Renewing Your Ethics Program

Friday, 17 June 2016 from 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM (EDT)
Yorkdale Holiday Inn, Toronto

Organizations typically have a code of ethics or business conduct code that is stale, outdated or in need of reinvigoration. This new half day course is intended to help you systematically plot the review and update of your ethics program. Three EthicScan associates who have conducted ethics program reviews in over thirty companies, organizations and associations will take a systematic approach to the how’s, when’s, and where’s of making this happen. You’ll receive high quality ideas and a framework about how can you can oversee state of the art governance, credibility, and ethical assurance, as well as stakeholder responsiveness and buy-in.

There is plenty of opportunity to bring your program to the class for comment and constructive analysis.

Content: Come hear and be inspired by three knowledgeable ethics and integrity experts talk about how to move beyond old compliance-based standards and texts to new empowering techniques. They’ll use practical examples to discuss:

• How to recognize, address and nurture and empower relevant stakeholders
• How to define, assess and measure reputation management
• How to evaluate compliance, identify sources of conflict, and document wrong-doing or corruption vulnerabilities
• What thinking to use when making appropriate recommendations in the face of dilemmas
• How to get executive and Board buy-in
• When and how to address situations where issues can typically involve conflicting rights and responsibilities of stakeholders
• How to judge practices and decision choices where there are conflicts of interest, perceptions of wrongdoing, or discrimination issues
• How to differentiate between motives, rationales and behaviour, because the three are not necessarily synonymous.

Outcome: This half-day course is designed to empower leadership by providing a best practices framework for managers seeking to update their ethics program, including related training and reinforcement issues. It will provide lots of practical ideas to address and act upon business conduct and sustainability challenges. An integrated approach combining multiple ethical principles will be presented that offers workable ideas for stakeholder engagement, reputation enhancement, and compliance managers to apply. Learning will be tailored to the dual purpose of proactively defining an “ethics edge” for organizations as well as allowing them to profit from the growing corporate responsibility expectations of consumers, governments, taxpayers and stakeholders for leadership and “doing the right thing”.

Participants will receive answers to the following questions:

• Are there ethical vulnerabilities identified in current management planning?
• Which code documents to be in languages other than English, for the benefit of specific stakeholders such as clients, suppliers, regulators and sub-contractors?
• Are there relevant independent assessments of ethical and reputation risks and stakeholder attitudes to the organization?
• How do you uncover whether certain key staff and advisors have concerns about the current policy suite?
• When are legal compliance answers insufficient for best governance questions?
• Are there opportunities to empower staff with ethical decision-making decision tools?
• When are potential complements or substitutes for a code either desirable or necessary?
• Are there acknowledged risks in the current whistle-blower protection and complaint investigation process?
• When and how should you initiate or conduct a social or ethics audit?

Pricing: $499 per registrant; $399 per person if three or more from one organization, including receipt of pre-read material, a Course Binder, and an in-depth program that starts with a buffet lunch and includes an afternoon health break. College or university students in active ethics study may apply to register for a special rate of $100 (send an e-mail request to [email protected]). Professors may enquire about arranging special rates for groups of five or more students.