BoardroomIntegrity

All leaders have the uneviable burden (and privilege) of responsibility, setting the vision and mission, culture, values and strategic priorities for the business and all its stakeholders, both internal and external. Board members and management teams need to prioritise integrity (their own first and foremost) and work in unison, without concern for self interest or bias to deliver sustainable success. We work discreetly with boards and management on integrity in action, how to be best practice (and why that may be difficult) and what that means.

There is nothing more vital to an organisations sustainable success than authentic, ethical leadership, whether in times of economic stability and growth, or downturn. This may mean difficult moments of self-awareness, a reset in collaborative behaviours, empowerment and executive presence for board members and their support (including GC, in-house and company secretary teams).

In short, we help, because we care.

your footsteps are a path for others to follow

Support in action

Boardroom Health

A healthy, transparent board or management team will deliver results, ethically.  Whether this is board members amongst themselves or issues as and between owner/founders/families and their employed leadership or investors with their management team, these should be tackled. We consistently see issues in the boardroom leak into the organisation, impacting culture and driving unwanted behaviours or focus.  The most important team in an organisation is its board, yet we see instances of boardroom fracture and poor relations, with little governance to drive consistent collaborative behaviours.  A lack of integrity (from the word ‘integer’ – a state of completeness or undivided whole) is toxic.  We partner, with discretion and independence assured, to meet those issues head on, engage and work through them thoughtfully.

Chief Integrity Officer Support

We think the role of CiO is an important skill-set and insight for a progressive Board or leadership team.  We provide this role on an independent consultancy basis, linked to projects, deals or time periods.  Our Clients have called this service their Corporate Conscience.  The important ingredient is that the organisational leadership and owners buy into the scope of influence for the CiO and that we are fearless in our delivery; otherwise it is a role without purpose or impact.

GC Impact

General Counsel, Head of Legal and the Company Secretary role have a unique view and experience (wide and deep) across organisations and deal activities, which goes beyond governance, legal and risk management.  Yet it is a role which can be misunderstood and under-utilised by their board and wider colleague base.  We work into the GC’s and Company Secretary function, facilitating impact and influence across their stakeholder groups.  They hold vital corporate memory and understand the various disciplines of the business.  Part of the facilitation work can extend to working into the business to engage collaborative behaviours between legal, secretariat and other functions, to create a common goal and shared vision.  We can provide this support on a 1:2:1 basis, and into team, or as part of our boardroom health work.

Working with associates who come from law firm leadership, we can also provide insights in customer engagement to professional service teams; collectively we hear from our clients (Owners, CEO, CFO, and GC’s) what works for professional service delivery and what doesn’t.  We don’t have all the answers, but we can illuminate what good client experience really means.

Family Footsteps

We have worked with family businesses and family investment offices for over 25 years, including founders and later generations (up to 8th Generation) supporting the family members and professional management teams. They are a unique business environment, which we love.  We engage across a range of topics using our insight, independence and critical thinking, including stewardship, stakeholder (in the wider sense) value creation, transactions, professional management, transformation, serving (or creating) the family mission, exit realisation and commercial collaboration.

Business Integrity Facilitation

It is hard to remain close enough to the day to day to fully appreciate what goes on, particularly at the sharp end.  Our facilitation service helps leaders gain insight from colleagues, teams, or wider stakeholders (including suppliers and customers), including exposure to ethical risk.  From this, we help to spot the gaps and devise what remedial action and follow up action should be implemented and how to embed it.  Prevention is better than cure. Difficult conversations are springboards for improvement, effectiveness and morale.

Commitment to the basics - ABC

It may seem obvious, but we prioritise anti-corruption, bribery, trading risk, governance and integrity training with Boards (Chair, Executive and NED) and management teams.  Top-Down must mean just that.  If such an important topic is just given lip-service by those who others look to follow and be inspired by, the result is obvious; more of the same.

Actions always speak louder than words. It should be ‘As simple as ABC’!

Light the way…

Get in touch now

We are always happy to have a general discussion.  What motivates us is authentic, transparent communication, grounded on the principle of wanting the best for the organisation and individuals we work with and support.

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