By Joan Koebernick
In 1997, our company won its first ethics award. Since that time, I've put considerable effort into learning more about ethics - both good and bad. I'm convinced that if we, as an industry and as individuals, made it our priority to learn and understand every aspect of ethical behavior - our businesses and our industry would thrive.
You may say, “We are ethical and we're doing well now. Why make that kind of effort?” The reason: Your business will be even more profitable, with fewer staff and customer problems. The respect from your staff, your customers and community brings the kind of reward that helps make life worth living.
You may say, “I understand what it means to be ethical. What more is there to know?” That's what I would have asked before I got more involved in this process.
So what is good, ethical conduct in a business? According to the Better Business Bureau, it means being able to prove that your firm maintains high ethical standards of behavior toward customers, suppliers, shareholders and the communities in which it does business. As a business, you must be able to demonstrate ethical practices surrounding buyer/seller relationships and show a long-standing history/reputation of ethical practices. Your advertising, marketing, communication and sales practices must reflect a true representation of what is being offered. It means being acknowledged by industry peers and/or your community for ethical marketplace practices. As a business, you must be able to show long-term value to shareholders, customers and employees and prove there are training programs in place that assist employees in carrying out established ethics policies.
Just the process of putting together the materials to prove our business met the above criteria helped us understand where we fell short and needed to improve. For example, we have always given to our community - little league teams, high school sports, various community projects, memberships in the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary, etc., but we realized we could do more. We picked one charity we could really buy into and, while continuing to support the aforementioned, concentrated our efforts on our main charity (OMNI Youth Services). The results: in a little over two years, we have helped raise more than $25,000 for OMNI - just under $15,000 coming out of our own business. In the process, we have become more profitable. What does this have to do with ethics? Is it fair to benefit from a community and not give back to help it prosper? Not only is it not fair or ethical, but we do ourselves a disservice. A prospering community will continue to reap long-term benefits to our business. And word-of-mouth advertising has helped us grow.
Another example is our dealing with our own staff members. Although we have always operated with the highest ethics where our customers are concerned, we realized we had not always done so with our employees. One bad habit my husband, Neil (I have his permission to squeal), has had is skipping over the procedures he expects everyone else to follow, then getting angry with them when they do the same. (Background: Neil has a unique memory, rarely forgetting anything. The problem comes when he isn't there to fill in the pieces and nothing is documented.) This causes hard feelings among our staff. The "do as I say, not as I do" policy! What does this have to do with ethics? Is it fair to create policies and procedures that you expect everyone to follow, but exempt yourself? Not only is it not fair or ethical, it - and conduct like it - is the underlying cause of many of our other problems. Solving this and problems like this are the way to our motto of “Peace of Mind in Auto Repair.” It creates a happier staff that, in the end, serves customers better!
How does one recognize potentially unethical behavior? In a book by Rushworth Kidder, How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living, he provides great information to help make better choices in ethical behavior. I strongly recommend reading the book for the complete list, but following are a few questions one should ask to determine ethical behavior:
- If I make this decision, would I have to do anything illegal?
- How would this decision look if I had to defend it on prime time TV news?
- How would I feel about this decision if I were on the other side of the issue?
Kidder's book also offers a dozen verbal clues to help identify unethical decisions. Question your behavior if you must tell yourself: “Well, just this time ...,” “I didn't hear that,” or “Nobody will ever know the difference.”
It is my goal to see our industry elevated in the eyes of the public. I believe the majority of us run ethical businesses, but I also believe we make errors that make us look unethical and cause us many problems. With industry education in this area, studying the many aspects of our businesses and how we can identify and overcome ethical problem areas, our industry can build a new reputation - one that says it is rare to find an unethical auto repair shop. Please join with me in this endeavor.
| Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., is the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the United States House of Representatives. She was first elected to Congress in 1992 to represent the 12th district of New York. Currently, Velázquez is ranking Democratic member of the House Small Business Committee.
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