UK - June 2007
Driving Global Standards through Professionalism Article – UK Conference
Professionalism and ethics are the cornerstones of ACCA’s new professional qualification and on 7 June ACCA UK’s second employer conference focused on this very theme. Over 70 delegates from leading companies including Deloitte & Touche LLP, Lloyds TSB and KPMG LLP attended the event entitled ‘Driving Global Standards through Professionalism’ at the Design Museum, London. The event took place from 09.30 -16.30 and the co-sponsors were BPP Professional Education and Kaplan
Chaired by Neil Stevenson, ACCA’s marketing director, speakers included Greig Aitken, head of human capital strategy at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Nicholas Montagu, former chairman of the Inland Revenue, Clare Minchington, ACCA’s managing director – education, learning and development and Robert Swan – the first man in history to have walked to both the North and South Poles.
Sir Nicholas Montagu recalled with candour and humour about how he led the Inland Revenue through its biggest change in its 200 year history, transforming the organisation to treat taxpayers more like customers rather than like potential “crooks.”
One of his major appointments was a marketing director to help bring substance and not spin to the communications about the Inland Revenue’s change. For Sir Nicholas, the first rules of leadership and for embedding change is communication; he talked of the need for saturation communication so that customers – tax payers and tax credit recipients – understood the Revenue’s core purpose.
He also talked about how communication shaped the tone of the new organisation, which had been seen as secretive. An important move was for Sir Nicholas to put his e mail address on the Revenue’s web site so he could receive feedback and respond directly to it. He said the aim was to make the Inland Revenue clear, human, objective, knowledgeable, efficient and reasonable.
Speaking about leadership, professionalism and ethics, Sir Nicholas said that promoting values is important; if an organisation is not true to them then inevitably, all will go wrong. At the end of his speech, he was asked about the highs and lows of his time at the Revenue: the high was being called ‘Your Majesty’ while on an official visit to Japan; the low – but not too low - was the cartoon Hector the Tax Inspector.
An afternoon panel session with senior representatives from Accenture, GE, UK Sport and Vodafone provided an interesting forum to debate ‘The ethical leadership dilemma – leader, follower or both’.
In his fascinating and inspirational session, environmentalist Robert Swan drew on his experience of walking across the perilous Antarctic to explore how the extraordinary can be achieved on a personal level and ultimately how professionalism and ethics were two of the components his experiences gave him.
Robert explained: “Leadership is a responsibility – not a luxury. Lead by example. Talk and listen to people properly. Individuals and businesses have created their own problems on ethics by being greedy. How are we going to be ethical and shine above others?”
Robert’s environmental achievements are, of course, close to ACCA’s heart as the organisation has been actively involved with the unfolding debate on corporate social and environmental responsibility since 1990.
In his concluding remarks Neil Stevenson explained that all managers must be leaders and that the tone of leadership and culture must be set at the top. As leaders must be persuasive communication is vital and they need to be clear about expectations and enforce rules no matter who is implicated.
It was also argued that measurement is vital but must be available in a form which business units can understand and act upon. Employers must define and design an 'employee proposition' to engage and retain people. This is broader than reward and recognition and needs to include all aspects of work-life balance which are important to employees. Professionalism is an important part of the successful ethical organisation and a high-performing organisation. Professionals need broad skills and should avoid a 'blinkered' approach. Managers should reflect that up to 92% of professionals' careers are post-qualification, and consider what this means for professional development. Professional bodies have an important role to play in promoting ethical orientation, helping professionals to apply the principles of ethical codes and developing appropriate behaviours.
The conference concluded that organisations should use customer focus and getting market delivery right as agents for change and delivering superior organisational and professional performance.
The day certainly gave all the delegates much food for thought and ultimately a clearer understanding of ACCA’s new professionalism qualification which has professionalism and ethics at its core.
This video report provides a snapshot of the event and also features interviews with some of the speakers.
- View the video report (Windows media - high bandwidth)
- View the video report (Windows media - low bandwidth)
Related photographs
(click on each photograph to see a bigger version)
Photo 1: Clare Minchington
Photo 2: Panelists
Photo 3: Robert Swan