Creating a "Code of Ethics": Create Clarity on How your Business is Used for Good

Let’s talk about guiding principles, codes of ethics, and a framework for making decisions today. This is something I’ve been feeling like I wanted to talk about throughout 2020 as so many business owners are asking me what they should/ should not post on social media these days in a heated social climate. 

The solution is to know, live out, and stand by your Code of Ethics! 

As we approach the 2020 Election, I have seen so many people so hungry on social media to express the “do’s and don’ts” of life - what they believe, why they feel like they want to be heard about their beliefs, and who is on their ‘side’ of that particular set of beliefs. It’s incredible how many business owners also want to be more vocal about the causes, mission, and the concerns in the world they are connected to, but doesn’t feel like it is “professional” enough to do so. 

I am a professional business owner and marketer who leads a virtual community group called “Your Ethical Business” and it’s difficult to talk about individual issues without addressing the absence of a “code” of some sort. 

Why is a code of ethics important to have established?

1. TO GUIDE
   The first and most important reason a code of ethics exists is to create a framework of guiding principles that a group agrees to, lives out in full-action, and seeks to set an example for those around them to get inspired and motivated to follow as well. This helps to attract the right community, team, and clients to your brand as they understand how people in and around the organization are being treated and cared for.
   

2. TO HOLD YOURSELF & OTHERS RESPONSIBLE
   The second reason you’d want to have a code of ethics is that as your team grows, you can use this as a foundational reference to the type of conduct you are willing to tolerate and what specific actions you embrace.

   If a worker of your team thinks its not important to tell you that they are needing to take off time for their maternity leave or if they aren’t feeling good because they fear you will fire them for now showing up 100% of the time, that can get to be a very awkward conversation for you and them when something comes up. 

   Or for example, if a customer of yours is being mistreated by one of your team members and they just end up leaving as a client because there is no policy for open feedback or communication, that can leave you as the owner not responsible for correcting that action. Last but not least, if your team, including yourself, has a lot of very inappropriate social media engagement and misrepresenting the mission or ethos that ties back to the reputation at work- what does that look like and how can that harm you as a company? 

   So many scenarios paint a picture of unwanted outcomes when a code of ethics or code of conduct is not set in place. 

3. TO COMMUNICATE YOUR VALUES & ETHOS
   Last and not least, you want to have a code of ethics established to be proud of the systems and the ethos of your company that is used for marketing & advertising such as going for your B Corporation Certification.

   I’ve been working, slowly, toward my B Corporation certification and it is required that my company has a written out Code of Ethics to demonstrate what I promise to do to be the change I want to see in the world. 

Some more reflection of how a Code of Ethics in our personal lives can support our decisions as leaders & business owners

Something that religion does very well lays out this code of ethics - I grew up Catholic so we had this as our 10 Commandments. Other religions have something similar, and it just helps us to navigate what is right and wrong. Be nice to others, give to the less fortunate, don’t lie, steal, cheat, or kill, and respect your authority and parents. A framework to understand what to tolerate and not tolerate when it comes to looking at certain worldly situations. 

I think with the changing world we are living in, powers of influences shifting away from traditional settings and more modernized with the incredibly influential social media, these blurred lines of a social framework have been placed on political parties, peer influence, and money. Do you agree or disagree? 

This is an extremely complex question, feat, and assignment for some. Others feel like they can pinpoint 4-8 bullet-pointed ideas and be confident. 

Some of you may find that your code of ethics gets heavily involved in politics, social justice, and the powers in larger organizations. Others, may not. But this Sunday intention is simply to help you identify what it is that you stand for, what your business is responsible for, and how you can use that in your outward communications. 

Examples of Code of Ethics

As an example, here is more about Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream containing a way to describe their Code of Ethics as “values”

Here is Amazon’s

 Here is Best Buy’s

And a B Corporation Web Development company (scroll to Principles) Mangrove.

Regardless, if you were to journal about what your code of ethics looks like, maybe even make a list of what you would design it to be for your mission-driven business, I believe you would find yourself organized, level-headed, and so much more clear about what your business stands for, what you promise to act-out, and how to find a great balance of what to express loudly on social media as a business professional!