Tees Valley Business Club hosts a business ethics event

June 15th 2020

Once again, supported by Dynamo North East, the Club’s June event was the third in the series of @Home virtual events. Members were invited to join the Zoom call which included group networking sessions alongside guest speakers discussing the growing commercial case for kindness.

Chair of the Club, Jane Reynolds MBE, welcomed the members to the event following the government restrictions on public gatherings during the Covid-19 pandemic. Guests were placed into breakout rooms and given time to network amongst themselves before reconvening to hear from the panel for the evening.

Hosted by Caroline Theobald, founding director of the North East Initiative on Business Ethics, the panel was made up of Tees Valley businesses who are championing ethics within their organisations.

Caroline opened up by saying commercial objectives and ethical behaviour aren’t mutually exclusive and businesses are seeing the benefits of a kinder culture. She invited each of the panellists to explain how ethics plays a part in their organisation.

First to speak was Theresa Carling from the Endeavour Partnership, who talked about the charitable projects they have been involved in for many years. Operating to a policy of ‘big hearts and helping hands’ the organisation believes it is important to use business to support charity. The legal industry is heavily regulated to ensure fair practice however the Endeavour Partnership believes it is the extra effort that makes a difference. Many of the partners actively volunteer and are trustees for a number of charitable organisations. Theresa said: “it is important to act as mentors where we can; to lead by example and say yes when people are asking for help. It is the things you do when no one is watching that really benefits the region and putting your hand up to offer support is a great way of contributing to your community.”

Ian Hornby from Venator followed by explaining they are the only New York Stock Exchange company listed in the Tees Valley. A spin off from Huntsman, Venator has adopted the charitable culture of its parent organisation who recently donated $1bn to build a cancer research centre in the States. Ian said: “integrity is at the heart of everything we do. Every meeting starts with a value share and we take part in a global integrity event. We have an ethics hotline and last year more than 40 comments were made, every one of those was thoroughly investigated with next steps put in place. We operate a community fund to support various good causes from sports clubs to food banks and encourage our employees to live our values. There is real value of having integrity engrained in an organisation, starting with how well you look after your employees.”

Angela Lockwood explained how North Star Housing has an ethically driven culture throughout the organisation. This is spread to their supply chain and, amongst other policies, if an organisation wants to work with them, they must pay their employees the living wage. Angela said: “We buy local where we can to support our region and have invested £25k into the local community. Our employees are given 7-10 days off a year to volunteer and encouraged to use it. We didn’t furlough a single member of staff during the recent pandemic but instead allowed our team to support other organisations through volunteering roles.” Explaining that the organisation doesn’t do things to people but rather with them, Angela added: “We should all be the change we want to see and act as role models to others.”

Diane Williamson from Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation, a charity who fund raises to provide funds to good causes within the region talked about the positive impact the foundation has had and the support they receive from local business. Diane said: “Community knows community and if something feels right it probably is. Charity is personal and very rarely about the money. As well as providing grants, we were also able to sign post people to places, and sharing what we are all doing is essential; collaborating is essential and needs to continue.”

Suzanne Withrington from Teesside University talked about how ethics is important within the complex infrastructure that they operate under. She said: “Integrity and ethics has to sit at the heart of everything we do. We have committed to investing £300m into the campus over the next 10 years and any contractors we work with have to operate to an ethical process; organisational sustainability is important to us. For me, Language has a huge amount to do with all of this, instead of talking about shareholders, try referring to them as stakeholders; instead of economic impact, discuss social impact. This will have a direct result on your organisational culture and organisations are about people.”

Suzanne shared an acronym with us, to be TACTILE:
Trust
Accountability
Caring
Transport
Integrity
Loyal
Equal

The panel then answered a series of member questions around ethics, what it means and how we should implement it. Caroline summarised by saying knowledge exchange is key and groups like the Tees Valley Business Club help us share good practice. She then referred to a few quotes from the panellists:
Ian: “Don’t just follow the law but follow the spirit.”
Theresa: “Take your employees with you, encourage them to get involved.”
Angela: “Ethics means different things to different people.”
Diane: “Collaboration has to continue in whatever format.”
Suzanne: “Organisations are about people.”

Phil Jackman, co-director at NIBE, introduced three interactive workshops to develop a set of tools to test the ethical values of a company. Current dates for these online workshops are: June 23, July 2 and September 15 with a presentation on World Ethics Day on October 21 2020. More information is available in the nibe.org.uk/testing-ethical-business/ Blog on the NIBE website.

Steve Askham of That Cake shared a business update and explained how his operation had adapted to the current situation. Previously known for their wedding and corporate cakes, their model was impacted when the lockdown was implemented. Having adapted and offering their products as ‘cake aways’ and focussed on their brand message, they are now selling out a week’s worth of cakes in 10-15 minutes. To support the business and offer a gift to the members, the board have purchased vouchers as a gift for attendees to use to buy from That Cake.

Clare Wheeler from Business Cogs explained that if we want to make changes that are going to work and stick, we have to work with people to find the best way of working. Clare said: “How we work really matters as we judge whether we fit in. When people feel connected to a business and proud to be there, and feel that what they are doing is important, they give so much more. We are all in very different positions, but we are all going through a common experience and seem willing to speak about how we are feeling. As we get ready to unlock, we need to think about it.” Clare has developed a programme called Unlock Safely to support businesses covering topics such as minimising risk, building confidence and maintaining process. The event will run on 18th June and further details are available on the news section of our website.

Finally, Dawn Dunn from Dynamo North East recognised the optimism she has witnessed from the Tees Valley Business Club members. Working in the Newcastle area, Dawn has enjoyed being involved in the last three business club events and said: “Businesses within the north and the south of the region have something to gain by working together. When that happens, the whole is most definitely greater than the sum of the parts.”

Dynamo are holding their annual conference on-line on 25th June. The event is free of charge and further information and details of how to register can be found on their website www.dynamonortheast.co.uk/events/dynamo-20-collaborating-for-success/

Professor Jane Turner OBE, pro vice-chancellor (enterprise and business engagement) and equality and diversity champion (gender) at Teesside University has sent a message to the members around the topic of ethics:
“Like us all, I’ve been watching and listening to world events and reactions to the Covid Crisis. There seems to be one very clear message: a new kind of leadership is emerging, being called for, one that embodies empathy, compassion, honesty and consideration as well as courage – is proving successful in dealing with the crisis and pointing the way out of the current uncertainty to a successful and sustainable future. One could argue that the leadership styles that are proving most successful on the world stage are those inherently demonstrated by female leaders and it’s no surprise that this new form of leadership is being embraced by the Tees Valley Business Club, North East Initiative on Business Ethics (NIBE) and the Teesside University/TUBS partnership to promote ethical business in our region. I wholeheartedly endorse the plans for an Ethical Business Network involving the current and future workforce and the University will continue to play its key role in developing ethical and values driven leaders, endorsing the ambition to put Tees Valley on the map for doing ‘good’ business, in every sense.”

The next @home event will be held on Thursday 16th July and members will receive invites via email.