For corporations, navigating the political landscape has become an increasingly difficult task. While being admonished to ‘stay in their lane’ by some, businesses are just like their stakeholders, impacted by the ever-changing political miasma. When this new reality is coupled with the new levels of transparency in companies, which are only amplified by social media, a company can be embroiled in public controversies with one or more stakeholder groups. As these situations occur, CCOs and compliance professionals will be called upon to help companies navigate this fraught process.
How can compliance help a company navigate through all of this? To make and implement the best strategic choices in this environment, leaders will have to
- develop principles to guide strategic choices,
- address ethical issues early on,
- consistently communicate and implement their choices,
- engage beyond the industry to shape the context and
- learn from mistakes to make better choices in the future.
This is a process that the corporate compliance function can facilitate. If you work through these steps, you should be able to prepare your organization for the next major shock.
Three key takeaways:
1. Why a company can no longer simply ‘stay in its lane’.
2. Compliance should lead the way to develop robust principles to guide cultural choices.
3. Even in culture, continuous improvement is a mandate.
