Corporate culture should function as a collective moral compass. That’s the view of Cherryl Cooper: Director, Specialist Talent Advocate EDI, Culture and Brand at Grant Thornton UK.

“Ethics underpins one of our three core values: to be purposefully driven,” Cooper says. “We uphold quality and integrity as non-negotiables and articulate that ethos as, ‘Doing what’s right, ahead of what’s easy’. That means balancing what’s right for our people, our clients and our firm, and never letting self-interest get in the way.”

Embedding ethics as process

Cooper explains that different ideas, values and beliefs contributed by diverse groups shape ethical decisions. That aligns with the firm’s third core value: to be actively curious about alternative viewpoints. “Exposure to those perspectives helps to promote ethics and drive innovation,” Cooper says. “It also helps to build morale, trust and equality of opportunity. But more importantly, it fosters inclusion, which inherently means treating individuals with respect – regardless of background or experience.”

Grant Thornton embeds the people-based thinking behind that exposure in a number of ways. The firm is governed by ICAEW’s Ethical Standards, to which every member of staff must adhere. 

In tandem, it has its own Code of Conduct governing how employees behave towards each other, requiring them to take personal responsibility for their behaviour. It also has clear channels for reporting inappropriate behaviour. 

In addition, the firm holds awareness training sessions and enables staff to provide feedback via pulse surveys, focus group discussions, networks on Microsoft Viva Engage and comments on intranet news features, all of which drive firm-wide consideration of ethical issues and embed them as process.

“None of that would be possible without stakeholder engagement and accountability,” Cooper notes. “So, there is an expectation on our senior leaders to model good ethical behaviours.”

In terms of how leaders should approach EDI-based communication, Cooper recommends five steps:

• Ask questions and listen actively. Acknowledge the concerns that people raise, whether in focus groups or open forum discussions.
• Be respectful and empathetic throughout the process. Encourage feedback but be constructive in how you address it.
• Value diverse perspectives and be inclusive. Seek input from various stakeholders. Be fair and willing to adapt.
• Be accountable and take responsibility. Follow up on commitments.
• Communicate in clear language. Ensure that everyone understands the issues under consideration.

“Each of our inclusion and diversity strands has a Convernor/Partner sponsor and a service line sponsor,” Cooper says. “For example, in the Ethnicity strand, there is an Ethnicity Board on which heads of service lines sit. The Convenor can escalate relevant issues from our employee networks to that Board, to ensure appropriate action is taken. Each head of service is responsible for holding their people accountable to take relevant action.”

Championing respect

Cooper says that Grant Thornton enacts and reinforces its three core values in the realities of the workplace by constantly seeking alignment between its actions and vision. In practical terms, she notes: “That may mean rejecting an assignment if it does not align with our values, collaborating with organisations that are diverse and inclusive, remaining curious and being mindful of our cultural intelligence when interacting with others – especially internationally.”

On the latter point, she says, the firm’s UK arm recently held an online Cultural Awareness Week, where it explored a range of different cultural behaviours alongside international colleagues in the US, South Africa, China, Philippines, India, Cyprus and France – the aim being to champion respectful business interactions.

In Cooper’s assessment, the business case for a strong ethical culture is clear. As well as deepening stakeholder trust and spurring collaboration and innovation, it fosters more informed and responsible decision making, reduces risks associated with non-compliance – and leads to better employee engagement, because staff feel respected and valued. The primary benefit is that an organisation will have good stories to tell about how ethical decision-making has yielded positive impacts.

“It will be able to benchmark its performance against other organisations in its industry and retain data – for example, from pulse surveys – that tracks employee engagement and shows that the good ethical culture is working. The data may also demonstrate further benefits in areas such as customer loyalty – or even reduced turnover costs, if employees stay with the organisation because of its ethical culture.”

To achieve the most effective outcomes, Cooper advises, organisations should not attempt to tackle their ethical challenges, including in EDI, all at once. Rather, they should take a strategic approach – focusing first on issues that will deliver quick, positive results, gaining trust from those wins and then building on them.

“Trust is lost very quickly if you over-promise and under-deliver,” she says. “People will lose interest and may stop sharing feedback. Don’t make policies before speaking to the employees who will be affected.  Set up focus groups and/or bring in business psychologists to work out what sort of changes should be made. Some practices may only need to be tweaked, not overhauled. Most importantly, act on the feedback you receive. If not, participants will lose confidence in the process.