of what's driving organizations, said Varelas — is it short-term gain or long-term relationships? "Did we do the right thing for all our constituencies — not just for our employees, but for our share- holders, for our customers? And just being able to ask that question of 'Did we do the right thing?' ev- erybody should be able to feel that the answer is yes," she said. Also, when building an ethical culture, it's important to involve every individual at every level of the organization, said Ridler — it's not enough just to train senior leaders or managers and overlook other employees because ethical issues can affect anyone. "Have training workshops and have everybody all in. I don't care what function or what level — I don't care if it's the janitors or the salespeople — everybody. Be- cause ethics problems can occur anywhere in the organization — it doesn't matter what function or what level," he said. "And they can end up being very important, and it doesn't matter where they originated." When people discuss "ethics," it often creates this perception it's a philosophical discussion, not one based in everyday living, said Varelas. "e more that those ethical conversations and discussions can be brought down to everyday real- ity, HR and all organizations' lead- ers can help people understand that the code of conduct is part of ethics, that business rules, poli- cies, are part of ethics," she said. "It's a discussion of 'How do I want to show up personally in my life, in my workplace, in how I interact with colleagues? And how do I want the organization that I work for to show up in the world?'" Sometimes that means making tough decisions and taking risks, such as when HR needs to manage up to correct a senior leader who is wading into an ethical grey area, said Varelas. "It's really challenging and I do think that a strong HR per- son should do that. ey should build their senior colleagues to support that same behaviour. But we all know that there are execu- tive leaders in organizations that act unethically and that the se- nior leadership around them are afraid for their own positions," said Varelas. "If you work from that position of fear, then you'll be stuck not questioning those grey areas. And I think exceptional leaders want to discuss they grey — they want to be very conscious of the decisions that they're making." Bring ethics down to everyday reality CREATING < pg. 2 Credit: Fabian Bimmer (Reuters) Greenpeace activists demonstrate as they stand on top of Volkswagen's "Sandkamp" gate in Wolfsburg, Germany, on Nov. 9. HR needs to correct a senior leader wading into a grey area.

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