Today, words like ‘authenticity,’ trustworthiness,’ and ‘transparency’ are prominent on company websites and marketing materials. But, do you know what business ethics and integrity means? And most importantly, what can you do to improve them? There are several examples of CEOs and other business leaders leaving their roles amid accusations of ethics breaches. So, how can the board lay a solid foundation for a strong culture that protects their organization against missteps? In this article at Forbes, Betsy Atkins explains some valuable reputation management strategies that CEOs must adopt.
Reputation Management Steps for Boards to Consider
“Governance watchdogs say accountability of those at the top is improved when there is a division of roles, creating a system of checks and balances, making it more difficult to get away with unethical acts, such as falsifying expense reports,” says Atkins. Besides, business leaders must be aware of whistleblowers that use anonymous social sharing apps to break the news. Collaborating with third-party organizations to monitor sites can help CEOs avoid social media issues.
Tips for Boosting Reputation Management
Accounting Practices
Stakeholders, customers, and employees often expect financial honesty and transparency. Careless accounting practices will undoubtedly limit an organization’s ability to operate with good financial management. Boards must support their CEOs in building an organizational culture that promotes transparency, collaboration, and integrity.
Personal Integrity
Board members and CEOs can improve reputation management by imbibing honesty, integrity, and high ethical standards while managing their roles and responsibilities. A leader’s business ethics and integrity directly impact an organization’s reputation.
Integrity in Management Practices
Management practices are the underlying foundation for organizational integrity, whether it is a commitment to exemplary customer service or fair employment methods. Business leaders must influence integrity by creating a code of conduct and ethics policy. Furthermore, CEOs must ensure that all employees adhere to the policy.
Business ethics and integrity will help organizations win the trust of clients and employees and build better partnerships. To read more about reputation management, click on https://www.forbes.com/sites/betsyatkins/2019/02/07/business-ethics-and-integrity-it-starts-with-the-tone-at-the-top/?sh=7e9fce5057c6.
