Establishing a code of conduct for your business

A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual or organisation. Related concepts include ethical codes and honour codes.

In its 2007 International Good Practice Guidance, “Defining and Developing an Effective Code of Conduct for Organisations”, the International Federation of Accountants provided the following working definition:

“Principles, values, standards, or rules of behavior that guide the decisions, procedures and systems of an organisation in a way that (a) contributes to the welfare of its key stakeholders, and (b) respects the rights of all constituents affected by its operations.” Courtesy of Wikipedia.

A code of conduct can clearly define behaviours and a way of working together for teams. When done well it can be a blueprint for team members to follow, to ensure that agreed ways of operating and behaving are understood and agreed upon. Of course, a code of conduct only works when accountabilities are included. If this is not enforced then the process will be a waste of time. Before you begin spend some time understanding what accountabilities can be enforced and how.

“The best code of conduct in the world cannot inoculate you against the bad behaviour of individuals, nor can it be your sole tool for insuring against corporate misconduct,” says Margaret Flaherty, WBCSD’s Accountability and Reporting Project Director.

Firstly: Why bother to have a code of conduct?

It’s a lot of work to do and we are all busy, and the ‘why’ must be compelling for your team. As a team leader it’s important to talk to your team about why investing in developing a code of conduct is worthwhile. How will this benefit them individually and as a team? To ensure success in the process and also in the ongoing adherence, team members need to be clear about what the benefits are to them and what the consequences are if not adhered to.

Below are some reasons as to why developing a code of conduct is a good investment for your team:

• It creates an agreed way of behaving and operating that all team members understand.
• Improved team performance, especially when linked to the teams business objectives and overall strategic objectives.
• Improved culture within the team as a result of better behaviours and greater understanding of what is required by team members.
• Improved communication, team members will have a framework to fall back on when faced with difficult situations.

Most large corporate companies and over 90% of Fortune 500 companies have a code of conduct, so there are many examples that you can draw from. If you are in a company that has a code of conduct you can use this as guide for your team’s code.

Reaching consensus can be challenging when you are setting up a code of conduct, however with strong facilitation and leadership this challenge can be overcome. With this in mind it is useful to use an external facilitator, someone who is not linked to your team and who can be objective. If you have a HR function in your company you may be able to seek assistance there or get an external facilitator in for the session.

The process for establishing your code of conduct

Before any code can be successfully developed team members need to understand who they are and what they value. Ask the question: What do you value? What do we value as a team? This may be a separate session prior to the code of conduct session. Pick three core values that the team agree that they stand for, that represents what your team is about, what you care about. What are your team’s values? Integrity? Excellence? Honesty? Your values will be the foundation of your code. How do you as a team bring these values into your code? The teams behaviours (which is what the code is about) need to be aligned to your teams’ values.

When facilitating codes of conduct I use the World Café facilitation method, (see here to get a Global Café guide and to get more information on this technique).

Step one

Introduce the session clearly, communicating the desired outcomes and the process you will be using. If possible get someone senior in the business to re-enforce the key benefits to creating a code of conduct. Each group is to have a flip chart, pens and post it notes. (I find it useful to distil the ideas onto post it notes. This makes it easier to group the ideas into themes).

Step two

Number off the group one to four so that you end up with groups with four people in it (you can have more, however I find four works well as the groups are small enough to ensure everyone has a voice).

Step three

Set up your instructions (refer to your World Café guide). Each group will have a scribe, the scribe will stay seated and the rest of the participants will move between scribes when the facilitator announces time. Each group will have 10 minutes to work together before moving onto the next scribe.

When the facilitator calls time, move to another scribe. When calling time tell participants that wherever they are at is perfect and to move on to a new scribe and where possible away from the group you were just with (note you are not moving to a new scribe as a group). Explain that you will move in cycles around the room. The facilitator will need to monitor the room to ensure that everyone is still on track and to ensure that groups are evenly distributed. You will know when to end the exercise as participants will wander off topic. Nominate a scribe for the group, eg. the person with the longest hair, you are the scribe. Your job is to capture the ideas (as well as contributing your own), to update the next group on the ideas that the last group came up with and to capture new ideas. There will be repetition of ideas, move it on and tell the group this has already been captured. You are looking for new ideas.  Everyone else, your job is to come up with ideas.

Step four

Give the group the following question to answer: What are the guiding principles that must be in our code of conduct? Eg. no bullying. You want to get as many principles out as possible.

Step five

Once everyone has been to a new group get the scribes up to report back on the ideas that they captured. The facilitator will take notes and help the scribes to decide on the main guiding principles. Ask the scribes what’s a new idea that is not on this list? Keep going until you get a list of unique ideas. (This is where having ideas on post it notes helps to move the process along).

Step six

Ask who is going to create the words that describe each of the points? This person will need to flesh out each point answering what does it mean and give concrete examples.

Step seven

Once the code has been agreed (this usually takes three to four drafts) then the team leader will need to clearly establish the accountabilities if the code is not adhered to. At this stage it is wise to involve your HR department or senior leaders/business owners to ensure that you are able to action the accountabilities and how you can link this to your performance process.

The final document will then be distributed to the team members for signing.

Pollyanna Lenkic is the founder of Perspectives Coaching, an Australian based coaching and training company. In 1990 she co-founded a specialist IT recruitment consultancy in London, which grew to employ 18 people and turnover £11 million ($27 million). In this blog Pollyanna answers questions from our readers on issues they are experiencing leading or being part of a team.  She offers insights on teams and team dynamics. For support and information on team days run by Perspectives Coaching see here. Her previous Blog for SmartCompany, 2nd Time Around was about the mistakes she made and the lessons she learned building a business the first time round and how to do it better second time round.