Praise and reward for morale

 
Ethics The Harbour Club met to discuss morality as a competitive advantage. An insight. 
When a top manager earns 300 times more than a normal employee, there is a need for explanation. The smart ladies and gentlemen, who are alternately referred to as CCOs, Heads of Corporate Communication and - by Christoph Blocher, for example - as "façade cleaners", have to explain something like this. 50 of these types have joined together to form the Harbour Club: a forum for managers who no longer feel at home in the traditional association structure of the communications industry; people for whom the terms "press spokesperson", "PR manager" or "sponsorship officer" fall short because they bear responsibility for the entire communication of their company.
The HC's November symposia live up to this high standard better every year because they do not avoid reality but also allow unwieldy topics. This year, the bold slogan was "Morality as a competitive advantage - communication in the age of values": Morality as a competitive advantage - communication in the age of value pluralism.
If openness, a willingness to question oneself and lateral thinking are the hallmarks of good communication, then the event - which took place in the spacious and practical setting of the Zurich-Leutschenbach television center - was above average. Sybille Sachs,
Professor at the University of Zurich/ HWZ, laid the foundation in a catchy mixture of theory and practice reinforced by experience by justifying the stakeholder approach precisely from the fashionable shareholder thinking: Is the investor the sole bearer of risk? Probably not, because: "Employees and suppliers also invest in the company - in the form of ideas, life time and knowledge." Sachs ventured a ranking of the most important stakeholders. After customers and employees, in descending order, they are shareholders, investors, society, regulatory authorities, partners, government, suppliers, politicians and trade unions. She only ranks the media in 15th place. Her studies of practical (company) examples clearly show that social responsibility, political cooperation, a willingness to innovate and other positive behaviors increase competitiveness and reduce business risks.
Kaspar Schuler, Managing Director of Greenpeace Switzerland, demonstrated what such risks can look like in concrete terms with a brilliant presentation by his organization, which is as defiant as it is effective. It has set itself the goal of "seeing the world through children's eyes". Its campaigns - always visualized and staged for media impact - last from three days (against unfair heating oil advertising) to eight years (chemical landfills in the Jura). Greenpeace's means are pressure from below, mobilization of (mainly retired) whistleblowers, but also of strategic bodies, such as auditors, who feel uneasy. The success is measurable. Novartis has just paid 200 million into a legacy foundation.
Ulrich Gygi, CEO of Swiss Post, used his company's transformation process from a monopoly to a competitive player to present the values he demanded of employees in his "inner mission": credibility, entrepreneurial spirit, partnership. He also came up with the motto of the day: "We have to learn to feel comfortable with change."
The fact that the shift towards socially responsible, open action, and not just talking about it, provokes resistance and reveals contradictions was clearly expressed in the four workshops. They were excellently prepared and - as the balanced number of participants proved - very well tailored to the specific interests of the paying participants.
Felix Wehrle, Head of Communications at Coop and inventor of the Naturaplan idea, showed in detail how the green vision of 1990 developed into a mass movement for organic food and fair trade, which today regularly convinces 50 percent of Coop customers. Ueli Haldimann, editor-in-chief of DRS television, used current examples (FC Thun) to demonstrate how decisions relevant to media ethics are made under time pressure. Hans-Ulrich Märki (IBM Europe) outlined the huge project of establishing a common new value system in a global group with 360,000 employees in 160 countries, and Reto Ringger, CEO of the SAM Group, provided a brilliant introduction to the world of sustainable investments and investment products.
The concluding panel, chaired by René Lüchinger, enjoyed additional contributions from Father Lukas Niederberger from Lasalle House and lawyer Valentin Landmann. Television director Ingrid Deltenre and Rolf Schläpfer (Roche) broke down the topic of the day to their respective corporate realities: To the media company with a public service mandate and to the global pharmaceutical company confronted with questions of values on a daily basis.
It was a packed day with thought-provoking topics, plausible case studies and obvious benefits for the more than 120 participants.
Karl Lüönd