Build an Ethical Reputation
Trust is fundamental in creating, growing, and maintaining any kind of relationship—for individuals and organizations alike. A company’s reputation is a reflection of the trust that is built in those relationships. So it’s no secret that in order to uphold a strong reputation as an ethical company, trust must be at the center of it all.
Building Reputation
Organizations don’t build trust; they earn it through the people behind the company, which is why strong leadership is a critical element to a solid company reputation.
To create trusting relationships and build a positive and ethical company reputation, there are some steps that those in leadership roles can take:
- Be clear about how you would like to be perceived
- Stay consistent and consider every decision with your goal in mind
- Ask tough questions about the merits of every proposal
- Continually test your assumptions
- Never consider an issue completely settled
- Build all partnerships in honest business environments
- Set high standards
- Be associated with best practices
Earning Their Trust
Three of the most important relationships that an organization has are with their stakeholders — customers, governments and employees. Just as a reputation is built over time, trust is earned over time.
Here’s how you can earn your stakeholders’ trust:
Customers Trust:
- Recognize that solving problems requires stakeholders’ trust
- Create deep and lasting relationships for long-term investment
- Prove to customers that you can meet societal needs — and profitably
- Show that you’re committed for the long run
Governments Trust:
- Be committed to compliance, and regulatory and legal requirements
- Uphold a culture that promotes the trust in compliance systems and programs
- Create a trusting relationship with your regulators early on
- Demonstrate a pledge to transparency and integrity in the international marketplace
Employees Trust:
- Build a compliance program that employees are committed to and believe in
- Train and survey employees and managers to ensure program effectiveness
- Promote an open reporting system that allows issues to be identified and addressed
Values Building Reputation
Our goal is to maintain our leadership position in every major manufacturing industry, in all global markets and in the eyes of each and every customer and stakeholder. This is why we stay focused on providing and improving our ethics training and resources.
At the end of the day an ethical reputation, with strong leadership to back it, is at the core of what makes, and keeps, a company successful. That’s why our values are completely interdependent with each other, at every level of our organization:
| Integrity: Treat people fairly, demonstrate trust, and always do the right thing. | Environment: Be a sensible steward of natural resources and our environment. |
| Customers: Understand their business, anticipate their needs, and deliver value to make our customers more competitive. | Innovation: Foster creativity, think outside of established or perceived boundaries, and engage in informed risk taking to set us apart from the competition. |
| People: Work hard to attract, engage, develop, and retain the best people and provide a great place to work that is inclusive and provides opportunities for continuous learning. | Performance: Deliver top-tier results, relentlessly focus on execution of our plans, and consistently meet our stated goals by fostering a culture of performance and accountability. |
Learn More
Don’t stop now! Our Ethics Series continues with articles featuring: The World’s Most Ethical Companies, The Culture of Ethics, Breaking Down the Basics, and Corporate Citizenship and Responsibility.
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