One of the most troubling issues a worker may face is how to deal with a clash between personal values and business practice. When core beliefs conflict with company practices, an emotional reaction results.
I’ve lived this one; it had a lot to do with why I left Xerox after 20 great years. My role at the time was to negotiate to closure some of the largest contracts sold in America. Due to the size of the deals, this was a premium responsibility. I was good at it and thrived on the job’s complex challenges. The company paid me very well but I paid a personal tax for the cash. When others went home, I went to an airport. Plane after plane, hotel after hotel, dinner for one too many times to count.
When I learned that my deals were being falsely booked by corporate accounting to accelerate profits, this premeditated breach of ethics broke my heart. Our corporate brand stood for professionalism and trust. Faced with the facts I had a difficult choice: to inhale and stay or exhale and go. So I left.
Every job comes with some degree of imperfection and frustration. I work with sales organizations and throughout the years have met more salespeople than I can count whose loyalty for their customers is greater than that for the company whose name is printed on their paycheck. While it’s great to embrace the long-term value of a loyal client, “the customer is always right” is a guideline, not a stone-chiseled commandment. I’ve seen customers do shady things, too. Many of them.
A good company protects its top line—the revenue line—by selling smartly and often. It also protects itself below the line (expense-wise) by showing fiduciary responsibility and prudence. Ethics considerations are guardians for both.
Most stress-causing personal conflicts in business come from these, the pursuit of top-line revenue growth or minimization of below-the-line expenses. For extra spice, toss in a dash of unpredictable behaviors of adults with personal political agendas. People tend to behave according to what their compensation plan rewards them for. Some work extra hard. Some cut corners. Some cheat. It’s why there are more nurses in heaven than salesmen.
Every company deals with some degree of moral/ethical/financial swordfighting. Ethics conflicts are not a big company problem, nor a small company one. They are a universal problem.
What to do when faced with one? The choice is simple: Ignore it or act upon it. Ignoring an ethics conflict based upon clear, known fact will ding your self-esteem (how you feel about yourself). When we feel our code of ethics is becoming situational rather than absolute, we feel less proud than when our ethics are unimpeachable. Over time this burden will probably grow. As it grows the emotional weight will spill over from work into home life. Crabgrass for the soul, that’s what it is. And crabgrass creeps.
Sometimes ethics conflicts arise from things other than facts: rumor, innuendo or secondhand information. Don’t get caught up in this. Stop listening. Push back and refuse to participate. Life is more melodic without whining. [On a personal note, this is why I stopped listening to talk radio.]
He with the gold makes the rules and employers hold the gold, so one conflict resolution option you’ve always got is to make a move. Work is a dual-lane choice, right? It’s our choice to work for someone and it’s the employer’s choice to pay us for doing so.
Rather than making a snap reaction to the ethics conflict, defuse the emotion and build a smart plan for exodus. No gold owner has a monopoly. Lots of companies need hardworking miners with a shared vision that loyalty, teamwork, and effort makes good companies better.
Never make a rash emotional judgment to leave. Running from a problem is not as smart a career move as running toward a new opportunity that aligns with your skills and core values.
Manage by fact, minimize emotion, maximize logic, and be smart with your career. There are no perfect companies. But there are lots of good ones in need of motivated talent in order to get better.
All of us were looking for every job we’ve ever gotten. Conflicting values scenarios are no different. If it’s time to go, take the high road; but know where you’re headed before taking off.