An eye on governance framework 

Sally El Akkad, Director of Marketing and eCommerce at Electrolux Egypt

Do you remember that time when you were thinking” How on earth is this even possible? “or “Am I doing the right thing?” or even “what are you doing people?” …. This is surely a classical OOPS! moment where you were questioning your ethical compass and trying to find its liaison with workplace 

In an uncertain era, full of challenges & possibilities, the companies’ exposure, the information explosion, the increased society awareness, the rival’s proliferation & the rising maturity of laws to cover gaps and regulate further companies’ ecosystem & its relation with consumers & stakeholders…. it would be crazy that organization leadership team doesn’t realize the mounting change in the business environment of governance framework, in other words the system by which an organization is controlled and operates, and the mechanisms by which it, and its people, are held to account … Management must be ready to transform the organization for the emerging new challenges. Failure of companies to embrace the true essence of compliance & legal contexts have manifested a recipe for disaster, even the best performing teams non-intentionally might… 

  1. Do not properly apply the regulations of code of conduct and code of promotion 
  2. Violate competition law because they do not understand 
  3. Drop the consumer privacy laws and its implementation standards 
  4. Disregard the anti bribery anti corruption concepts 
  5. Forgot to check the CPA laws

The list can go for long, A dip stick in the organization culture, can reveal a lot about its maturity level which echoes the understanding of its habitants of governance necessity.

Honestly throughout my career, I witnessed a lot of mini disasters mainly because of lack of knowledge and rarely bad intent, however when it comes to laws your ignorance does not spare you from responsibility … thus it is invaluable to ensure that the policies are not only in place but also in use, for that to happen teams need to be trained, and constantly challenge their understanding to ensure commercial hygiene. Remember… The increased complexity in business environment requires organizations to continuously revisit their human resources for augmented output over both dimensions’ competency “doing what should be done in quality” & commitment “doing it in with integrity”

 Offer employees a belonging moment, by doing the right things and understand the reason behind it, people integrity gets higher, bringing up a general tendency of higher level of organizational performance, the symbiosis of having an employee “ a true human” who feels that his set of value are aligned with the company values and that he/she is fulfilling the organization purpose “ that by default is a good purpose” .. this is the epitome of organizational belonging.

Are you policing around? Certainly, this is not the purpose, even the best governance colleagues I worked with were acting in the capacity of a business partners & not police officers and frankly no one has the right to behave in a patriarchal capacity no matter how senior he is .

Thus, if you feel the strong urge to challenge the obvious & refuse frameworks… think again! it is technically like you want to be a Dinosaur, no one can stop your determination to be instinct, it is whether you embrace the whole concept “and we shouldn’t have options here” or decide to ignore it   … The ethical obligation here is a package that you get; in other terms Buy a choice & get consequences for free.

A term that I used to admire is the Organizational consciousness which is the organization’s capacity for reflection; a centering point for the organization to “think” and find the degree of unity across systems; and a link to the organization’s identity and self-referencing attributes.

When the organization is conscious; everything falls in the right place, teams will demonstrate integrity, business will be truly consumer centric, CSR initiatives will support society, the culture & business ethics will be a unity, the corporate values will be the heartful credo for employees… am I describing a utopia, maybe! But just think about consequences, you will get corporate citizens, ethical decision making, procedural justice & even environmental preservation- the internal cohesion of building strong internal community/ inclusive culture… what an aspiration!! 

Just beware without a conceptual framework both employees & stakeholders will see the sum up of activities and possibly strategic decisions as mere hypocrisy or random unproductive efforts 

The question now is obvious: how conscious is your organization? And how aware are you? 

Challenge the status quo, someone must stem the organizational self-awareness, be relentlessly curious, and for that to happen, try to build a support system of colleagues otherwise you will severely suffer from an alien intruder feeling … build allies and you will be able to do paradigm shifts.

A golden rule I was taught; When in Doubt… ASK!! Seek support 

It only takes one person and a good idea to start a movement.  One Person can make a change, can awaken the organization conscious, can spread the governance culture, can teach his team members why does it matter? The importance of understanding why is this right? And why is this wrong? What does it mean to comply? What happens if we did not? 

This person will be fought, labeled as a wicked nerd who bring unnecessary complexity & doesn’t understand the business… he/ she will get fire back that everyone is doing this? And this is what we have been doing it for the last 10 years kind of sentences .. And why are we being asked to reinvent the wheel! 

The secret potion in this case is managing stakeholders expectations & bring transparency “why we need to do things differently” on the table .. and for God sake .. be CONSISTANT “give the same reaction every time they challenge you when it comes to ABAC laws or anti-competition laws” 

Would that be enough? Honestly NO though who said that governance is a destination, it is definitely a journey … but by having a strong start “hopefully an empowered one” you will find colleagues reflecting about it, trying to adopt it, even challenging it, which is good where healthy discussions increase information retention & ensure vigorous reflections 

At the end ask yourself.. 

Are you using your internal ethical compass? 

Do you understand the risk dimensions? 

Deep down you know the answer, and it is 100% your choice to face your inner voice or just ignore it … which I hope you don’t … So now tell me; does it really matter?!