Core Values, Business Ethics and Freedom at Work | Productivity ...

At PAI, our 9.1 Core Values guide the decisions we make at every level of the organization.

As part of Productivity Associates? employee-driven set of core values, we embrace the responsibility of Making Good Choices.?When you do the right thing, for the right reason it shows strength of character and wisdom. More importantly, good choices make good business sense.

A few years ago, I took an ethics class for a Business School requirement. Some may sense the irony of exploring ethics in business education; but the reality is, ethical business practices are gaining popularity both in theory and application.

The world has seen firsthand the widespread damage caused by focusing only on self-interest and short-term personal gains. ?Think: ?2008 financial meltdown, mortgage-backed securities, unregulated credit default swaps, abuse of financial derivatives and bailouts (NY Times).

At PAI, we take a careful look at the long-term consequences of our decisions. We think through many, many layers of ?what may happen? and ?what then? and ?what happens after that? to make the best choices for ourselves, for our customers and for the community we serve around us.

Here?s an example of how we?re living this value of MAKING GOOD CHOICES:

In 2011, we had a client (let?s call them Client X) with a reputation for causing anxiety and low morale for our customer service agents. Client X chose to deny lifetime warranty claims to their customers. As a result, Client X?s customers would frequently belittle, verbally abuse and swear at our agents over the phone. PAI?s senior leadership talked with Client X about the inappropriateness of their customers? actions and the root cause of customer dissatisfaction. After many failed attempts to correct the problem, we sat down as a team to discuss our next move.

Our 9.1 Core Values literally sat in the center of our discussion.

• We talked about our values.
• We talked about what it meant to live by our values, with regard to Client X.
• We talked about the unnecessary negativity felt by our staff.
• We talked about ?firing? Client X and what that would mean.

Here was our assessment of the short and long term effects of terminating our relationship with Client X:

• Short-term we would have a negative financial impact by losing some recurring revenues.
• Short-term we would enjoy an immediate boost in employee morale.
• Long-term we would find new business to fill the financial divot.
• Long-term we would seek to partner with companies that align with our Core Values.
• Short- and long-term our Tribe would know (as they do now know) that we?ve got their back.

In short, we decided that the best choice was to invite Client X to find a new outsourcing contact center, as they were not a good fit for PAI.

We have not regretted the decision. Employee morale is measurably higher (yes, we measure employee happiness, will save that for a future topic). Business momentum is way up (we measure lead to close ratios too). Most importantly, we are living our values.

So, how do you make tough choices in your business?

Do you have a code of ethics, or core values guiding your decisions?

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 6th, 2012 at 4:12 pm and is filed under Business Solutions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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