Personal and corporate values

Category: Editorial

Richard Winfield - editor "What is the correct dress for a coup?" asked the passenger ahead of me. I was boarding a plane at Minneapolis for Los Angeles and then onwards to Fiji – where a coup was rumoured. In front of me was a man in shorts and sandals chatting to a friend dressed in a suit. Apparently they had just met up and were also going to Fiji.

In fact the coup was delayed several weeks and would not, anyway, have affected the remote island I was visiting. However, it set me thinking. What were the implications for the ordinary soldier if the generals led a coup against the legitimate government? If they took part under orders, were they guilty of treason? If they refused, were they guilty of mutiny?

Fortunately, few of us are faced with such decisions. But there are many similarities in corporate life; cases where employees are aware of bad practices – misinformation, bullying, corruption, theft. When is it reasonable for them to complain – and to whom? How does the organisation handle such complaints? Does the culture welcome or resist such feedback? Is there a formal process for dealing with such matters?

The John Lewis Partnership has been recognised as an example of best practice. Its weekly in-house magazine, The Gazette, encourages vigorous debate about – and often criticism of – the Partnership by staff in a remarkable correspondence section, typically four pages, in which staff are free to write anonymously and as critically as they like. According to the Partnership: "All anonymous letters must be published unless the Chairman is prepared to certify that such publication would be harmful to the organisation. If he does so decide, the writer can appeal to the Trustees. Refusal to publish is rare". Letters which require comment must be answered, and nearly all are accompanied by responses from the Partnership's senior managers. The magazine promotes free and open debate – about both policy and personnel issues – of a kind that most companies go out of their way to prevent.

Coaches often have to help with moral and ethical decisions and are most useful when they encourage their clients to address the underlying processes.

Second chance

One of the highlights of the International Coach Federation conference in November was a paper by Wayne Jones on a new coaching programme that he has developed. Wayne is a chemical engineer with an MBA and 30 years senior corporate experience. He is now an executive coach and is the Dean of the Graduate School of Corporate Coaching and the Corporate Coaching Communities for CoachVille.

I chose to feature his new programme in the December Brefi Network Gathering workshop and had a very positive response from members. However, most could not make the date, so I have postponed it until the 11^th of January. Details are shown below so, sign up now.

Brefi Network members

Keith Bound has developed a new coaching product which he explains in this week's coaching Notes.

David Childerley has enthusiastically taken up the power of streaming video. So far he has incorporated it into his web site and created the EMO Video Coach, a series of 10-min video coaching sessions. Visit his web site as an example of how you could develop your own business.

MyVideoCoach: Brefi Group has launched a new web site, MyVideoCoach.biz, to support coaches who would like to improve their coaching business with video and to develop a second income stream. You will find more exciting examples of video on web sites here.

Season's greetings

May I wish all our readers the very best for the holiday season.

Click here for a video message from the editor.

Richard Winfield is founder of Brefi Group.

He coaches directors and boards in transition:

new and potential directors, effective boards,

mergers and acquisitions, corporate retreats,

change programmes.